By The Numbers: Analyzing Kentucky's 44-35 loss to Southern Miss

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Kentucky’s 44-35 loss to Southern Mississippi on Saturday night offered several staggering statistics. The majority of the stats didn’t go the Wildcats’ way. Cats Illustrated goes in-depth on what went wrong and what went right for the Cats.

-- Kentucky’s offense in the first half was as explosive as it has been in the Mark Stoops era. Drew Barker threw for 287 yards and four touchdowns. It was the first time a UK quarterback threw for four touchdowns in a game since Maxwell Smith against Kent State in 2012.

-- Kentucky totaled 230 yards and 21 points in the first quarter alone. The offense then tacked on 14 more points and 157 more yards in the second quarter. It gave the Wildcats a total of 387 yards in the first half and 35 points, the most in a half for Kentucky since 2010.

-- Six. Kentucky had six plays that went for at least 30 yards in the first half. Five of them were passing. Juice Johnson had a 53 yard touchdown and Jeff Badet had a 72 yard touchdown. Johnson also hauled in a 43 yard pass. Tavin Richardson had receptions of 43 yards and 33 yards. The lone rush was Boom Williams’ 36 yard scamper.

-- J.D. Harmon intercepted two passes in the first half. Blake McClain added another to give Kentucky three for the half.

-- The real trouble for Kentucky started with under a minute left in the first half. Southern Mississippi -- down 35-10 -- connected on a 71-yard touchdown on a broken coverage to put together a three-play, 84-yard scoring drive in just 22 seconds.

Let’s preface this by mentioning that Mark Stoops, after the game, said he has never been a part of a game where the offense was so good in one half but so bad in the second. His response came after a question directed about the offense, but the defense was just as atrocious.

-- Southern Mississippi went from being down 18 at the half to up three going into the fourth quarter.

-- The Golden Eagles ran 30 plays in the third quarter and totaled 168 yards and scored 21 points. Kentucky ran eight plays for 13 yards. Southern Mississippi was balanced in the third quarter, gaining 86 yards on the ground and 82 yards in the air.

-- The time of possession in the third quarter was 10:59 to 4:01 in Southern Mississippi’s favor.

-- Kentucky’s coaches said Barker had done a good job taking care of the ball in fall camp. He well in the first half, but he lost a fumble in the third quarter and also threw an interception. Southern Mississippi scored 10 points off of turnovers. Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said those 10 points, in his opinion, were the difference in the game.

-- Southern Mississippi scored 34 unanswered points in the game. Dating back to the final game against Louisville last season, Kentucky has been outscored 58-0 in the second half the last two games.

-- The Golden Eagles rushed for 296 yards in the game and had 554 total yards. Kentucky only gained 56 total yards in the second half but still finished with 443 on the game. The Wildcats averaged 8.9 yards per play.