Aguilar throws three touchdowns to lead No. 17 Tennessee over Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Joey Aguilar threw for 396 yards and three touchdowns, DeSean Bishop ran for a pair of touchdowns, and No. 17 Tennessee took advantage of two first quarter turnovers to beat Kentucky 56-34 on Saturday night.

Aguilar completed touchdown passes of 35, 13, and 62 yards to pace the Volunteers (6-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference). Chris Brazzell II had 138 yards receiving and Mike Matthews added 107 yards receiving and each had a touchdown.

“You look at the turnovers defensively, they changed the way the game was played,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said. “I’m proud of the way our guys competed, coming on the road, getting a win against a team that took Texas to overtime a week ago. There’s things we can certainly clean up, and we’ll need to as we keep going through conference play.”

Kentucky’s Cutter Boley tried to match Aguilar, throwing for 330 yards and a school record for a freshman quarterback five touchdowns, but also threw a pick-six that put the Wildcats (2-5, 0-5) in a 14-0 hole.

He had scoring passes of 71, 56, 3, 28 and 7 yards. D.J. Miller had 120 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

The Takeaway

Tennessee: The defensive unit came into the game ranked last in the conference in pass defense, but two turnovers led to 14 Volunteer points. Edrees Farooq fielded his own batted pass and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. The Vols could move up a couple of spots in the Top 25 after SEC teams ranked higher, Missouri and Oklahoma, lost.

Kentucky: The Wildcats scored more than two offensive touchdowns in a game for the first time since Nov. 11, 2023, a span of 13 games. The loss was Kentucky’s 10th straight conference loss, and 11th straight home loss to a Power 4 team.

All eyes on Stoops’ future

The loss will only increase the pressure on Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart to make a decision on coach Mark Stoops, the longest-tenured coach in the SEC. A restless fan base has been vocal on moving on from the program’s winningest coach and showed it Saturday as the crowd was easily split 50-50 between Tennessee and Kentucky fans. By the end it was mostly Volunteer fans gathered in the corner singing “Rocky Top” as the rest of Kroger Field was empty.

A one-play comedy

One play symbolized how Kentucky’s season has gone. In the first quarter, Boley completed a pass to Hardley Gilmore IV, who fumbled. Ja’Mori Maclin tried to pick the ball up, but it squirted backward. Two Kentucky lineman had a shot at the ball, which kept rolling before Maclin did pick it up. Boo Carter then forced Maclin to fumble and it was recovered by Jadon Perlotte at the Kentucky 12. Tack on an unnecessary roughness penalty on Kentucky, and the result was a 23-yard loss.

Up Next

Tennessee: Hosts No. 13 Oklahoma on Saturday.

Kentucky: Travels to Auburn on Saturday.

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