College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Kentucky 47, Kent State 14
When: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 8, 2012
Where: Commonwealth Stadium, Lexington, Kentucky
Temperature: 70°
Head Official: Jason McArthur
Attendance: 48346


Kentucky 47, Kent State 14: Maxwell Smith threw three of his four touchdown passes in the second half as host Kentucky steamrolled Kent State.

Smith threw for a career-high 354 yards on 30-of-39 passing and the Wildcats (1-1) ripped off 30 unanswered points in a 12-minute span to rebound from last week's loss to Louisville.

Raymond Sanders rushed for a career-best 115 yards and a touchdown and Aaron Boyd hauled in 11 catches for 100 yards and a TD as Kentucky won its seventh consecutive home opener.

The Wildcats appeared to be in for a battle when Kent State's Trayion Durham scored on a 26-yard run to cut the deficit to 17-14 with 11:50 left in the third quarter.

Instead, Kentucky responded by scoring 16 points in the next 3 minutes, 46 seconds, getting an 18-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Gene McCaskill and a 38-yard TD run by Jonathan George sandwiched around a safety for a 33-14 lead with 3:20 left in the third.

Smith tossed two more scoring passes early in the fourth - to La'Rod King and DeMarcus Sweat - to complete the 30-point binge as the Wildcats stretched the lead to 47-14 with 10:17 to play.

Dri Archer had a 47-yard scoring run in the first two minutes of the game to stake the Golden Flashes (1-1) to a 7-0 lead.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Wildcats scored more points than in any game last season and their 539 yards of total offense was their highest since the 2010 season. ... Kent State fell to 0-7 all-time against Kentucky, which improved to 5-0 against Mid-American Conference opponents with a victory margin of 32-plus points. ... Sweat's 56-yard scoring pass was his first career reception.

Top Game Performances
Rushing
Kent State   Kentucky
Trayion Durham Player Raymond Sanders III
16 Attempts 13
87 Yards 115
5.4 Avg Yards 8.8
1 Touchdowns 1
0 Long 0
Receiving
Kent State   Kentucky
Josh Boyle Player Aaron Boyd
6 Receptions 11
64 Yards 100
10.7 Avg Yards 9.1
0 Touchdowns 1
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
Kent State 409 182 227 2 0 0 1.0 0
Kentucky 539 185 354 6 1 0 3.0 1