Kentucky Wildcats vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs: Postgame Quotes and Notes

KENTUCKY POSTGAME NOTES

No. 1 Mississippi State at Kentucky

Commonwealth Stadium — Lexington, Ky.

Oct. 25, 2014

FINAL SCORE: No. 1 Mississippi State 45, Kentucky 31

Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky is 5-3, 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Mississippi State is 7-0, 4-0 in the SEC.
• The all-time series between the two schools is tied, 21-21.
  • Kentucky holds a 12-9 advantage in the series in games played in Lexington.
• The Wildcats are 3-12 all-time against No. 1 teams.
• UK is 5-1 at Commonwealth Stadium in 2014.
• Kentucky will return to action on Saturday, traveling to face Missouri at 4 p.m. ET with the game televised live on the SEC Network.
  • The game at Missouri will also be broadcast live on the UK Radio Network, with Tom Leach, Jeff Piecoro and Dick Gabriel voicing the action.

Team Notes

• Kentucky’s game captains were Jordan Swindle, Javess Blue, Alvin “Bud” Dupree and Za’Darius Smith for the seventh time in eight games.
• UK allowed its opponent to score on the first drive of the game for just the third time in eight games.
• UK is 1-1 in its blue jersey/gray pants uniform combination.
• UK is 4-1 in day games.
• Kentucky forced three, three and outs and have forced 29 on the year.
• UK has had an interception in six consecutive games, the first time for UK since 2011.
  • The Wildcats now have 13 interceptions on the year, entering the week ranked fifth in the NCAA.

Individual Notes

• Senior DE/LB Alvin “Bud” Dupree started his team-best 34th consecutive game.
  • Dupree finished with 10 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, giving him six tackles for loss in 2014 and 30.5 in his career.
  • Dupree had a QB hurry late in the second quarter that led to an interception and a QB hurry on fourth down in the fourth quarter, marking his fourth and fifth QB hurries of the year.
  • With 10 tackles, it marked Dupree’s third career double-digit tackle effort and his first of 2014.
  • The active SEC sack leader, Dupree had one sack to give him four in 2014 and 20 in his career.
    • Dupree ranks second in UK history with 20 career sacks.
• Sophomore QB Patrick Towles made his eighth career start, completing 24-of-43 passes with a career-high 390 yards and two touchdowns.
  • Towles’ 390 yards set a new career high, besting the 377 yards passing in the season opener vs. UT-Martin.
  • Towles’ four total touchdowns (two passing, two rushing) marked a new career high.
  • Towles is the first player with two passing and two rushing touchdowns since Jalen Whitlow in 2013 vs. Alabama State.
  • Towles had a career-long 48-yard rush in the third quarter, rushing for two touchdowns.
    • Towles led UK with a career-best 76 rushing yards, including six sacks, on a career-high 23 carries.
    • Towles had a career-best two rushing TDs and now has four rushing TDs on the year.
• Senior WR Demarco Robinson caught his first TD of the year, a 67-yard catch-and-run, and the third of his career.
  • Robinson had four catches for a career-high 86 yards and a touchdown.
• Sophomore WR Ryan Timmons led UK with five catches for a career-long 114 yards.
  • Timmons has led UK in catches four times in 2014.
  • Timmons is the first UK receiver to go over 100 yards since Javess Blue had 109 yards vs. Louisiana-Monroe earlier in the year.
• Senior WR Javess Blue hauled in a 58-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
  • Blue now has three TDs in 2014 and seven in his two-year career.
  • Blue finished with two catches for 81 yards.
• Sophomore CB J.D. Harmon made his team-leading sixth special team tackle of the year.
• Freshman CB Kendall Randolph charted his first career sack.
  • Randolph has two tackles for loss on the year.
• Junior DE Jabari Johnson – who made his first career start last week at LSU – recorded 1.5 tackles for loss, giving him two on the year.
  • Johnson had a career-best five tackles.
• Sophomore NB Blake McClain set a new career high with his fifth and sixth pass break-ups of the year.
  • McClain now has 11 pass break-ups in his two-year career.
• Junior DT Melvin Lewis made his eighth consecutive start in 2014.
  • Lewis recorded half a tackle for loss, giving him 2.5 on the year.
  • Lewis forced his first career fumble.
  • After a career-high nine tackles at LSU last week, Lewis had seven tackles, his second-most in a game.
• Senior DE Za’Darius Smith had eight tackles, one sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.
  • Smith has 3.5 sacks on the year and 9.5 in his career.
  • Smith has 5.5 tackles for loss in 2014 and 12 in his two-year career.
• Junior LB Josh Forrest – a native of Paducah, Ky. – intercepted his second pass of the year and the third of his career.
  • Forrest finished with nine tackles.
• Junior CB Fred Tiller broke up his seventh and eighth passes of the year and now has 14 on his career.
• Junior DT Cory “C.J.” Johnson forced his first career fumble.
  • Johnson also notched a tackle for loss and has four in 2014.
• Junior Landon Foster punted six times for a 47.8-yard average, with three downed inside the 20-yard line.
  • Foster now has a career-high 20 punts downed inside the 20-yard line in 2014 and 48 in his three-year career.
  • Foster entered the game third in the nation in percentage of punts inside the 20 this season.
  • Foster’s 58-yard punt in the third quarter was a season long and one-yard off his career-long punt.
• Freshman kicker Austin MacGinnis connected on a 34-yard field goal in the second quarter, also missing on a 50-yard attempt to end the half.
  • MacGinnis is now 12-for-18 on the year, 6-for-7 from 30-39 yards and 2-for-4 from 50+ yards.
  • MacGinnis is a perfect 31-for-31 on PAT attempts on the year.
  • MacGinnis has kicked off 46 times on the year, with 21 going as touchbacks.
• Senior TE Ronnie Shields made his second start of the year and caught his first pass since the opener vs. UT-Martin.
• Senior FB Darrell “D.J.” Warren played in his team-leading 44th career game.