Nov. 16, 2002
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Final Score: Kentucky 41, Vanderbilt 21
Final Records – UK 7-4, 3-4; VU 2-9, 0-7
Kentucky has won its seventh game of the season for the first time since 1998 and just the fifth time since 1955. The Cats have won two straight against the ‘Dores.
The win was Kentucky’s 100th in Commonwealth Stadium, which opened in 1973.
The Cats won their first SEC home game of the season.
In the first quarter, the Cats scored two TDs in 1:28, thanks to a Vanderbilt fumble. This season, UK has outscored opponents 113-37 in the first quarter and scored first in 10 of 11 games. In addition, the Wildcats have been ahead in the second half in all 11 games this season.
The UK defense has shut out five opponents in the fourth quarter this season. In all five games, Louisville, Indiana, Middle Tennessee, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt, the game was in doubt going into the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats paid tribute to 20 departing seniors in pregame ceremonies.
Kick returner Derek Abney returned a first-quarter Vanderbilt kickoff 95 yards for a TD to set an NCAA record with six kick (punt and KO) returns for TDs in the same season, breaking the mark he shared with three others.
The return was his second KO return for a score as he returned one for 100 yards against Florida in September. He’s the only Cat in school history to return two for TDs in the same season.
He broke the SEC record of five kick returns for a TD set by Pinky Rohm of LSU in 1937.
The junior now has seven kick returns for TDs in his career (five punts, two KOs), which breaks the SEC career record of six set by Lee “Long Gone” Nalley of Vanderbilt.
Needs just four more all-purpose yards to tie Craig Yeast’s school record of 1,841 yards set in 1998.
RB Artose Pinner had 31 carries for 224 yards and four touchdowns.
He’s the first UK running back to top 200 yards rushing since Moe Williams against Cincinnati in 1995.
The SEC’s leading rusher has carried for more than 100 yards eight times this season, breaking the UK single-season record of seven set by Williams in 1995.
He now has 1,363 yards rushing this season, which ranks second all-time at UK. Williams holds the school record for yards in a season with 1,600 in 1995.
Pinner went over 2,000 yards in his career with 2,054. He is the fifth back in school history to top the 2,000-yard mark.
Pinner has scored TDs in nine of the 11 games this season. His four rushing TDs is a season and career high, tying a school record for TDs scored and rushing TDs in a game. Williams vs. South Carolina in 1995, Sonny Collins vs. Miss. State in 1973 and Rodger Bird vs. Vandy in 1965 have all rushed for four TDs in a game while four others have scored four total TDs in a game. The last to achieve the feat was Craig Yeast vs. Indiana in 1997.
To date, Pinner has scored 90 points this season, which equals the second-most points scored in a season by a Wildcat. Williams owns the record of 102 points while Yeast had 90 in 1998.
QB Jared Lorenzen finished 14 of 23 for 128 passing yards and in the process, set two school records.
The junior broke the school record for total offense in the Cats’ first drive of the game. He now has 8,281 yards of total offense in his career, which surpassed Tim Couch’s mark of 8,160.
He broke the school record for total offensive plays. He now has 1,342, surpassing the old mark of 1,338 held by Tim Couch.
Lorenzen’s streak of 152 completions without an interception was ended in the first quarter. The streak is a record by a UK quarterback and ranks as the eighth-longest in the Southeastern Conference.
Lorenzen did not throw a touchdown pass today. This was his first game without a TD pass.
On the final play of the game, DE Otis Grigsby recovered a Vandy snap in the end zone to record his first fumble recovery of the season, the fifth of his career, while scoring his first collegiate TD.
FS Travis Atwell forced a first quarter fumble and DT Jeremy Caudill made the recovery. It was Atwell’s first forced fumble and Caudill’s first recovery of the season, the second of his career.
Making their first starts of the season were WR Chris Bernard and DB Antoine Huffman.
