The Associated Press

STARKVILLE, Miss. - It was a record-breaking night for Kentucky's Derek Abney and another lopsided loss for Mississippi State.

Abney set school records for career kick-return touchdowns and punt-return yardage in a season, finishing with 225 all-purpose yards in the Wildcats' 45-24 victory over the Bulldogs on Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium.

Abney returned two punts for touchdowns and Artose Pinner scored on a 1-yard run - all in the third quarter. Abney's first touchdown came on a 69-yard punt return, turning a close game into a rout for Kentucky (6-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference). The Wildcats had lost their previous three games to Mississippi State (3-5, 0-4).

The Bulldogs have been outscored 152-61 by Southeastern Conference teams, who are averaging 38 points a game against them.

"I take it as a challenge that they kick it back to me," said Abney, who earlier this year returned a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown against Florida to become only the seventh player in NCAA history to accomplish the feat. "I didn't think I could get four punt returns in one season. The looks on the punt-return teams' faces and the other teams' faces are unreal."

What was unreal was how quickly the game got out of hand for Mississippi State, which led 17-16 at halftime.

With about 12 minutes left in the third quarter, Abney fielded a punt, ran right, cut back to his left and ran down the sideline untouched for the touchdown, giving Kentucky a 23-17 lead.

Pinner's TD came after Abney returned a punt 12 yards to midfield, setting up a five-play drive to put the Wildcats ahead 30-17. Five minutes later, Abney ran straight up the middle on a 52-yard punt return that sealed the win for Kentucky.

"He (Abney) has done that against everybody," said Bulldogs coach Jackie Sherrill, who emphasized that he told his punters to kick away from Abney. "He did it against Florida and he's done it against everybody they play."

Said Wildcats coach Guy Morriss: "What's amazing to me is the fact that Coach Sherrill emphasizes the kicking game and they kept kicking the ball to him. They paid for it."

Pinner, the SEC's leading rusher, ran for more than 100 yards for the sixth consecutive game, finishing with 104 yards.

Kentucky led 16-14 late in the first half before Mississippi State went up 17-16 on a 47-yard field goal by Brent Smith.

Jarious Norwood set up Smith's kick with a 30-yard run to Kentucky's 38-yard line with 25 seconds left in the half. The freshman had nine carries for 72 yards in the first half and finished with 138 yards on 15 carries.

Bulldogs quarterback Kevin Fant was only 9-of-30 passing with three interceptions, all of which led to Wildcats scores.

"I think this is probably the first game I've been in that everything that happened was because we gave it to them," Sherrill said. "In the first half, we were able to overcome it all, but in the second half, we gave up two interceptions. You can't give people gifts."

Fant finished with 162 yards passing, including the longest TD pass in school history, a 91-yard toss to Terrell Grindle.

Grindle ran past Kentucky defender Derrick Tatum down the left sideline and caught the pass from Fant, breaking the record set earlier this year by Ray Ray Bivens on an 89-yard pass against Division I-AA Jacksonville State.

Grindle's touchdown made the score 14-10. It was his second TD; the first came on a 9-yard pass from Fant with 11:27 left in the second quarter, after the Wildcats had jumped to a 10-0 lead.

Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen was pressured by Mississippi State's defense for much of the game. He threw for 141 yards and one touchdown, a 4-yarder to Aaron Boone in the first quarter.

The Wildcats return home this week for a test against 17th-ranked LSU (6-2, 3-1), which had a bye week following its 31-7 upset loss to Auburn.

Kentucky	10	6	21	8-45
Mississippi St.	0	17	0	7-27

First Quarter

KEN-Boone 4 pass from Lorenzen (Begley kick), 2:40.

KEN-FG Begley 38, :00.

Second Quarter

MSU-Grindle 9 pass from Fant (Smith kick), 11:27.

MSU-Grindle 91 pass from Fant (Smith kick), 9:13.

KEN-Cook 8 run (rush failed), 1:26.

MSU-FG Smith 47, :07.

Third Quarter

KEN-Abney 69 punt return (Begley kick), 12:37.

KEN-Pinner 1 run (Begley kick), 8:27.

KEN-Abney 52 punt return (Begley kick), 7:15.

Fourth Quarter

MSU-Jones 2 pass from Fant (Smith kick), 9:52.

KEN-Team safety, 7:09.

KEN-Tatum 53 interception return (kick failed),4:56.

A-45,248.

	KEN	MSU
First downs	14	17
Rushes-yards	41-105	43-230
Passing	161	162
Comp-Att-Int	12-26-0	9-34-4
Return Yards	251	58
Punts-Avg.	7-49.9	6-27
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	2-1
Penalties-Yards	12-92	6-51
Time of Possession	29:13	30:47

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Kentucky, Pinner 31-104, Cook 1-8, Abney 1-1, Beach 6-0, Lorenzen 2-(minus-8). Mississippi St., Norwood 15-138, Jenkins 1-34, Reid 10-34, Griffith 1-29, Grindle 1-8, Walker 8-8, Wonsley 1-4, Jones 1-(minus-2), Fant 5-(minus-23).

PASSING-Kentucky, Lorenzen 10-220-0-141, Boyd 2-4-0-20. Mississippi St., Fant 9-300-3-162, York 0-3-1-0, Wallis 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-Kentucky, Bernard 3-37, Cook 2-48, Abney 2-34, Boone 2-28, Pinner 2-5, Holt 1-9. Mississippi St., Grindle 3-108, Griffith 1-16, Bivens 1-15, Reid 1-9, Jenkins 1-8, Lee 1-4, Jones 1-2.