OXFORD, Miss. (AP) – Micheal Spurlock passed for 198 yards and a touchdown, and Mississippi bounced back from a tough loss, beating struggling Kentucky 13-7 on Saturday.
Redshirt freshman Mico McSwain had 104 yards rushing and Spurlock threw a 9-yard scoring pass to Mike Espy to lead Ole Miss (3-4, 1-3 SEC), which scored the first 13 points and held on to avoid its first 0-4 start in conference play since 1984.
The Wildcats (1-5, 0-3) lost their fourth straight, but avoided a shutout when Arliss Beach raced 4 yards for a touchdown with 2:36 left.
The Rebels then ran out the clock behind McSwain, who rushed for 50 yards on the final drive, and gave coach Ed Orgeron his first SEC victory in four tries.
Kentucky entered with the worst defense in the Southeastern Conference, but for much of this game it was its offense that was ineffective.
The Wildcats were held to 47 yards in the first half, lost three fumbles, punted eight times and failed to advance inside the Ole Miss 20 until the closing minutes.
Andre’ Woodson was 12-of-20 for 107 yards for Kentucky. Rafael Little rushed for 77 yards and Beach had 73.
Matt Hinkle kicked field goals of 45 and 18 yards, but the Rebels’ problems in the kicking game continued.
One week after Ole Miss missed one field goal and had another blocked in a 13-10 final-second loss to No. 5 Alabama, the Rebels missed four attempts against Kentucky. Two were blocked, one sailed wide right and a third hit the right upright as time expired in the first half.
The slow-starting Rebels finally found a rhythm late in the first half and led 10-0 at the break.
Spurlock hit Taye Biddle for a 33-yard gain to set up his TD pass to Espy.
Then, the Rebels forced two turnovers in an 11-second span late in the half – but scored just three points off the miscues.
Ole Miss recovered Little’s fumble at the Kentucky 27 with 14 seconds left in the half, and two plays later, Hinkle hit a 45-yarder. The Wildcats muffed the ensuing kickoff and Ole Miss recovered at the 29 with enough time for another try. But Hinkle’s 47-yard attempt bounced off the right upright as time expired.
