UK football fans had been asking for it all year, and on Saturday against Vanderbilt, it actually happened.

The Cats were able to dominate an opponent, as they defeated Vanderbilt 44-21. The win was the biggest UK has earned all season, and all components of the team contributed to the victory.

“We played efficient on offense, defense and special teams,” head coach Mark Stoops said after the game. “Each group contributed to the victory, and that makes it very enjoyable as a team.”

Recap: Cats beat Commodores 44-21

The defense in particular had a bounce-back performance after letting opposing offenses beat them in the last couple of games. UK had forced four turnovers, all of which were interceptions.

Three of the interceptions came in the first half, when UK was in the middle of scoring 34 unanswered points. The last time the Cats had three interceptions in a game was when they picked off Lamar Jackson three times in last year’s upset over Louisville.

The interception splurge comes after a week in which the secondary was scrutinized for its previous weak performances. Stoops challenged the secondary to step up before the game, and they got the message.

“It just felt good, the challenge was brought to us by coach Stoops, he was like, ‘We need one,’” defensive back Derrick Baity said. “Then we just came out with so many, it felt good.”

Watch: Derrick Baity postgame interview

The four interceptions were enough to please Stoops, as he believes the secondary embraced the challenge and played more motivated.

“I love the way they’re competing, the way they’re practicing,” Stoops said. “They have great pride in what they do and don’t want to let the team down. They want to play well and they did that.”

However, it wasn’t just the secondary that played well, as the pass rush spent a good part of the game in Vanderbilt’s backfield. The Cats generated five sacks and had six tackles for a loss.

Denzil Ware had two of those sacks, and an interception. Ware believes the interceptions the secondary came up with helped the pass rush comes up with all the sacks.

“Everybody who got a sack got to thank the DBs because of all the picks they got,” Ware said. “The rush complement the coverage and the coverage complement the rush, and that’s exactly what happened tonight.” 

The good defensive performance comes at a good time, as the Cats will face their toughest challenge next week when they travel to Georgia. 

Georgia is one of the top teams of the country, even after a tough loss to Auburn, but with UK’s gained confidence after beating Vanderbilt, they think they’re capable of doing big things.

“We’re getting our confidence back at the right time, we’re going to hit the ground running,” Baity said.