The UK football team took its show on the road for the first time since Oct. 8, traveling to Nashville, Tenn. to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in an SEC East showdown with bowl game implications. The Cats road woes continued, as they fell to the Dores 38-8.

From the start of the game, UK looked out of rhythm and overwhelmed by a Vanderbilt team fighting for just its second bowl berth since 1982. In the first quarter, a bad snap to punter Ryan Tydlacka prevented the senior from getting a kick away, as a swarm of Vanderbilt defenders downed him at the UK two yard line. Vanderbilt would score on the next play to take a 7-0 lead it would never relinquish.

Behind quarterback Jordan Rodgers, Vanderbilt was able to move the ball with relative ease all game long on a much-improved UK defense. The Dores totaled 410 total yards, 203 on the ground and 207 more in the air on their way to five touchdowns on the day. The Cats, on the other hand, accumulated 211 total yards for the game.

UK’s struggles on offense only compounded the team’s issues on defense. Freshman quarterback Maxwell Smith, in his third consecutive game seeing significant time under center, was never able to find consistency with his receivers in the passing game. Smith finished the game 15-31 passing for 179 yards and a touchdown, but stumbled to 4-11 passing for 22 yards in the first as Vanderbilt extended its lead.

With just 48 yards rushing to compliment the passing game, UK lost the time of possession battle to Vanderbilt 38 minutes to 22. On both sides of the ball, Vanderbilt looked to be the more prepared and talented team, breaking the mold of SEC cellar-dweller.

For UK, the loss is crippling to its chances of making a bowl game this season. The Cats (4-6, 1-5 SEC) will need to win both of its last two games, beginning next week at SEC East-leading Georgia and finishing against their arch-nemesis Tennessee.

The game in Athens next Saturday will once again kick-off at 12:21 p.m. as the SEC Network’s featured game of the week.