Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia played through pain to throw for 143 yards and two scores, helping the Commodores to a 20-13 upset over Kentucky in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday night.
The Commodores (4-2, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) held the ball for 34:35 while their defense limited Kentucky (3-3, 1-3) to 322 total yards and forced two turnovers.
Pavia visited the injury tent twice and returned with a knee brace for the first play of the fourth quarter. Still, he hit 15 of 18 throws while adding 53 yards on the ground.
Vanderbilt held the ball for the first 7:09 of the second half, leading to Brock Taylor’s 49-yard field goal and a 17-7 lead.
The Wildcats then went on their own march, covering 51 yards in 12 plays before coming up empty. They had a first-and-goal inside Vanderbilt’s 1 but went back 5 yards on a false start and eventually lined up for a 23-yard field goal.
But the holder, Kentucky punter Wilson Berry dropped the snap and heaved a prayer of a pass toward the end zone, which Vanderbilt’s De’Rickey Wright picked off at the 1 and returned to the 10.
The Commodores ran about eight minutes off the clock before Taylor drilled a 50-yard field goal with 8:47 remaining.
Kentucky struck back with its best drive of the night, capitalizing when Brock Vandagriff hit Dane Key for a 22-yard touchdown with 7:02 left.
But again, Berry couldn’t handle a low snap on the point-after kick, and the Commodores stopped his ensuing rush short of the goal line.
D’Eryk Jackson sacked Pavia for a 15-yard loss at the Vanderbilt 31 to end the next drive. Barion Brown returned the ensuing punt to the Commodores’ 46, but a block in the back started the drive at the Wildcats’ 20.
But after a sack by Nick Rinaldi slowed Kentucky on its final drive, Vandagriff threw incomplete on fourth-and-21 to seal the upset.
The first half featured just 58 plays. Kentucky had the ball for 16:15 but trailed 14-7 at half.
On Vanderbilt’s first drive, Pavia led the Commodores 97 yards in eight plays, ending the drive when he found a AJ Newberry wide open for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
Demie Sumo-Karngbaye scored a 1-yard touchdown run on Kentucky’s next drive.
The teams traded turnovers — Kentucky’s Jackson had an interception and then Rinaldi a fumble recovery at the Vanderbilt 34. But Kentucky’s Jamon Dumas-Johnson wrecked the Commodores’ drive with a 12-yard sack on second down that eventually forced a punt.
However, Vanderbilt got the half’s final score when Pavia hit former walk-on Richie Hoskins with an 18-yard toss with 13 seconds left in the half.
Both teams played without a defensive star as Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson and Kentucky cornerback Max Hairston were absent with injuries.
Vanderbilt starting defensive end Miles Capers was carted off on a stretcher with 10:19 left in the second quarter after a delay of several minutes. He returned to the sideline in street clothes in the second half.
