COLUMBIA, Mo. — — Amid a contest during which the defenses for Kentucky and Missouri flexed their muscular tissues a lot of the afternoon, it was a botched punt snap that proved the distinction for the Wildcats in escaping with a 21-17 victory over the Tigers on Saturday.
Extremely, it was the Wildcats (6-3, 3-3 SEC) who benefitted from their very own particular workforce’s misfire, staking declare to a win making them bowl-eligible.
Lining up for a punt on fourth-and-4 from their very own 41-yard line with 2:34 left, Kentucky lengthy snapper Drew Perry sailed the snap over the pinnacle of punter Colin Goodfellow, who chased the unfastened ball down on the 4-yard line. Goodfellow managed to show again upfield and boot the ball away simply as he was tackled by Missouri linebacker Will Norris.
A flag instantly got here out and after a dialogue the officers penalized Norris for roughing the punter, figuring out that Goodfellow had remained inside the deal with field and by resuming a punting movement had maintained the safety of a punter. Goodfellow was injured on the play and was carted off the sphere.
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The play enabled Kentucky to run all however 38 seconds off the clock.
“It was only a exceptional play by him,” mentioned Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops. “At first I used to be like, ‘Effectively, I want he would have taken the security.’ However he made a exceptional play.”
Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz didn’t agree with the reason he acquired from the officers however mentioned the play wasn’t finally what doomed the Tigers (4-5, 2-4).
“How a man can nonetheless be a protected punter 50 yards down the sphere and the way are guys imagined to know that he can’t deal with him is past me,” Drinkwitz mentioned, “However I’m positive I’ll get an evidence and I’m positive it would defend them, and we’ll go from there. It doesn’t change the truth that we had been 2 of 13 on third downs.”
Third downs proved pivotal for the Tigers on either side of the soccer. Whereas Drinkwitz’s protection held the Wildcats to simply 242 offensive yards, yielding simply 4.1 yards per play, quarterback Will Levis and the Kentucky offense transformed 6 of 13 third downs, together with reaching the top zone twice on completions.
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After Kentucky held Missouri to minus-7 yards on the primary possession of the sport, Levis put the Wildcats on the board with an eight-play, 71-yard drive capped off by 9-yard landing cross on third-and-goal to Dane Key.
That largely marked the top of the offensive fireworks earlier than each defenses asserted their dominance.
Missouri mustered simply 76 yards of offense within the first half. Solely a 44-yard discipline objective from Harrison Mevis put the Tigers on the scoreboard, and the Wildcats took a 7-3 result in the locker room at halftime.
With neither offense able to sustaining momentum, a special-teams miscue helped the Wildcats increase their lead within the third quarter. Missouri punter Jack Stonehouse had bother dealing with a low snap and tried however did not scramble for a primary down.
The Wildcats rode Christopher Rodriguez Jr., who completed with 112 yards on 29 carries, on 5 straight rushes to the Missouri 19-yard line earlier than Levis struck once more on third down. Dealing with third-and-5, Levis linked with Tayvion Robinson for 18 yards. Two performs later, Levis discovered tight finish Jordan Dingle for a 1-yard rating to increase the result in 14-3.
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Tigers quarterback Brady Cook dinner and the Missouri offense began discovering their rhythm late within the third quarter. Cook dinner led back-to-back scoring drives of 52 and 64 yards, finishing 6 of seven passes for 80 yards and dashing for 2 touchdowns. A two-point conversion throw from Cook dinner to Tauskie Dove gave the Tigers their first lead of the sport at 17-14 with 8:07 remaining to play.
However Levis and the Wildcats responded. After a squib kickoff by Missouri went awry, Kentucky began their subsequent drive at their very own 42. Levis took his workforce down the sphere in six performs, connecting with Key once more on third-and-11 from 22 yards out for the game-winning rating.
Preventing by the adversity his workforce confronted in opposition to Missouri will profit the Wildcats in the long term, Stoops mentioned.
“While you play this schedule and these groups and the grind our gamers have in them, they need the outcomes,” Stoop mentioned. “All of us do, however you bought to proceed to work.”
All 4 of Missouri’s losses in SEC play have come inside a one-score margin. Drinkwitz feels each optimism and frustration in these outcomes.
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“It’s irritating as a result of we haven’t discovered the best way or play to win but it surely’s clearly an indication of progress that we’re within the combat,” he mentioned. “Now we acquired to discover a option to win that combat.”
GOODFELLOW INJURED
The savvy play by Goodfellow to get away a punt following the botched punt got here at a price. Goodfellow remained down on the sphere for a number of minutes receiving consideration from athletic trainers earlier than a cart carried him off the sphere.
“He was in some extreme ache,” Stoops mentioned. “I hope it’s nothing main. I do know he’s hurting unhealthy.”
UP NEXT
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Kentucky returns dwelling subsequent Saturday internet hosting Vanderbilt in SEC play.
Missouri travels to Knoxville subsequent Saturday to battle No. 1 Tennessee.
Now that the ink has dried and his signing with Kentucky has been made official, Jasper Johnson was finally able to be formally introduced to the Rupp Arena crowd during the Wildcats’ 87-68 win over Western Kentucky on Tuesday night.
Johnson, a class of 2025 five-star point guard born and raised in Lexington, sat courtside with his family to check out his future team in action against the Hilltoppers. During the second half, former Kentucky player Ravi Moss brought out the future Wildcat to midcourt where he was met with a chorus of cheers from the packed crowd of Big Blue Nationites.
After initially committing to Kentucky back in September, Johnson signed the necessary papers to play his college basketball at UK earlier this month. He’s been inside Rupp Arena plenty of times before over the years (and even played here with Woodford County as a sophomore), but never while wearing street clothes as the center of attention in front of over 20,000 screaming fans.
The smile says all you need to know.
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Johnson is one of three signees from Mark Pope‘s first recruiting class as Kentucky’s head coach, joining four-star center Malachi Moreno and four-star point guard Acaden Lewis. The 6-foot-4 guard is ranked No. 14 overall in the nation by the On3 Industry Ranking. He’s currently finishing up his high school career at Overtime Elite as a member of Rod Wave Elite (RWE).
Alongside Tay Kinney, a talented class of 2026 guard who is also from Kentucky and is being recruited by Pope, the two Bluegrass natives form arguably the deadliest backcourt duo in all of OTE. Through five games played this season, Johnson is averaging 19.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per outing while shooting 47.9 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from deep.
This time next year, we’ll hopefully see him do the same thing in Kentucky blue and white.
Johnson family – Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Clara Strack scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Teonni Key had 16 points and 13 rebounds and No. 14 Kentucky defeated Arizona State 77-61 on Tuesday in the Music City Classic to remain unbeaten.
Kentucky nearly had four players with double-doubles as Georgia Amoore added 20 points and nine rebounds and Amelia Hassett had eight points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats (6-0), who shot 42% and scored 13 points off 14 Arizona State turnovers.
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Jalyn Brown scored 16 points and Nevaeh Parkinson added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Sun Devils (3-3). Arizona State shot just 30%.
The Sun Devils cut a 19-point deficit to 11 after three quarters but a 6-0 burst with baskets by Key, Amoore and Strack built the lead back to 15 midway through the fourth.
Kentucky led 42-23 at halftime after outscoring the Sun Devils 27-9 in the second quarter, scoring the first 13 points of the period with Struck putting in the final seven in the run. A couple ASU free throws later, the Wildcats went on an 11-2 run capped by a Hassett 3 and the lead was 20. Strack scored 14 points and Key 10 in the half.
The teams continue play in the Music City Classic on Wednesday with Kentucky playing No. 19 Illinois and Arizona State facing South Dakota.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rivalry week has finally arrived. The Louisville and Kentucky football program are set to do battle once again, facing off in Lexington for the annual Battle for the Governor’s Cup.
Here are the depth charts for both the Cardinals and Wildcats:
Changes from Louisville’s Depth Chart vs. Pitt:
Quarterback
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9 Tyler Shough (6-5, 230, Gr.) 10 Pierce Clarkson (6-1, 190, R-Fr.) OR 15 Harrison Bailey (6-5, 230, R-Sr.) OR 12 Brady Allen (6-6, 220, R-So)
Running Back
25 Isaac Brown (5-9, 190, Fr.) 21 Donald Chaney Jr. (5-10, 210, R-Jr.) 26 Duke Watson (6-0, 180, Fr.) 22 Keyjuan Brown (5-10, 210, R-Fr.)
Wide Receiver
0 Chris Bell (6-2, 220, Jr.) 81 Cataurus Hicks (5-10, 180, R-Fr.)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/QPOKJK2G4JHTBM64237JNFHARU.jpeg "Kentucky gets SEC road win")
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25739950/247386_Elon_Musk_Open_AI_CVirginia.jpg "Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI")
