OXFORD, Miss — No. 6 Ole Miss failed their first real test of the season with a 20-17 loss to Kentucky on Saturday in front of a sold out Vaught Hemingway Stadium.
"We didn't make the plays, we didn't close them out," Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin said postgame. "You can't let people hang around especially in this conference."
Down three with less than a minute to go, the Rebels had a chance to tie it with a 49-yard field goal, but kicker Caden Davis shanked it left to hand Kentucky their first win in Oxford since 1978.
"This is a wakeup call and a season-defining game for us," Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart said. "We all had our chances to win in all three phases."
The Rebels started Saturday's game against Kentucky just like they have every game this season with a touchdown on their opening offensive drive, but that's about the only thing that looked the same.
The Rebels finished with more total yards, 353 to 336 but had nearly 20 minutes less time with the ball and when they had it, they struggled to convert. While the Rebels went 2-2 on 4th down conversions they only managed to convert on 1 of their 10 third down attempts. The Rebels also had 8 penalties for 53 yards which helped Kentucky to extend their drives.
After a one-yard TD run from Henry Parrish Jr. to put the Rebs up 7-0, Kentucky countered with a field goal followed by a 5-yard TD pass from Brock Vandagriff to Dane Key to give Kentucky a 10-7 lead at halftime.
The Ole Miss defense came out in the second half with a point to prove - forcing a 3-and-out from Kentucky. The offense capitalized at the other end with a field goal but Kentucky did enough to grab a field goal of their own and put them back in front 13-10.
The Rebels found themselves in the red zone not long after that but Tre Harris fumbled the ball for the only turnover of the game.
With 10 seconds left in the third Harris made up for the earlier mistake catching a Dart 48-yard TD bomb to put the Rebs up 17-13.
That would be the Rebels last score of the game and it looked like it would be enough as Kentucky faced 4th and 7 at their own 20 with 3.51 left in the game. In fact ESPN analytics gave the Rebels a 93.4% chance of winning. But the Wildcats converted thanks to a Vandagriff 63-yard completion to Barion Brown and just two plays later Josh Kattus recovered a fumble in the end zone to give Kentucky a 20-17 lead and the eventual win.
Dart went 18-27 for 261 yards and one TD in the loss. Meanwhile Harris had 176 yards and 1 TD on 11 receptions.
After four blowout wins, the Rebels now move to 4-1 on the season and 0-1 in SEC play. They will play at South Carolina on Saturday at 2.30 p.m. CT.