Kentucky falls to Tennessee: 3 things to know and postgame banter

The Kentucky Wildcats were run out of Knoxville on Saturday night by the Tennessee Volunteers. After falling by a score of 34-6, Kentucky moves to 7-2 on the season and 5-2 in conference play.

It was an ugly start for the Cats. That’s not uncommon, but it was uncharacteristically ugly. Turnovers. Penalties. Drive-killers, one after another. Will Stein and Co. were held to 0 touchdowns on their first five drives and in the first half for the first time this season. They did make two field goals, but a massive 66-yard touchdown run from Tennessee led to a 10-6 halftime deficit.

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The frustrating part is that Kentucky generally played well in the first half. They executed at a high rate, but costly mistakes, negative plays, and an inability to finish drives led to the score at the half.

After the break, it was much of the same until Kentucky completely fell apart. Everybody knows UK’s struggles against UT (more on that below), and after losing 20 straight when trailing at the half, I guess this outcome should have been expected.

Kentucky has won 6 games when trailing this season, but the slow starts came back to bite them in this one. The comeback just didn’t come. This has been a trend and not necessarily a good one. While it’s fun when you’re winning, the question becomes “why?” when you lose.

Next up, the Cats will return to Lexington to take on former Cat (player and coach) Jon Sumrall and the Florida Gators. There is no room for error going forward. Kentucky must win out to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff. New season starts next Saturday.

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The Cats beat themselves

Kentucky moved the ball. Kentucky made stops. Kentucky looked like about how they’ve looked through eight games thus far, except for one major difference. They made costly mistakes.

The Cats ranked No. 1 in the SEC and No. 4 nationally with a +13 turnover margin coming into this game. That got flipped on its head. Jovantae Barnes and Kenny Minchey both coughed it up to the defense,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/kentucky-falls-tennessee-3-things-024403348.html

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Publish date : 2026-11-08 02:44:00

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