Past Jerry's Cats, 33-13
'Yt>u Name It, We Did It Wrong,'  Jerry Claiborne
It was clear by this time. Kentucky would suffer its first loss of the season. Still, the 'Cats had several chances to come back.
'Cats Ron Out Of Lives; Lose For Initial Time This Season
On the next series, UK moved the ball down to the Ole Miss 41 before Pitts fumbled away the ball after Ransdell had connected for just a yard.
Ole Miss seized the opportunity. On the first play from scrimmage, Gcodloe zipped through a hole off right guard and raced 60 yards for a touchdown and a 17-7 lead.
Later in the first half Kentucky blew its biggest chance to get back in the game when fullback Joe Mickles fumbled on Ole Miss' 11-yard line.
Trailing only 17-7, Kentucky took over with 8:24 remaining in the half. Before the Cats could get a play off, UK was hit with a five-yard illegal procedure penalty.
An incomplete pass, a running play which lost six yards and another incomplete pass left UK facing a fourth and 21 from the OM 22. Joey Worley's attempt from 37 yards out sailed wide to the left.
Adding insult to injury, Ole Miss charged back later in the half to take a 20-7 advantage on a 35-yard Owen field goal. And when UK muffed the ensuing kick-off at 0:08,
Ole Miss got the ball back again and kicked another field goal of 34 yards for a strong 23-7 lead at the intermission.
Kentucky's defense showed signs of dramatic improvement the first few minutes of the third period, but Ole Miss got out of a hole when Young connected with Ambrose for 38 yards on a third and long situation.
Kentucky never seriously challenged after that.
In fact, the two clubs traded light punches until Ole Miss mounted a scoring drive late in the period and finally broke the game wide open early in the fourth period as Owen hit a 40-yard field goal with 12:43 left in the game.
Kentucky, desperate to mount a threat, went to backup quarterback Kevin Dooley with 10:43 left in the game, but the 'Cats were called for illegal procedure before the first snap. In fact, Claiborne had summoned Ransdell back to his side by the time Dooley took his third snap. It was to be his last of the afternoon.
The next series brought Ransdell back into action after Kentucky recovered a fumble on the Ole Miss 35. Once again, the flag caught the 'Cats, this time with one for offsides. Thanks to three Ransdell passes, the last being a screen to Marc Logan on a fourth and 16 situation, the UK offense finally got on the scoreboard. Kentucky failed on the two-point conversion at 5:48 and trailed 26-13. Claiborne later said he felt the Cats had an outside shot if the defense could have held the next series. It didn't.
"If we could have stopped them on the next series, we could've scored and had an onsides kick," explained Claiborne. "There was time left, but we didn't stop them."
Ole Miss marched straight down the field after a 15-yard personal foul penalty moved Ole Miss' ball possession to midfield. Eight plays later sophomore Johnny Boatman scored from two yards out and Owen kicked the extra point. The scoreboard read: Ole Miss 33Kentucky 13. Gametime.
Ole Miss rolled up 418 yards offense to a miserable 203 for Kentucky. In the first down department, Ole Miss racked up 21 to only 12 for UK.
Kentucky was hit particularly hard in the penalty column, cited 13 times for 100 yards, more yardage than UK backs gained all day in the rushing category.
Kentucky's Jeff Nelson Continues To Kick Well
Ironically, the only statistical category which UK earned any respect was in the punting department where the 'Cats were going up against the nation's second ranked punter.
Punter Bill Smith was averaging well over 40 yards per try until Saturday when he averaged only 38.6 on four kicks. Jeff Nelson, UK's punter enjoyed plenty of practice, kicking nine times for a 45.2 average.
The win improved Ole Miss' record to 3-2-1 over and 1-1 in the SEC. Kentucky fell to 3-1-1 in dropping its first SEC contest of the season.
Kentucky will now lick its wounds and try to get ready for the surging LSU Tigers who knocked off Georgia Saturday. The UK-LSU battle will kick off at 7:30 p.m. at Commonwealth Stadium.
Ole Miss returns to its campus in Oxford Saturday for its annual homecoming as SW Louisiana provides the opposition. For Billy Brewer, it should have a nice beginning, to say the least.
Wildcat-Rebel Tidbits
The biggest disappointment on an otherwise great afternoon for Ole Miss had to be the less than 28,000 fans who showed up for the game. But that has not been unusual in recent years. That's also part of the reason why everyone considered the UK game to be pivotial for Brewer. This is Billy's fourth season at Oxford and a loss would have left the Rebs with a 2-3-1 record and prospects of a losing season. That coupled with Mississippi State's new-found success makes for a difficult time for an Ole Miss fan in Mississippi. . . Because of all those empty seats, Ole Miss officials were gracious to Kentucky inasmuch that UK fans were offered excellent seats along the 40-yard line, a far cry from visitors' seats in most stadiums which usually are near the goal line or in the end zone . . . Watching from the press box were officials from both the Sugar Bowl and the Peach Bowl. It's highly unlikely the Sugar Bowl representative wasted a great deal of time in taking notes on this one . . . The SEC's representative was Gordon Pettus who is in charge of football officials . . . Making the trip with the UK official party was UK president Otis Singletary as he cheers the Cats on for the final season as president of the university. Dr. Singletary retires from the presidency next June. The loss had to be particularly painful to him as he completes his 18th year in Lexington. It's no secret that one of Singletary's greatest non-academic loves is football. No president before Dr. Singletary has worked as hard or done more to promote UK football than this man . . . Also on the team plane were UK board trustee George Griffin and long-time UK athletics booster Seth Hancock, one of the top thoroughbred breeders in the world. Griffin will most likely have a strong say-so in Singletary's replacement while Hancock was the man who is responsible for raising most of the money to build a new football complex for Claiborne's Cats . . . Kentucky's loss to Ole Miss was the 'Cats' first loss to Ole Miss in 15 years. The last time UK lost to the Rebels was in 1971 when the 'Cats suffered a 34-20 setback in Lexington. Ole Miss now leads the series 20-10-1