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Kentucky arrived in Nashville on Saturday night for its road game at Vanderbilt riding a 3-game losing streak.
It didn’t take long, however, for the Wildcats to show that the skid would not extend to 4 games.
Mark Stoops’ team jumped out to a 28-3 lead early in the 2nd quarter and from there was never seriously challenged, improving to 7-3 on the season with a 34-17 win.
The Commodores, meanwhile, dropped to 2-8 overall and remained winless in 6 SEC games.
The Wildcats ended the opening quarter with a 7-3 lead thanks for a 6-yard touchdown pass from Will Levis to Wan’Dale Robinson.
It didn’t take long from there for Kentucky to blow the game open.
After Levis connected on a 22-yard scoring strike to Izayah Cummings on the 1st play of the 2nd quarter to make it 14-3, Jalen Geiger picked off Vandy quarterback Ken Seals just 1:44 later and returned the pick 31 yards for another touchdown.
#PICKSIX @jalengeiger! Making his first career start today too.
? – ESPN2 – https://t.co/VIok8hFVgx pic.twitter.com/Tce0zmSOcU
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) November 14, 2021
Chris Rodriguez added a 5-yard touchdown run in the 2nd quarter and Matt Ruffalo converted a 25-yard field goal that pushed the lead to 31-3 at the half.
Levis completed 10-of-14 passes for 156 yards and 2 scores in the opening 30 minutes. He was picked off once but it was on a meaningless Hail Mary attempt on the last play of the half.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, added 90 yards on 10 carries in the opening half, and the Wildcats’ defense held Vanderbilt to just 105 total yards.
Vanderbilt did show signs of life in the 2nd half, however. It drove 72 yards in 12 plays on its 1st possession of the 3rd quarter with backup quarterback Mike Wright finding Chris Pierce Jr. for an 8-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal.
The touchdown from Mike Wright to Chris Pierce
— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) November 14, 2021
A successful 2-point conversion cut the lead to 31-11, but the Wildcats had an answer.
Kentucky responded with a 14-play, 61-yard drive of its own, and while the result was just a 32-yard field goal from Ruffolo, the Wildcats burned 7:27 off the clock in extending the lead to 34-11.
The Commodores, however, were determined to keep it interesting. They answered with another long touchdown drive, with Wright finding Amir Abdur-Rahman on a 4-yard TD pass to cap an 11-play, 75-yard drive that cut the deficit to 34-17.
But the drama would end there, as Kentucky polished off the 17-point victory.
Rodriguez finished with 114 yards on 16 carries for the Wildcats, while Levis added 178 yards through the air.
Wright, meanwhile, was the catalyst for the Vanderbilt offense in the 2nd half, as he completed 7-of-11 passes for 58 yards and 2 TDs, while adding 20 yards on the ground on 7 carries.
Kentucky will step out of conference next Saturday for a home game against New Mexico State, while the Commodores will be on the road to face Ole Miss.
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
