Mississippi 13, Kentucky 7

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Posted 8:24PM on Saturday, October 22, 2005

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) A week after one of the Southeastern Conference's best teams sneaked past Mississippi, it was the Rebels' turn to escape against one of the league's worst. Ole Miss beat struggling Kentucky 13-7 on Saturday in the Rebels' first game since their surprising, last-second loss to nationally ranked Alabama. Micheal Spurlock passed for 198 yards with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Mike Espy, and redshirt freshman Mico McSwain rushed for 104 yards to help the Rebels (3-4, 1-3 Southeastern Conference) avoid their first 0-4 start in conference play since 1984. ``Any day you get a win, it's a great day, so we're positive that we got the win,'' Spurlock said. ``We just tried to go out and stay consistent. We wanted to feed off the game we had against Alabama and play that way through to the end of the season.'' The Rebels scored the first 13 points against Kentucky in bouncing back from a 13-10 loss to mighty Alabama on a last-second field goal. ``We played better against Alabama, because they were a ranked team,'' Rebels lineman Michael Bozeman said. ``Maybe we weren't as fired up today because the game didn't have the same atmosphere.'' The Wildcats (1-5, 0-3) lost their fourth straight, but avoided a shutout when Arliss Beach raced 4 yards for a touchdown with 2:36 left. The Rebels then ran out the clock behind McSwain, who rushed for 50 yards on the final drive, and gave coach Ed Orgeron his first SEC victory in four tries. ``It feels good to get a win, but we didn't play as good as we should have,'' linebacker Patrick Willis said. Kentucky entered with the worst defense in the Southeastern Conference, but for much of this game it was its offense that was ineffective. The Wildcats were held to 47 yards in the first half, lost three fumbles, punted eight times and failed to advance inside the Ole Miss 20 until the closing minutes. ``We competed, but it is hard to win on the road when you make as many mistakes as we did,'' Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said. Andre' Woodson was 12-of-20 for 107 yards for Kentucky. Rafael Little rushed for 77 yards and Beach had 73. Matt Hinkle kicked field goals of 45 and 18 yards, but the Rebels' problems in the kicking game continued. One week after Ole Miss missed one field goal and had another blocked against the Crimson Tide, the Rebels missed four attempts against Kentucky. Two were blocked, one sailed wide right and a third hit the right upright as time expired in the first half. ``We are dealing with what we have,'' Orgeron said. ``They will start making field goals. We just have to find the right kicker.'' The slow-starting Rebels finally found a rhythm late in the first half and led 10-0 at the break. Spurlock hit Taye Biddle for a 33-yard gain to set up his TD pass to Espy. ``At times we played defense effectively, but we failed at critical times,'' Brooks said. Then, the Rebels forced two turnovers in an 11-second span late in the half but scored just three points off the miscues. Ole Miss recovered Little's fumble at the Kentucky 27 with 14 seconds left in the half, and two plays later, Hinkle hit a 45-yarder. The Wildcats muffed the ensuing kickoff and Ole Miss recovered at the 29 with enough time for another try. But Hinkle's 47-yard attempt bounced off the right upright as time expired. (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)