Kentucky Secures Win over Southern Miss in First Game of the Season

Kentucky kicked off the 2024 season late on Saturday night against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. It was late, because thanks to lightning in the area, the game was delayed and kept being pushed back for what seemed like forever, but the two finally began their matchup after 2 hours and 10 minutes of a lightning delay. Fans were waiting for a long time, but the Wildcats got the win 31-0 after another delay during the third quarter delayed the game, which ended up concluding after that delay.

It was a beautiful overall game for the Wildcats. New quarterback Brock Vandagriff was terrific in the game. He even showed off his scrambling skills a couple of times, taking some hard hits on a few of them. Offensive Coordinator Bush Hamdan has talked a lot about creating explosive plays, and that's exactly what Brock and a couple of his receivers did. Not only was he on target with returning wide receiver Barion Brown, he also connected with transfer receiver Ja'Mori Maclin. Both created explosive plays all night, with Brown even catching multiple touchdowns from Vandagriff. The offense has plenty of weapons to create those big plays. Vandagriff threw for 169 yards, completing 12 of 18 passes with three touchdowns, and scrambled for 35 yards on five carries. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye led the running backs with 59 yards and a touchdown.

Kentucky's defense showed what the offseason talk was about. They showed up big, and forced a couple of turnovers, putting the Wildcats' offense in great field position multiple times. The Wildcats had multiple threats shine on that side of the ball. The defense as a whole came up with 2 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, and 2 interceptions on the night. There is plenty of depth on the defense, and it showed as they swarmed Southern Miss all night. An array of defenders had a solid night in the stat sheet.

After dealing with mother nature during the game as well with a delay in the third quarter, the Wildcats got the win in convincing fashion, with both sides playing a great game. Next up, Kentucky will face South Carolina next Saturday inside Kroger Field. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

Check out the box score from the game below.