Mississippi State beats turnover-prone No. 12 Kentucky

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Dillon Johnson ran for two touchdowns and Mississippi State scored 14 points off of four Kentucky turnovers to beat the No. 12 Wildcats 31-17 on Saturday night.

The Bulldogs (5-3, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) came up big with three interceptions of Will Levis and a fumble recovery. They turned a third-quarter fumble and pickoff into consecutive touchdowns to put the game out of reach.

Will Rogers set an SEC record by completing 92% of his passes – 36 of 39 – for 344 yards and a touchdown as the Bulldogs won their second consecutive game. Johnson had scoring runs of 9 and 1 yards and finished with 41 yards rushing on 11 carries. Jo’Quavious Marks rushed for 58 yards and a score.

Levis was 17 of 28 for 150 yards and the Wildcats (6-2, 4-2) managed just 66 yards rushing in being outgained 438-216.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Kentucky will fall several spots and possibly out of the rankings following its second consecutive loss.

THE TAKEAWAY

Kentucky: Josh Ali got the Wildcats started by returning a punt 75 yards for a touchdown, but it soon went downhill from there with self-inflicted wounds. Worse, the turnovers gave the Bulldogs a short field for them and they couldn’t cover either the pass or the run. Not the way they expected to come out of a bye.

Mississippi State: The Air Raid offense had a lot of ground-and-pound elements, and the Bulldogs posted just their second game this season with multiple rushing touchdowns. The Bulldogs have shown they can beat talented teams, as long as they play clean.

UP NEXT:

Kentucky: Hosts Tennessee on Nov. 6.

Mississippi State: Arkansas on Nov. 6.