The Kentucky Wildcats defense turned in one of the unit's best displays in recent memory on Saturday on they defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores 17-7 at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington. Kentucky's defense held Vanderbilt to only 139 yards of total offense which is the lowest total in a conference game since November 14, 2009 when Kentucky held Vanderbilt to 199 yards. This win also marked the first conference win since November 26, 2011 when they beat Tennessee 10-7.
Vanderbilt started with the ball after Kentucky won the toss and elected to defer. The Commodores earned a first down on pass from Wade Freebeck to C.J. Duncan on the second play of the drive. A pair of short Ralph Webb runs followed by a Freebeck incomplete pass brought out the punting unit. Colby Cooke launched a bomb down to the field which came to rest at the Kentucky 1 yard line.
Sophomore quarterback Patrick Towles did not look flustered as he started backed up to his own end zone coolly completing the first pass to Demarco Robinson for a 10 yard gain. Kentucky was called for a false start on the next play pushing them back to the 6. After two shorts plays, Patrick Towles took to the ground to gain 21 yards and a first down on a 3rd and long.
Kentucky continued to go back to the air on the drive noticing the success they were having. Seven of their next nine play calls were passes and they were all completed including a 20 yard strike to Ryan Timmons to give the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead. All in all, Towles completed all nine passes attempted on the drive for 77 yards and the touchdown.
Vanderbilt's only score of the game would come early in the second quarter after another stalled drive. They actually pushed into Kentucky territory all the way to the 27 yard line before two sacks pushed them back 15 yards and out of field goal range. Kentucky took over at their own nine and Towles was intercepted by Darrius Sims for a pick-6 to tie the game at 7-7.
The Wildcats would strike on the next drive with a field goal to give them the lead 10-7. It was another solid drive from Towles who completed two big 15-yard passes to put the Wildcats into scoring position. The first came on 3rd and 7 putting Kentucky into Vanderbilt territory with the second coming two plays later to put them into field goal range. Vanderbilt's defense held on the next three plays forcing Austin MacGinnis to kick a 44-yard field goal.
The final score of the game came on the very last drive of the half. Kentucky moved the ball down the field with a good balance of pass and run to get inside the Vanderbilt 5-yard-line with less than a minute to go. Both teams called a timeout after the first and goal run from Braylon Heard to get to the two. Heard carried again on second down for a gain of one before Kentucky called their final timeout with 12 seconds left. They would get the touchdown on the next play from Patrick Towles to extend the lead to 17-7.
We will see if Kentucky's program has finally turned the corner as they welcome the South Carolina Gamecocks to Lexington for a primetime showdown on the SEC Network. Vanderbilt travels to Athens for an afternoon kick with the Georgia Bulldogs. That one can also be seen on the SEC Network.