Kentucky football: Ghost of Wildcat miscues awakens in heartbreaking loss

On a beautiful college football day, the ghost of miscues and bad luck that haunt the Kentucky football program awoke in Oxford, Mississippi casting a dark cloud over the No. 7 ranked Wildcats who had the game won and watched be snatched away losing 22-19 to Ole Miss.

While technically it will be the No. 11 ranked Ole Miss defense that will get credit, Kentucky (4-1, 1-1) was it’s own worst enemy on special teams, and a pair of fumbles by quarterback Will Levis on the Wildcats’ last two possessions trying to get his team into the endzone.

Heartbreaking.

Brutal.

Unbelievable.

Frustrating.

Maddening.

Pick any of the above and they would all describe the feeling Big Blue Nation is feeling after losing a game it should have won.

But along the way and leading up to the final pair of fumbles the Cats missed a field goal, had an extra point blocked, botched another extra point snap, gave up a safety in the first half, and chose not to take a penalty and move Ole Miss back that would have taken them out of field goal range instead allowing a 53-yarder.

And then they fumbled at the Ole Miss 16-yard line and then the 12-yard line on their final two possessions.

Granted Levis was doing all he could to get the go-ahead points the Wildcats needed and he wouldn’t have had to had the string of nightmares described above not put him into that possession.

Kentucky had even taken that lead with 58 seconds to go – except a yellow flag negated a great Levis to Dane Key touchdown from seven yards out due to illegal motion.

There was also the targeting call that wasn’t flagged when Levis was clocked in the head just before fumbling. Debatable but in this day and age of protecting the quarterback at all costs its hard to believe it wasn’t called or at least reviewed.

The Wildcats had not turned it over and had one penalty for zero yards called on them leading up to the fourth quarter. They added a pair on the opening drive of the quarter and then the touch one as Levis snapped the ball before his receivers could get set in his zest to score.

That split second of him just taking a breath a big five-yard penalty and coach Mark Stoops let him know that.

There have been lots of years of could a, should a, would a, but we thought that we had buried those ghosts. Apparently not.

Kentucky has lost three straight to Ole Miss and hasn’t beaten the Rebels on the road since Sept. 26, 1964, when the Wildcats won 27-21 in Jackson, Mississippi.

But we also saw a lot of bright spots and one loss doesn’t send the season down the drain.

Here are some quick takeaways.

No. 1 Welcome back Chris Rodriguez this Kentucky football team needed you

The Kentucky football team got a much-needed boost with the return of running back Chris Rodriguez.

We didn’t need him to be the savior given the 4-0 start, but the running game needed help and those hard-fought, grind-it-out yards he will get for us.

He carried 19 times for 72 yards and one touchdown for a 3.8 yards per carrying average. He also pulled down three passes for 40 yards.

He was tired as the game went along on the sideline but after serving a four-game suspension it’s clear how valuable of an asset he is to balance out the Kentucky offense. When facing a 3rd and 4 give that ball to C-Rod because he is going to get those yards one way or another.

Izayah Cummings (23), JuThan McClain (21), Kavosiey Smoke (6), and Tayvion Robinson (5) combined for 55 yards, and Levis was sacked three times and lost19 yards.

Kentucky football shows fight until the very end on both sides of the ball

Moral victories don’t show up on the wins and losses and stat sheets, but this Kentucky football team proved they play with a lot of heart even if it’s hard to stand up on wounded ankles.

In past years Kentucky football would find a way to fold up the tent, raise the white flag and admit defeat. That is no longer the case under Mark Stoops.

His boys were battered and bruised and the athletic trainers had to be very busy at halftime and on the sideline, but despite the miscues, they never hung their heads limped on and off the field, and played every snap.

They didn’t allow the big chunk plays or the back-breaking plays and the offense did all it could to protect Levis and slow the game frustrating Lane Kiffen watching his offense stand on the sideline.

The offense played their hearts out too. Barion Brown is electric and burned the Rebels over and over and over. He just might be the best return man in the country racking up 164 yards on kickoffs and nearly breaking two for scores. He also had two catches for 81 yards including a 51-yard dash he almost took to the house.

He nearly took another back for a score from the goalline this time weaving his way 85 yards before being pulled down by Trey Washington who just got fingers on his jersey at the Ole Miss 15-yard line.

He also nearly took another one home racing 54 yards across midfield before getting his feet tangled up. Guys is a complete game changer.

The Kentucky defense stood its ground against the mighty Kiffen offense

Give credit to the Kentucky defense for coming up with stop after stop and slowing down coach Lane Kiffen’s fast-paced, up-tempo offense.

This group had to make 60 tackles with four being for losses, had an interception and five different Wildcats had a pass breakup and Jacquez Jones picked off a Jaxson Dart pass that halted a potential scoring drive, and how about the Jordan Lovett pass breakup with Ole Miss going for it on fourth and goal.

De’Andre square was a beast once again leading the team with 11 tackles, Jordan Wright adding eight, and freshman Keidron Smith was again impressive with six. He is going to be a name we talk about a lot in the future.

We all knew Ole Miss was run happy and they would get their yardage averaging 286 a game, but credit Brad White’s boys for holding them 100 yards under that number and 213 through the air. Those are solid numbers against a Lane Kiffen team.

Matt Ruffolo is definitely cursed when it comes to playing Ole Miss.

ESPN had to play the overtime blunder kicks that cost us in 2020 to start the game and kept reminding us of that as the game went along.

His first kick pushed just left with not a whisp of wind blowing. The first extra point try was tipped and blocked as it was a low riser just over the line of scrimmage. A bad snap on the following score and a bad snap had holder Chance Poore scrambling for his life and no open Wildcat open in the endzone.

Stoops could have sent him out to try a tying field goal in the fourth quarter but choose to keep the offense on the field. The big question remains if Levis had not been sacked and fumbled would Ruffolo have been successful in tying the game up with under a minute to play?

Whatever the case it’s clearly an issue that games and opportunities quickly go sideways. These are a lot of points left on the field and those five points would have given Kentucky the victory.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get ready for South Carolina

Ok, Big Blue Nation shake off the frustration, and let’s move on. All is not lost there are still seven regular season games to play and the quest for the SEC East title isn’t over yet.

It’s like Kentucky will fall maybe 6 spots or so in the polls and getting into the top five would have been amazing but with South Carolina and Mississippi State up next before our bye week, there are a lot of positive things and potentially a 6-1 record at that point.

Freshman Jordan Dingle recorded his first Wildcat touchdown on a 17-yard pass play and finished with three catches and 30 yards. Tayvion Robinson took a neat shuttle pass from Levis in for a touchdown that fooled everyone.

While it may have been maddening to watch the most important thing is this team was in a position to win and had those ghouls not still had their curse on Ruffolo and others we would be signing a different toon.

You can’t win these types of games if you aren’t in one, to begin with, and it’s clear Stoops has his players believing they are in it right till the very final horn sounds.

The talent and pieces are all there and just need continued cleanup from week to week. They have grown leaps and bounds through five games and look for a vast improvement next weekend in the third SEC contest of the season.

Kentucky returns home to Kroger Field in Week 6 and will host South Carolina at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 8. The Cats have won two straight games and 7 of the last 8 meetings against the Gamecocks.