State Drops Decision To Kentucky

Saturday, November 4

Starkville

6:30 p.m.

Mississippi State

4-5 , 1-5

Kentucky

6-3 , 3-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Kentucky

Mississippi St.

State Drops Decision To Kentucky

November 04, 2023 | Football

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)Postgame Notes Photo Gallery

By: Joel Coleman, Senior Writer

STARKVILLE – On homecoming night at Davis Wade Stadium, Mississippi State dropped a 24-3 decision to Kentucky.

The Bulldogs were able to put forth a solid performance defensively in defeat. MSU limited the Wildcats to just 271 yards of offense. Corey Ellington led the Maroon and White with nine tackles, while Jett Johnson had eight takedowns, including 2.5 tackles for loss. However, the Wildcats did enough offensively to come away with the victory.

Kentucky struck first in the contest and never trailed. Wildcat quarterback Devin Leary threw a four-yard touchdown pass early in the first quarter to put his team up 7-0.

State soon responded. After a 20-play, 88-yard drive that lasted more than 12 minutes, freshman kicker Kyle Ferrie drilled a 25-yard field goal to pull State to within four at 7-3.

However, Kentucky scored the final 17 points of the affair behind a pair of second-quarter touchdowns and a field goal in the third quarter.

State did have a few notable offensive performances in the loss. Three Bulldog receivers had more than 35 receiving yards, led by Zavion Thomas, who totaled 44 yards on six catches. Lideatrick Griffin had 42 yards and Justin Robinson had 37.

Quarterback Mike Wright completed 11 of his 21 throws for 78 yards. He also rushed for 20 yards.

With under a minute left in the third quarter, freshman signal caller Chris Parson made his Bulldog debut and had a nice start to his State career by throwing for 67 yards over the remainder of the game.