Ole Miss fails first test of the season: Does Kentucky loss knock Lane Kiffin's Rebels off their high horse?

The Rebels face an uphill climb after a disastrous open to SEC play. Was the hype too much?

It didn't take long for No. 6 Ole Miss' College Football Playoff hopes to hit a major bump in the road. Lane Kiffin's preseason darlings fell, 20-17, at home against unranked Kentucky -- the same jekyll-and-hyde Kentucky team that lost 31-6 to South Carolina and then hung tough with Georgia -- in the Rebels' SEC opener. 

For Kentucky, it's the highest-ranked road win since 1977, when the Wildcats downed No. 4 Penn State. For Ole Miss, what was meant to be a statement that the Rebels can, in fact, compete against teams with a semblance of a pulse turned into one of the biggest duds of the entire season. How Kentucky won the game was a perfect microcosm of the breaks that went the Wildcats' way, and the boneheaded mistakes that doomed the Rebels in the end. 

Kentucky faced a fourth-and-7, down 17-13, from its own 20-yard line with less than four minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. A stop would have secured the win for Ole Miss and slammed the door on any of Kentucky's remaining hopes. 

But Wildcats wide receiver Barion Brown, the one offensive weapon that Ole Miss should have locked down in such a situation given his game-breaking speed, raced deep into the Rebels' secondary and hauled in a perfectly pass from quarterback Brock Vandagriff for a gain of 63 yards. It wasn't bad coverage for Ole Miss, but the backend safety was way too late getting over to help and Brown made an excellent catch against the lone defensive back. 

Kentucky was able to march the ball to Ole Miss' goal line where, on second down, quarterback Gavin Wimsatt came in for a running play. He was met short of the goal line and fumbled the ball forward, affording Ole Miss another chance to save the game. Instead, Kentucky tight end Josh Kattus was in the right spot and fell on the ball as it bounced into the end zone. 

Ole Miss had a chance to tie the game late, but kicker Caden Davis' 51-yard attempt sailed well-wide of the uprights. 

That fumble touchdown was nothing but an unlucky swing for Ole Miss, with no one to blame for a tough bounce. The Rebels lost well before that game-defining play, though. 

Kentucky moved the ball consistently and dominated the time of possession by holding the ball for 39:43 compared to Ole Miss' 20:17, which is where the Rebels' offensive tempo worked against it. Ole Miss' defense presented itself well Saturday, but it was on the field way too much. Cracks, like that 63-yard completion to Brown, started to show as the game wore on. 

Ole Miss' defense was sorely lacking in the discipline department; an indictment of the head coach at this point in the season. Kentucky converted two third downs thanks to defensive pass interference calls on Ole Miss, and had another free first down on a defensive holding call that eventually led to Kentucky's first touchdown of the game. 

Ole Miss' offense raised even more red flags. Quarterback Jaxson Dart stayed but the Rebels were unable to sustain drives and the offensive line was thoroughly dominated by a ferocious Kentucky pass rush. 

Dart was sacked four times and his decision-making on the final drive, after a miracle fourth-down completion to keep the game alive, were questionable. Dart took a bad sack to knock Ole Miss further out of manageable field goal range. On third down, he completed a swing pass for negligible yardage rather than push the ball down the field. 

Kentucky had seven tackles for loss and held Ole Miss under 100 total yards rushing with a paltry 3.2 yards per carry. Having offensive line questions does not bode well for a team's future in the SEC. 

This is a situation where Ole Miss' weak schedule will work against it. The Rebels don't have a signature win yet, and they won't get many chances to change that. A road trip to No. 14 LSU, and a home tilt against No. 2 Georgia, are the only currently ranked teams remaining on the slate. 

If Ole Miss puts the same type of product on the field against those programs, it won't end well. Regardless of what happens, it will be hard for Kiffin's team to wash the stain of a home loss, against an unranked 2-2 team that it was favored by double digits against, off of its résumé.