Kentucky snaps Mizzou’s road winning streak with 21-13 win

LEXINGTON, Ky. As the injuries piled up for Missouri, a team that’s played with minimal margin for error to start the season cut that margin too thin Saturday at Kentucky.

With four starters lost for the game two on each side of the ball No. 25 Mizzou snapped its 11-game road winning streak in a 21-13 loss to Kentucky, a team the Tigers had swept their first three years in the Southeastern Conference.

But not this time. Winning ugly had become Missouri’s specialty, but this one was plain ugly. Patrick Towles’ 24-yard touchdown pass in the final minutes of the third quarter put Kentucky ahead for the first time and for good at Commonwealth Stadium.

With Missouri missing senior linebacker and leading tackler Kentrell Brothers (sprained ankle) and its most experienced player in the secondary, senior safety Ian Simon (head injury), Towles added to the lead with a 5-yard touchdown to Dorian Baker with 6:20 left, an insurmountable two-score lead against a hapless Mizzou offense that was missing right tackle Nate Crawford (sprained ankle) and tight end Sean Culkin (sprained knee).

The loss, Missouri’s first on an opponent’s home field since a season-ending 30-point blowout at Texas A&M in 2012, dropped the Tigers to 3-1 and 0-1 in SEC play.

From here, the Tigers lick their wounds and head home for a two-game stand against division foes South Carolina and Florida, both chances to climb back into the SEC East race for second place behind Georgia or fall deeper into Vanderbilt territory at the bottom of the division standings.

On the same field where he tied a school record with five touchdown passes two years ago, Missouri quarterback Maty Mauk led an 80-yard touchdown pass to put the Tigers ahead early but could never recapture that momentum. Mauk completed 15 of 30 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown hardly his worst game but probably not enough to silence more calls for freshman quarterback Drew Lock get more snaps. Lock led only one series, a second-quarter drive that stalled in Kentucky territory, and completed three of five passes for 37 yards.

The return of senior tailback Russell Hansbrough helped some but not enough as Missouri’s running game had little life outside of some Mauk scrambles. The Tigers finished with 111 yards on 33 carries, with Mauk supplying 49 of those yards on the ground.

With a 10-7 lead midway late in the third quarter, Mizzou appeared to stop the Wildcats (3-1, 2-1 SEC) around midfield, but cornerback Aarion Penton was flagged for pass interference on an incomplete pass, giving the Wildcats new life. Later on the drive, Towles froze the Missouri defense with a play-action pass to C.J. Conrad, his freshman tight end, good for a 24-yard go-ahead score. In the fourth quarter, Towles led a nine-play, 93-yard drive and extended UK’s advantage to 21-10 with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Baker.

The Tigers got as close as UK’s 3-yard line on the next drive but had to settle for a 24-yard Andrew Baggett field goal, his second of the game, getting the Tigers within 21-13 with 3:00 left. Kentucky salted the game away with its running game, denying the Tigers one last chance to catch up.

Expected to be low-scoring game between two teams with stumbling offenses, MU-UK lived up to its billing through the first half. Twice pinned inside its 5-yard line by Mizzou punter Corey Fatony, Kentucky fizzled on consecutive possessions in the second quarter as the teams took a 7-7 tie into halftime.

After the 80-yard touchdown drive to open the scoring, Missouri stalled on its next three possessions, but Fatony came through on fourth down each time, first with a 55-yard punt to UK’s 4. Towles led the Wildcats past midfield on the ensuing drive, but the Tigers forced a punt.

Getting his first series of the night, Mizzou’s Lock completed a couple of passes to get the Tigers moving but two incomplete passes and a third-down sack brought Fatony back out for another kick. He delivered again, this time dropping a 45-yard punt on the UK 2. The Wildcats picked up two first downs in the half’s final minute but settled for the halftime stalemate.

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