Ja'Kayden Ferguson's sideline grab helped Kentucky get past LSU

Kentucky's overtime win over LSU has been replayed all week, but one of its best plays has gotten less attention than it deserves. It came from a receiver who barely showed up in the box score before Saturday.

With about seven and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, quarterback Kenny Minchey threw high down the right sideline to sophomore wide receiver Ja'Kayden Ferguson. According to On3's Kentucky Sports Radio, the 6-foot-2 Ferguson jumped, pulled the ball in and fell backward onto an LSU defender while staying in bounds. The play went for 20 yards and a first down. That drive came up empty when Adam Zouagui missed a 42-yard field goal, but the catch showed what Ferguson can do. He had only 19 receiving yards on the season before kickoff.

He came up big again late. On Kentucky's last drive of regulation, Minchey found Ferguson on back-to-back plays. The first was a 15-yard catch over the middle at midfield with 1:22 left. Kentucky had no timeouts, so the offense hurried to the line, and Minchey hit Ferguson for eight more yards along the right sideline. Minchey got the next snap off quickly and threw 19 yards to Kenny Darby. Zouagui then made the field goal that sent the game to overtime, where Kentucky won it.

Ferguson finished with three catches for 43 yards, which more than doubled his yardage for the season and tripled his catch total. He also returned a kickoff 20 yards. The game was a long time coming for Ferguson, who was a four-star prospect from Houston in the 2025 class. He first committed to Kentucky under Mark Stoops in June 2024 but flipped to Arkansas. He played in six games for the Razorbacks before transferring to Lexington in January to play for Will Stein.

Stein said Ferguson needed time before the staff trusted him in game situations. Snaps as a kick returner and against South Carolina helped build that trust, and the coaches felt even better about using him when Nic Anderson got banged up against LSU. "He's got a lot of talent, a lot of upside," Stein said Tuesday, as reported by KSR. He added that he expects to keep relying on the young receiver. Next up for Kentucky is a trip to Oklahoma.

For LSU, the loss dropped the Tigers to 4-2 and No. 22 in the rankings. Mississippi State, ranked No. 16 at 4-1, comes to Baton Rouge on Saturday at noon Eastern on ESPN and Disney+. Despite the loss, the market strongly favors LSU. The Tigers are favored at -488 on Novig, one of the venues listing the game, and the best sportsbook price on LSU is -525 at BetMGM. The spread is LSU -13.5 and the total is 58.5. Full pricing is on the Mississippi State at LSU odds page.

Those numbers suggest the market sees the Kentucky loss as a one-off. Still, LSU gave up two key late completions to a receiver who had barely played. The Tigers have to tighten up their late-game pass defense this week against a ranked Mississippi State team.