Joey Aguilar scorched Kentucky’s defense for 396 passing yards, Edrees Farooq recorded a pick-six, and the No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers claimed their border battle over the Wildcats in a 56-34 blowout on Saturday night in Lexington, Ky.
Aguilar went 20 of 26 with three touchdowns for the Volunteers (6-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference). The transfer quarterback had five passes that went at least 35 yards in the school’s fifth straight win in the series.
Chris Brazzell II had four receptions for 138 yards and a score. Mike Matthews caught six passes for 107 yards and a TD. Braylon Staley totaled 105 yards on six catches. DeSean Bishop logged two of Tennessee’s four rushing scores.
Cutter Boley was 26 of 35 for 330 yards with a career-high five touchdowns and an interception for the Wildcats (2-5, 0-5).
DJ Miller had five catches for 120 yards and two TD passes, while Kendrick Law had two for 103 yards and a score. J.J. Hester caught two TD passes.
The teams combined for 980 yards of offense.
The Volunteers struck quickly in the matchup against their bitter rival, going 75 yards in just four plays to take a 7-0 lead. Aguilar tossed a 35-yard post pass to Brazzell.
Tennessee’s defense chipped in when Farooq made a spectacular play off the left edge. The defensive back deflected Boley’s pass then snared the ball that he brought back 45 yards for the squad’s fifth defensive score.
Boley redeemed himself 37 seconds later with a pass to Law, who sprinted 71 yards.
Ahead by the one touchdown, Tennessee proceeded to create separation with two more TDs for a 28-7 lead on short runs by Star Thomas and Bishop. The latter was set up by linebacker Jadon Perlotte’s fumble recovery deep inside Kentucky territory.
Lined up in the slot, Miller caught a 56-yarder from Boley to make it 28-14 just over a minute later. The Wildcats trimmed it to one score on the freshman quarterback’s 3-yard toss to Hester.
The explosive half ended with Aguilar zipping a 13-yard TD to Ethan Davis for a 35-21 halftime edge.
In the second half, Aguilar found Matthews on a 62-yard bomb before Peyton Lewis’ TD run pushed the lead to a commanding 49-21.
Miller and Bishop swapped scores before Boley found Hester and the final three-touchdown advantage for the visitors.
