Miscues Doom Cats at Ole Miss

OXFORD, Ms. (WAVE) - A missed field goal and two botched extra points cost #7 Kentucky five points in a 22-19 loss at #14 Mississippi.

One thing you don’t want to do in big games is beat yourself. Unfortunately, the Cats did just that. The first quarter was rough for kicker Matt Ruffolo. He missed a 39 yard field goal with UK trailing 7-0. After a Chris Rodriguez touchdown, Ruffalo’s point after is blocked and the Rebels maintained a 14-6 lead.

Second quarter, after a Tayvion Robinson touchdown, Chance Poor mishandles the snap on the PAT, and he was tackled after a brief scramble. Ole Miss led 19-12 at the half.

Kentucky ties the game in the third quarter. Will Levis hit Jordan Dingle over the middle and he powered his way into the end zone. They actually executed the PAT to tie the game at 19.

Fourth quarter, Cats trailing by three when another miscue happens. Levis trying to pick up the first down on third and short, but fumbles. The Rebels would recover.

Late in the game, Levis throws what looks like a touchdown to Dane Key to take the lead, but Barrion Brown was not set before the snap. Five yard penalty nullifies the touchdown. Very next play, Levis is strip sacked, and that would do it. Ole Miss hands UK its first loss of the season, snapping the Cats’ eight game winning streak.

After the game, head coach Mark Stoops was proud of the fight his team showed in the loss. “Extremely proud of our team with a lot of bad things going on with ourselves making a lot of mistakes. Them doing some good things, the adversity we faced. Coming in at halftime, again, nobody flinching. Everybody had a calmness about them. Felt like we were going to go back out there in the second half and compete, and come back and win the football game. And we certainly had our opportunities,” said Stoops.