Reviewing Kentucky's Performance against Mississippi State

The Kentucky Wildcats came into Saturday’s game against Mississippi State with high hopes to get a win that would edge them that much closer to the desperately needed sixth win.

That’s exactly what they did as Austin McGinnis gave the Cats a 40-38 Win after a 51-yard game-winning field goal, which moved UK into second place in the SEC East.

However, it looked like another gut-wrenching loss was coming after Stephen Johnson’s late fumble caused a 14-point swing against the Cats.

UK should’ve went up by 17 points, but Johnson fumbled on the 8-yard line, and it was picked up for a scoop and score for the Mississippi State Defense.

The Cats managed to hold the Bulldogs to only 81 yards through the air. But, the Cats also gave up 281 yards on the Ground, most coming from quarterback Nick Fitzgerald who had 107 yards on 16 carries.

The Cats had several more total yards than the Bulldogs, racking up 554 total yards to Mississippi State’s 362 yards for the game.

The Cats had a whopping ten more first downs then Mississippi State. The Cats had 26 first downs, compared to 16 first down for the Bulldogs. This probably was the biggest stat of the game in my opinion.

The amazing Duo of Stanley "Boom" Williams and Benny Snell really helped this stat with their explosive runs on first down. Both Williams and Snell had 30-yard runs. Snell, in particular, had a career high 35-yard touchdown run while he rushed for 128 yards on 19 carries for the Cats. Williams had 99 yards on 14 carries for the Cats.

Stephen Johnson looked new and improved in the second half Saturday, helping get him to a 4-1 record as the UK starting quarterback. Johnson started went into the first half only completing 9 of his 22 passes. The second half Johnson came out on fire starting out 5 of 5 passing leading to a fast 2^nd half starting drive. Johnson ended the game with completing 17 of his 33 passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns. If you take away his two fumbles, he played on a new level.

If the Cats can win the next two games against Missouri and Georgia, then they will have a shot at the SEC East title against Tennessee at the end of the season. The Cats will look to continue their winning streak against Missouri this Saturday as they travel to play the 2-5 Tigers of Missouri at noon on the SEC Network.