Will Levis passed for a career high 419 yards and matched his career high with four touchdowns tosses as Kentucky overcame some sloppy play for a 56-16 victory over New Mexico State Saturday afternoon in Lexington, Ky.

Justin Rigg and Josh Ali had two scoring receptions each for career single-game bests as Levis finished with 21 completions in 31 attempts. Levis threw an interception among the four turnovers for the Wildcats (8-3).

Nebraska transfer Wan’Dale Robinson also had a big day for Kentucky with 8 catches for a career-high 181 yards that included a career-long 79-yarder.

Sophomore Beau Allen scored his first career touchdown after relieving Levis in the fourth quarter, and the Wildcats also got rushing touchdowns from Chris Rodriguez and Kavosiey Smoke.

The Aggies (1-10) had trouble putting together a consistent attack on offense. Jonah Johnson passed for 181 yards on 16 completions in 35 attempts and the Aggies rushed for only 101 yards in dropping their seventh consecutive game.

Defense provided the Aggies their only touchdown when Trevor Brohard returned a Kentucky fumble 25 yards on the Wildcats’ third offensive play.

Ethan Albertson provided the rest of New Mexico State’s scoring by matching his single-game career high with three field goals, including his second 50-yarder in a week. He scored the Aggies’ only points with a 50-yarder in a 59-3 loss at Alabama.

The Wildcats led 35-16 at the halftime break despite early miscues. In addition to the bad snap that led to their early fumble, Rodriguez also lost a fumble on a first down plunge from New Mexico State’s 4-yard line.

But Levis posted 287 of his passing yards and three of his touchdown throws in the first half alone. Rodriquez capped a 91-yard scoring drive with a 6-yard run and Quandre Mosley scored on a 38-yard interception return in the first quarter for the Wildcats.

–Field Level Media

Having wrapped up Southeastern Conference play with a win over Vanderbilt, Kentucky finishes the regular season with a pair of nonleague affairs, starting with the home finale against New Mexico State on Saturday.

With their 5-3 league record, the Wildcats (7-3) are assured of sole possession of second place in the SEC East for the first time and have a shot at 10 wins for the fourth time in program history.

After facing the Aggies (1-9), the Wildcats play at Louisville on Thanksgiving weekend, with a bowl game to follow.

“I’m proud of the team, the fact that our team will have a winning SEC record,” Wildcats coach Mark Stoops said. “At the end of the day, there’s going to be four or five teams in our league, maybe six, but highly unlikely, probably four or five, that will have a winning record in the SEC. It’s hard.”

For New Mexico State, the game will be a homecoming for Doug Martin. The coach was a backup quarterback at Kentucky in the early 1980s and calls himself a “proud alum.” Kentucky is where he met his wife, Molly, and it’s where he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant.

Martin is bringing his Aggies to Lexington for a second time, having lost to the Wildcats 62-42 in 2016. The 42 points were the second most the Aggies scored that season.

“It was a pretty competitive game,” Martin said. “I know we had a hard time stopping Kentucky, too. They had a good offensive team also. I remember our guys played really hard and competed. It was a good football game.”

Stoops agrees, saying the Aggies gave the Wildcats all they could handle.

“They really had an opportunity to beat us,” the Kentucky coach said, “so we better be locked in.”

The Wildcats must ignore the 59-3 pounding that New Mexico State absorbed at Alabama last week, Stoops said.

“We always talk about ourselves, no matter who we’re playing,” Stoops said. “We could be playing the No. 1 team in the country or somebody that’s struggling, it doesn’t matter.”

–Field Level Media