Saturday was one of success for both the Cats and Cards, as both teams earned dominant W's in their home field matchups.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. rushed for a career-high 206 yards and three of his four touchdowns in Lexington, and Kentucky stopped Missouri late for a hard-fought 35-28 victory Saturday night in the Southeastern Conference opener. In Louisville, Malik Cunningham ran for two touchdowns and threw for another to lead the Cardinals to a 30-3 victory over Eastern Kentucky.
Here's a wrap of the games from Kroger Field and Cardinal Stadium.
BIG BLUE BESTS MISSOURI 35-28
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Chris Rodriguez Jr. rushed for a career-high 206 yards and three of his four touchdowns, including the go-ahead score from 8 yards with 11:28 remaining, and Kentucky stopped Missouri late for a hard-fought 35-28 victory Saturday night in the Southeastern Conference opener.
The Wildcats (2-0, 1-0) never trailed this thrilling showdown for the early East Division lead but had to overcome squandering a 28-14 lead as Missouri (1-1, 1-1) eventually tied the game early in the fourth quarter. Kentucky answered by taking the kickoff and quickly marching 75 yards, helped by Rodriguez’s 28-yard run and Will Levis’ 28-yard pass to tight end Justin Rigg to the Tigers’ 8.
Rodriguez barged in from the 8 for the TD, a play in which he appeared to fumble as he crossed the goal line but was upheld on review. Missouri had a final chance to tie after blocking Kentucky’s field goal attempt, but turned it over on downs as Connor Bazelak’s pass intended for Dominic Lovett was broken up by Kentucky’s Carrington Valentine with 1:30 left.
Rodriguez, who surpassed his previous best of 149 yards against Vanderbilt last November, carried 27 times with additional TDs of 2 and 3 yards in matching his career high. The junior also had a 5-yard TD catch, his first, on Kentucky’s opening drive. Levis completed 10 of 18 passes for 179 yards, a TD and an interception off a tipped pass.
Most importantly, Kentucky controlled the line of scrimmage, an effort that totaled 340 yards rushing with Rodriguez leading the way.
“Just me communicating with the (offensive) line,” Rodriguez said. “After every series we would come off and talk about what’s going on and where to hit (the line) at. I just trust those dudes.”
The Wildcats outgained the Tigers 519-398 to avenge last year’s loss in Columbia that marked their flattest effort of the season. They held two-TD leads three times before letting the last one slip away to a Missouri squad that wouldn’t give up.
Bazelak made sure of that by completing 34 of 52 attempts for 294 yards and four touchdown passes, including a 17-yarder to Tyler Badie early in the fourth that tied the game. But he also threw an interception early in the third that Kentucky turned into a Rodriguez TD.
Badie contributed multiple ways for Missouri with 10 receptions for 88 yards and 14 carries for 61 in a workman-like performance. That was the Tigers’ pattern all night as they drove 75 yards or longer for all four TDs but fell short of completing a spirited comeback.
“I’m really proud of this team and everyone, just the way they competed and kept taking the punches they were throwing,” Bazelak said. “We fought back and threw punches back. So I’m proud of how we competed. We didn’t let up, we didn’t give up, even when we were down two touchdowns.”
CARDINALS CRUISE OVER EKU 30-3
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Malik Cunningham ran for two touchdowns and threw for another to lead Louisville, which cruised to a 30-3 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday night.
In guiding the Cardinals (1-1) to their first victory of the season, the redshirt junior quarterback completed 15-of-23 passes for 277 yards. He got some early help from special teams. Marvin Dallas recovered a muffed punt return at the Colonels 25, leading to Cunningham’s first score, a 5-yard touchdown run with 4:27 left in the first quarter.
Braden Smith made it 13-0 with a 49-yard punt return for a score with 10:15 left in the first half.
Cunningham would have had another touchdown, but freshman Ahmari Huggins-Bruce dropped the ball on the EKU 1 on what would have been a 95-yard touchdown pass with 10:16 left in the fourth quarter. The ball rolled into the endzone, and the Colonels recovered for a touchback.
“It’s unfortunate,” Louisville coach Scott Satterfield said of Huggins-Bruce, who finished with a Louisville true freshman record 150 receiving yards on four catches. “He did the hard part. The heavy lifting was outrunning the whole defense. Then the easy part, anybody in this room could just carry the ball across the line, but… he still had a great night.”
Cunningham was replaced by Evan Conley on the next series as the Cardinals were well in command by that point.
The Colonels (1-1) mustered just 233 yards of offense and turned it over three times, with Louisville cornerback Kei’Trel Clark picking off two passes.
EKU coach Walt Wells said he told his team before the game they had a chance to compete, but they had to avoid mistakes.
“You can’t turn the ball over, can’t have negative plays,” he said. “These games, you have to get to the fourth quarter to have a chance, then the pressure goes to them. We never got it to the fourth quarter.”