By Oscar C. Woodall, Jr., HayWood Media
Saturday, November 12, 2022 – It was a long time in coming, but, the Vanderbilt Commodores’ football team snapped its 26-game, three-year long SEC losing streak by leaving Lexington, Kentucky with a shocking 24-21 victory versus the No. 24 ranked and 17 point favorite Kentucky Wildcats.
It was Vandy’s first victory versus an SEC team since defeating Missouri 21-14 in a home game played on Saturday, October 19, 2019.
Although Kentucky scored first, taking a 3-0 lead, at 13:22 in the first quarter, Vandy showed they would be a very formidable foe, as they came back, taking a 7-3 lead, at 11:54 in the period, when quarterback Mike Wright and placekicker Joseph Bulovas combined to score seven points on a 59 yard touchdown run and point after kick respectively at 11:54, in the period. But Kentucky cut Vandy’s lead to one, when scoring the final points of the first half, at 3:33 in the first quarter behind Ruffolo’s 27 yard field goal.
Then, after closing out the first half with a 7-6 lead, Vandy went up 14-6, when running back Ray Davis and Bulovas combined to score another seven points for Vandy, at 7:47 in the third quarter.But, Vandy did not score again until taking a 17-15 lead at 5:22 in the period behind Bulovas’ 26 yard field goal. At that point Vandy’s defense got stingy, allowing Kentucky to score just six more points. Before the Dores returned to Nashville, with a 3-6 overall season record, a 1-5 SEC record, and just five days to prepare for an SEC home game versus the Florida Gators that is to air live at noon ET on SEC Network this Saturday, October 19.