Five things you need to know from UK football’s calamitous 24-21 loss to Vanderbilt

Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 24-21 loss to Vanderbilt in an SEC East football game at Kroger Field:

1. A calamitous loss. Vanderbilt (now 4-6, 1-5 SEC) came to Lexington having lost 26 SEC games in a row.

Yet against a UK team that began the season aspiring to compete for the SEC East crown, the Commodores were the better team and deserved victory.

Vanderbilt outgained Kentucky 448-332.

On a cold day that featured both rain and snow, it was the Commodores who played with urgency and energy.

After a stellar fourth-quarter effort from UK star running back Christopher Rodriguez gave the Wildcats a 21-17 lead with only 5:03 left in the game, Vandy efficiently marched the ball 80 yards down field — aided by a crucial personal foul penalty on Kentucky that negated what might have been a game-clinching interception — until backup quarterback Mike Wright hit wideout Will Sheppard for the game-winning touchdown from 8 yards out with only 32 seconds left.

2. Unpleasant football history repeats for UK. Vanderbilt’s upset victory as a double-digit underdog snapped a 26-game SEC losing streak for the Commodores. Until Saturday, Vandy had not won a league game since beating Missouri 21-14 victory on Oct. 19, 2019, in Nashville.

It is the second time this century that Vanderbilt has snapped an SEC losing skid of plus-20 games vs. Kentucky. In 2003, Vandy ended a 23-game, SEC losing skid vs. UK with a 28-17 victory in Nashville.

3. An all-systems UK failure. Inefficient as it has mostly been all season, the Kentucky offense had the ball in Vanderbilt territory seven times, yet scored only two touchdowns.

Given a chance to set a tone early after a Carrington Valentine fumble recovery gave Kentucky the ball at the Vandy 29 not even a minute into the game, the UK offense gained not one yard and the Cats had to settle for a field goal.

Even on a day when Matt Ruffolo made three field goals, UK special teams bit the Cats. Ruffolo also had a 37-yard field goal blocked. That ended up being a huge play in a three-point game.

Most surprisingly, the Kentucky defense — UK’s strength all season — was pretty much gashed. Vanderbilt ran for a robust 264 yards and had not one, but two runners go over 100 yards. Star running back Ray Davis ran for 129 yards; backup quarterback Mike Wright, thrust into the starting role by an injury, ran for 126.

With all that, it appeared the Cats’ defense had pulled the game out when Tyrell Ajian intercepted a Wright pass with 2:33 left in the game and Kentucky up 21-17.

But Octavious Oxendine was called for an illegal hands to the face penalty that extended what became the Vanderbilt game-winning drive.

4. A bad season for Stoops. Coaches, like players, can have disappointing seasons. UK head man Mark Stoops is in the midst of one.

For the second time this season, Stoops failed to have his team play with fervor in a home game the Wildcats should have won.

That happened in Kentucky’s 24-14 loss to South Carolina, when the Wildcats failed to rally around backup QB Kaiya Sheron in a contest that starting quarterback Will Levis missed with injury.

On Saturday, Vanderbilt appeared to play with more “want to” for most of the game than Kentucky.

Losing home games to teams you should beat is how a program regresses.

5. “C-Rod” almost saved UK. With all that went wrong, Kentucky star running back Christopher Rodriguez came close to pulling the Wildcats from the fire.

With Kentucky (6-4, 3-4 SEC) trailing 14-9 entering the fourth quarter, Rodriguez ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns to twice put UK into a lead it could not hold.

It was an example of a star player imposing his will on a game.

Rodriguez finished Saturday’s game 162 rushing yards on 18 carries. That gives him 3,473 career rushing yards and moves him past Moe Williams (3,333) for No. 3 on the all-time UK list.

Still ahead of Rodriguez in the Kentucky rushing record book are Benny Snell (3,873) and Sonny Collins (3,835).

To pass Snell as UK’s all-time leading rusher, “C-Rod” needs to average 134 yards a game in Kentucky’s final two regular-season contests plus the Wildcats’ anticipated bowl game.

Rodriguez now has 19 career games of 100 yards rushing or more. That tied Snell for the all-time UK lead.

Fashion police

For its 10th game of the 2022 season, Kentucky wore white helmets, blue jerseys with white letters and numbers and blue pants.

It is the first time UK wore that uniform combination since beating Eastern Michigan 38-17 on Sept. 7, 2019.

Since the start of the 2015 season, UK is now 3-2 in white, blue, white.