Big Blue Preview: Kentucky at Ole Miss

Info to Know

Preview

No. 7/8 Kentucky will meet No. 14/11 Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, for the first time since 2010. The meeting will mark the first time that a ranked Kentucky team and a ranked Ole Miss team have met since 1958. The Wildcats will look to improve several active streaks, including its third straight ranked win for the first time since 1977 and its ninth consecutive win for the first time since 1977, both of which are streaks that were begun last season. The Cats will also look for their second straight conference triumph on the road in 2022.

The meeting marks the start of a seven-game Southeastern Conference stretch for Kentucky. The Wildcat defense will continue to play a large role if Kentucky is going to outlast Ole Miss, while Big Blue Nation anxiously awaits the return of running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. to game action. A 5-0 record on the season would mark just the third time in the head coach Mark Stoops era that Kentucky has gotten off to as good of a start.

Cat Scratches: Kentucky Defense Hopes to Learn from Past in Effort to Stop Ole Miss

The last time Kentucky faced an opponent with a high-paced, quick strike offense, the result was not what the Wildcats hoped to see.

That game happened last season when Tennessee held the ball for just 13:52. But the Vols made the most of their limited time with the ball, racking up 461 yards of total offense on just 47 plays. Tennessee’s first two touchdown drives lasted 11 seconds and 26 seconds. The Vols would have one more scoring drive that lasted less than a minutes on their way to a 45-42 win in Lexington.

Now, Kentucky gets another chance, facing the up-tempo attack of head coach Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels. Through four games this season, the Rebels are averaging 41 points per game while possessing the ball for less than 26 minutes per contest.

Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White knows that the Rebels can score points very quickly…Read More

The Ole Miss Series

• Ole Miss leads the series 29-14-1 and has won the last two meetings.
• Ole Miss leads 8-2 in games played in Oxford.
• Ole Miss has won the last six meetings played in Mississippi, including five in Oxford (1990-2010) and one in Jackson (1986).
• UK’s last win in Mississippi was in 1978, 24-17 in Oxford.

Ole Miss/Kentucky Connections

• Senior linebacker Jacquez Jones and senior defensive back Keidron Smith have a special connection with Ole Miss as they were roommates while playing for the Rebels.
• Jones transferred to Kentucky after playing in 33 career games with 19 starts at Ole Miss from 2018-20. He totaled 182 tackles with the Rebels.
• Smith transferred to Kentucky as a graduate student after playing four seasons at Ole Miss. He appeared in every game for the Rebels, which included 47 contests with 29 starting assignments from 2018-21. The two-year starter totaled 224 total tackles, 22 passes defended, five forced fumbles, five interceptions, eight tackles for loss and one sack at Ole Miss. He graduated from Ole Miss in May of 2022 with a degree in finance.
• Ole Miss has one player on its roster from the Commonwealth in Jordan Watkins of Louisville Butler High School.

A UK Win Would…

• Be UK’s ninth in a row, tying the third-longest streak in school history
• Be Kentucky’s first win against a Southeastern Conference West team since defeating LSU, 42-21, in Lexington on Oct. 9, 2021.
• Be Kentucky’s first win against an SEC West team on the road in over a decade, since defeating Auburn, 21-14, in Auburn, Alabama, on Oct. 17, 2009 (lost last 14).
• Be Kentucky’s first win against Ole Miss since Nov. 5, 2011 (30-13).
• Be Kentucky’s first win in Oxford, Mississippi, since Oct. 14, 1978 (24-17).
• Be Kentucky’s third straight ranked win, a streak that dates back to its win against then-No. 17 Iowa in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2021.
• The Wildcats have not recorded three straight ranked wins since earning five straight ranked wins between the 1976-77 seasons.
• Be the first time that UK won consecutive road games at ranked opponents’ stadium since winning at Penn State and at LSU in the 1977 season.
• Be Kentucky’s fifth ranked win in the last six ranked meetings.
• Be the third time in the head coach Mark Stoops era that Kentucky has gotten off to a 5-0 start to the season, also 2018 and 2021.
• Extend Stoops’ all-time record of wins at Kentucky to 64.

By the Numbers

2
Number of times Kentucky has ever won against Ole Miss in Oxford (1949 and 1978) in 10 contests

8
Consecutive wins by Kentucky, the nation’s second-longest current winning streak

30
Consecutive games with at least one reception for Tayvion Robinson, the 8th-longest streak in the nation

35
Tackles needed by DeAndre Square to become the 20th member the of the 300-tackle club at UK

2,740
Career rushing yards for Chris Rodriguez Jr., who will play his first game of the 2022 season on Saturday