Cats' home woes continue as Vandy claims 20-13 win

Fresh off its historic upset of No. 1 Alabama last week, Vanderbilt left Kroger Field with a 20-13 victory on Saturday, handing the Cats their sixth straight loss in SEC play on their home turf.

Kentucky has now gone 2-10 in its last 12 league games played in Lexington, including back-to-back losses to the Commodores.

"Another disappointing loss," a dejected UK head coach Mark Stoops said. "I'm going to turn on the film tonight, and I'm going to see a lot of the same mistakes that we made in another loss earlier this year.

"It's not very good on my part to let that happen again."

Much like its 31-6 loss to South Carolina on Sept. 7 at Kroger Field, Kentucky (3-3, 1-3 SEC) was often its own worst enemy. The Cats were flagged 12 times on the night for 106 yards in losses, wiping out several big plays by the offense and extending a few drives by Vanderbilt.

The biggest penalty wiped out a third-quarter touchdown that may have ultimately cost Kentucky the game. Compounding matters, the Cats went on to botch the snap on a would-be field goal attempt after the penalty backed them up, and scored no points after getting inside the Vandy 1 on second down.

UK special teams also failed on an extra point attempt and later wiped out a long punt return by Barion Brown that would have given the offense the ball near midfield with approximately two minutes remaining. Instead, an illegal block in the back moved the unit back to its own 20, and the Cats were unable to come up with the game-tying drive.

"When you continually hurt yourselves with penalties, turnovers, missed assignments, not making plays, you know, I'm obviously not getting through to them," Stoops lamented.

Said senior linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson, who had never lost a regular season game during his time at Georgia before transferring to UK: "We've got to make some changes because I'm not used to this feeling and I don't like this feeling."

Kentucky outgained the Commodores 322-288 and held a 23-19 advantage in first downs, but could not sustain drives or finish them consistently with points.

Vanderbilt (4-2, 2-1 SEC) did just enough to win. Quarterback Diego Pavia completed 15 of 18 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 53 yards on 14 carries. Six different Commodores caught at least two passes from Pavia, including touchdown receptions for AJ Newberry and Richie Hoskins.

"Pavia is a playmaker and does some really good things," Stoops said. "He's been doing so all year."

Vanderbilt also got field goals of 49 and 50 yards from kicker Brock Taylor.

Ultimately, the Commodores proved they were not a one-hit wonder.

"It says that the team is hungry for more and we are not going to let one game define our season," Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said following the win over top-ranked Bama with a road win at UK. "I think sometimes external narratives try to paint that picture, and it has never been our reality. We know how to celebrate, and we know that last week was an important marker for us -- we do get that -- but it is always about what comes next."

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In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK loss...

KEY MOMENT:

Another disastrous end to the first half proved to be the difference in the game as Kentucky botched its final possession with a decent opportunity to break a 7-7 tie and allowed Vanderbilt to score on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Diego Pavia to Richie Hoskins with 13 seconds remaining. The Commodores then completed their dominance of "the middle 8" by taking the ball to open the third quarter and driving for a field goal to take a two-score lead.

GAME BALL:

Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt -- The nation's giant-slaying darling followed his impressive performance against Alabama with a nice night against UK's formidable defense. He completed 15 of 18 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 53 yards on 14 carries.

BY THE NUMBERS:

4 - Combined touchdowns for Kentucky in its first four league games.

6 - Straight SEC home losses is the longest streak for UK since dropping eight straight from 2012-13.

8-for-13 - Vanderbilt conversions on third-down. The Commodores entered the game among the national leaders at 49% on the season.

13 - Points were the lowest figure allowed by Vanderbilt in an SEC game since the 2018 season.

34:35/25:25 - Time of possession in favor of the Dores

49-44-4 - Kentucky's lead in the all-time series against Vanderbilt. It marked just the 13th time in 41 trips to Lexington that the Commodores have won.

QUOTABLE:

"I understand what winning football looks like and I know what it doesn't look like. We certainly didn't do that today, and I'm very disappointed in myself and my staff for not getting this team ready to play." -- UK head coach Mark Stoops

UP NEXT:

Kentucky returns to action next week at Florida. The Gators (3-3, 1-2 SEC) lost a thriller tonight at Tennessee, 23-17 in overtime. Kickoff is slated for 7:45 ET at The Swamp.