Vanderbilt Football beats Kentucky behind Mike Wright

Vanderbilt Football beat the Kentucky Wildcats, 24-21. The Commodores had their first SEC victory in three years behind Mike Wright’s dual-threat play.

The game started out with a Vandy fumble on the second offensive play of the game. Despite the good field position, Kentucky would have to settle for three. On the third play of the next drive, Mike Wright went for a 59-yard rushing TD on a read option.

The Wildcats’ offensive finally went to work and Will Levis cooked down the field to the red zone. They had to settle for three, after struggling in the red zone once again. It seemed like Kentucky would get away with their red zone struggles when Mike Wright threw an interception after bringing Vanderbilt down the field.

They would not get away with their red zone issues after the interception. The Wildcats would drive toward the red zone once again, except this time they wouldn’t get any points at all. The 37-yard field goal got blocked by Vandy, and no one would score for the rest of the half.

After a Kentucky three-and-out to start the second half, Mike Wright and Ray Davis went to work. They found paydirt, scoring a touchdown to take the lead. Kentucky would respond with a drive of their own but couldn’t overcome their red zone issues and settled for three.

After driving the ball down the field, Vanderbilt Football lost the ball on downs. Chris Rodriguez Jr led the Wildcats to a TD and the lead with his legs on the next drive. Vandy would respond with a field goal on their next drive. Rodriguez would once again, carry the Wildcats’ offense. This time, it only required one play. Rodriguez went for a 72-yard run.

The Wildcats went for two and didn’t get it. Going for two was a bit of a strange decision, considering they would be up 6 rather than 5. The Wildcats wouldn’t have gone for two (most likely) if they didn’t miss the two-point conversion earlier in the fourth. On the next possession,  Mike Wright would lead Vandy to their drive of the season.

Mike Wright would use his arms and his legs to get a TD for the Commodores. The TD pass came on third and goal to Will Sheppard with 32 seconds left. Kentucky would struggle on the next drive and the game would be over. The Wildcats’ offense ran out of time but they didn’t really have a shot as it was fourth and 10, due to a sack from Vandy on third and 3.

Vanderbilt Football beats Kentucky behind Mike Wright

The Wildcats’ offensive line struggled and was part of the reason they lost. For Kentucky, this continues a very disappointing season. The season started out with high hopes as the Wildcats won their first four and were ranked 7th in the country going into the Ole Miss game.

Since then, it has been disappointment city (minus a win over Mississippi State). They lost to Ole Miss and suffered their first-ever loss to South Carolina the next week. After beating Mississippi State, they got completely blown out by Tennessee.

Will Levis has been injured at points this year but his draft stock has taken a serious hit. He still has all the tangibles, but just doesn’t seem to make the right reads. Although the offensive line has been pretty bad, Levis will need a good draft lead-up to make up for this back half of the season.

Kentucky will lose against Georgia next week. I am really undecided on how the Louisville game will go two weeks out, but the Governor Cup will at least be fun to watch.

No matter if the season ends up with 6 or 7 wins, it will still be a disappointment for Mark Stoops. Mark Stoops famously called this school a football school, going into this year (not only being a basketball school). He feuded with John Calipari (Kentucky’s Basketball coach) on social media in the preseason on this.

Quite simply, seven wins is not great. The Wildcats won 10 games last year. This team will have to win a game in the last two weeks of the season to go ONE game above bowl eligibility. The offense will need some examining after this year. Kentucky isn’t a football school. After last year, it looked like they might change. Turns out, it didn’t change, and the Wildcats will need to re-examine the offense if they want to get to a top-tier level.

Clark Lea did an amazing job this year. He doubled his win total from last year. This team won two games last year. Yes, three of their wins did come from non-conference opponents. Still, from where the program was last year, four wins are an accomplishment. I give them a punchers chance against Florida but I don’t really see a path to bowl eligibility. They would have to beat Tennessee in the final week of the season. That isn’t going to happen. Still, Vanderbilt Football has to be proud of this season.

Clark Lea has this program on the right track. Kentucky has issues (red zone, overall offense incompetence), and this allowed Vanderbilt Football to win their first SEC game in three years. Still, Vandy had the highlight of their season. They definitely earned this win.