Alabama State Hornets Falls at Kentucky

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LEXINGTON, Kentucky  -- Alabama State University's football team traveled to Lexington to face the University of Kentucky (2-6) looking to become the first member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) to defeat a Southeastern Conference (SEC) school, but Kentucky made sure that did not happen in a 48-14 victory.

"This was a great opportunity for our program to come to Lexington and see how we measure up against a SEC opponent in Kentucky and I thought our guys came out with great energy and enthusiasm," Head Coach Reggie Barlow said. "I thought the first quarter, the first couple of plays on offense we had some positive stuff going on, but again it's a game of emotions and there were some penalties that set up back and put us in bad situations. Of course you can't do that against any opponent, let alone an opponent in the SEC."

Isaiah Crowell led the Hornets in rushing with 84 yards on 12 carries and added a touchdown run, but the Hornets only ran for 149 yards against the bigger Wildcats on 38 carries.

ASU's passing game threw for 148 yards as three different Hornets completed passes, but as a team, only completed 12 of 28. Duhart led the group completing eight of his 23 pass attempts for 97 yards and a touchdown.

Jamel Johnson was ASU's leading receiver with five catches for a game-high 97 yards. He also scored on a 68 yard pass from Duhart in the second half. It was the longest reception of his ASU career.

Leland Baker led ASU's defense with 10 stops (8 solo, 2 assists) and added a sack and two tackles for losses. The Hornets defense lived up to its reputation of putting pressure on the offense and finished the game with three sacks (-26 yards) and 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage (-45 yards).

ASU (6-3) hurt itself with five fumbles, losing two and a partially blocked punt. Those problems led to 17 Kentucky points, including a fumble with less than a minute left in the first half which led to a field goal on the final play of the first half, and a fumble on the second play of the second half which led to a touchdown.

Bobby Wenzig continued to show he is healing from an early season injury while averaging 46.1 yards per punt on eight punts. Three of those punts traveled over 50 yards, with a long of 62 yards in the first half.

The first half did not start out the way the Hornets had envisioned as Whitlow broke free from 88 yards to score on the second snap of the game to give the Wildcats a quick 7-0 lead.

ASU was able to even the score at seven when Crowell broke free from 32 yards and went untouched for the score. The scoring drive covered seven plays and 62 yards.

That would be all the scoring ASU would do as UK turned a block punt and a fumble close to the end of the first half into 10 points and a 31-7 halftime lead.

ASU will be back home in the friendly confines of the New ASU Stadium next week when they jump back into Southwestern Athletic Conference action and host Southern University at 1 p.m.

Box Score            

COURTESY ALABAMA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION