Kentucky football was bested for the second time in a row on its home field by the Vanderbilt Commodores.

With fans reeling from the disappointing loss, several key elements stuck out from the loss.

1) Penalties

Kentucky has had many instances in the past couple seasons of excessive penalties during a game, including in last year’s 38-21 loss to Missouri, which saw the Cats committing a staggering 14 penalties.

Penalties have not been a major issue for the team this season until tonight, when Kentucky committed a staggering 12 penalties.

The Cats committed four of those in the first quarter alone, including two for 25 yards on the opening drive that backed them out of field goal range and forced a punt.

On the drive immediately following D’Eryk Jackson’s interception in the second quarter, two more penalties killed the momentum, and the drive eventually ended in a lost fumble.

Perhaps the most hurtful penalty came in the third quarter, when an easy 1-yard touchdown run by Demie Sumo-Karngbaye was negated by a false start penalty.

After failing to travel 6-yards to the end zone on the next two plays, the Cats were forced to attempt a field goal, which went horribly wrong as a dropped snap led to a desperation throw that was intercepted.

The costly penalties did not stop there as, late in the fourth quarter, a punt return to midfield by Barion Brown was brought back to the 20 because of a block in the back penalty.

On the final offensive drive with the game on the line, the offensive line was called twice for holding, which put the Cats out of range to drive to the end zone in time and tie the score.

In a close game like this one, things as small as penalties can make the difference in whether or not a drive ends with a score, and Kentucky proved just that tonight.

2) Special teams miscues

There were not one, but two instances in the game where Kentucky struggled on the kicking operation, and it cost the team four points.

The first time was the field goal attempt in the third quarter that saw Wilson Berry drop the snap and fail to secure the hold in time.

The play ended in Berry heaving the ball in desperation, leading to an interception.

Additionally, the special teams botched an extra point attempt following Kentucky’s 22-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

Berry had trouble handling the snap and getting the hold in the right place, so kicker Alex Raynor stopped his kicking motion and left Berry to unsuccessfully try to run the ball toward the end zone.

It may not seem like these plays are important in the moment, but later down the road fans are often wishing small mistakes like that did not occur because, once again, it can mean the difference in who wins the game.

3) Short passes

Vanderbilt’s defense gave up only 84 rushing yards in its upset win over Alabama last weekend and held Virginia Tech to only 75 yards on the ground in week one.

Because of this, the Wildcats, who have run the ball nearly twice as much as they have passed it this season, should have prepared to run a more balanced offense tonight.

Many of the plays that kept drives going were shorter passes for less than 10 yards by quarterback Brock Vandagriff.

On Kentucky’s touchdown drive in the first half, Vandagriff completed four of those passes for a total of 30 yards, proving those to be a safe and viable option for moving down the field.

Vandagriff provided two more of those completions on the following drive and also a 20-yard throw before a fumble turned the ball over.

Sumo-Karngbaye and receiver Dane Key each caught a pass on both of those drives and, even though Key committed the aforementioned fumble, those two have overall solidified themselves as reliable playmakers for the Cats, even if the plays made are small.

As easy as it may be to rely on the run game, short pass plays seem to work in Kentucky’s favor, and running more of those plays in the future may prove to be very beneficial.

4) Defense highs and lows

Coming into the game, Kentucky’s defense was ranked sixth in the FBS in rushing yards allowed per game and fifth in total yards allowed per game.

Perhaps the main key for the defense in this game was containing Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, a dual-threat star who leads the Commodores in rushing yards in addition to being a skilled passer.

In the end, the Cats were capable of doing so, but only some of the time.

Coming into the game, Vanderbilt was one of only three schools in the FBS to not have a pass intercepted, but that changed in the second quarter when Jackson picked off Pavia at the Kentucky 35-yard line. 

The defense also sacked Pavia three times and hurried him once.

On many other plays, though, Pavia’s speed and scrambling ability was tough to stop, just like it was for the number one team in the country last weekend.

He totaled 53 rushing yards tonight and also completed 15 of 18 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

Jamon “Pop” Dumas-Johnson led the team in tackles tonight with nine total including six solo and two for a loss. Jackson also recorded two tackles for loss along with the interception.

Although the defense surely had its bright spots against the Commodores, it needs to play at an elite level more than it did tonight to shut down solid SEC opponents.

Kentucky football will return to action when it travels to the Swamp to face the Florida Gators.