Photo by MSU Athletics
Despite losing to Kentucky, 49-10, Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field, the Murray State football team left Lexington with several positives as it heads into its bye week, followed by the opening of Ohio Valley Conference play.
Defensively, Kenney Wooten had the first sack of the season on UK quarterback Terry Wilson, in addition to forcing one of two fumbles on the afternoon, the other coming from Marquez Sanford. Sanford led the Racers on the day with seven tackles, including 0.5 for loss.
Offensively, after giving up eight turnovers in the first two games of the season, Murray State had just one Saturday, a late-game interception by Shuler Bentley, who was under extreme pressure on the play. In addition, the Racers improved on their third down conversion rate, going from 8-for-27 in the first two games to 9-of-16 Saturday.
Drew Anderson was 15-of-32 in the game for 118 yards, while backup Preston Rice came in late and broke off a 21-yard run for MSU’s only touchdown of the game. Receiving wise, the freshmen duo of Malik Honeycutt and Armani Hayes led the Racers with four catches each for 76 and 35 yards, respectively. On special team, Gabriel Vicente improved to 4-for-4 on field goals on the year with a 29-yarder as time expired in the first half.
The Racers will now take a week off before opening OVC play September 29 at home against UT Martin in the annual Family Weekend game.
Courtesy of MSU Athletics
