Missouri 20, Kentucky 10: Maty Mauk and Bud Sasser hooked up for a pair of first-half touchdown passes and the host Tigers turned in a dominant defensive effort to reclaim the top spot in the SEC East.

Mauk finished 18-of-33 for 164 yards and the two TDs and rushed for a team-high 75 yards as Missouri (7-2, 4-1 SEC) won its third straight game, while Sasser caught six passes for 67 yards including scoring grabs of 3 and 26 yards. Shane Ray recorded his 11th and 12th sacks, breaking the single-season school record shared by Aldon Smith and Michael Sam.

Kentucky (5-4, 2-4) managed only 260 total yards in losing its third straight game. A week after passing for a career-high 390 yards against top-ranked Mississippi State, Patrick Towles was 19-of-36 for 158 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Wildcats, who have not won a true road game since 2010 and don't have an SEC road win since 2009.

Both of Mauk's TD passes to Sasser came during a stretch in which the Missouri quarterback completed 11 straight passes, as the Tigers claimed a 14-3 halftime lead. Missouri's offense stalled in the second half, but the Tigers managed a pair of Andrew Baggett field goals to extend the margin to 20-3.

The Wildcats drove into Missouri territory on two of their first three possessions in the second half but were stopped on fourth down each time, including a Ray sack of Towles on fourth-and-8 from the 32. Kentucky finally cashed in on Towles' 1-yard TD pass to Javess Blue with 3:26 left and recovered the ensuing onside kick, but Missouri came up with another fourth-down stop to shut down a potential comeback.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Towles' interception just before halftime ended a streak of 159 straight passes without an interception, the second-longest in school history. … Kentucky freshman RB Mikel Horton rushed for a career-high 62 yards on 10 carries. … Missouri S Braylon Webb was ejected in the fourth quarter for targeting and will miss the first half of the Tigers' next game Nov. 15 at Texas A&M.