Texas edges Kentucky, 16-13, in overtime
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky has added yet another chapter to its Tolstoy-esque novel based on finding ways to lose college football games.
The Wildcats played some of their best football of the season on Saturday against No. 21 Texas at Kroger Field — dominating total yardage (395-179), rushing yards (137-47), first downs (26-8), and time of possession (39:23) — yet falling 16-13 to the Longhorns in overtime.
“Very difficult loss for our players,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said. “… It hurts, and I feel for them.”
Kentucky had the ball first in overtime and quickly moved inside the Texas 5, but was stuffed on third- and fourth-and-goal from the 1 on back-to-back leaping attempts up the middle by running back Dante Dowdell.
Texas was once again unable to move the ball against a stingy UK defense but got a 45-yard field goal by Mason Shipley, his third of the night, to escape Lexington with an almost inexplicable victory.
The Longhorns, who opened the season ranked No. 1 and were considered a national title contender, improved to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in SEC play.
“I always feel like, once a year, you have a culture where a game is not pretty, but because the team is so close, they find a way to win the game,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “Tonight, these guys found a way to win when the game was sliding in the wrong direction, so absolute credit to our defense—what a tremendous goal-line stand in overtime.
“What a tremendous job by our special teams, Mason, Jack (Bouwmeester), Ryan Niblett, and the punt return unit, for the way they played in that phase of the game.”
Shipley kicked field goals of 53, 39, and 45 yards. Niblett, the Longhorns’ talented specialist, returned two punts for 88 yards to set up 10 of the 16 points scored by Texas.
Kentucky dropped to 2-4 overall and 0-4 in the SEC. It marked the Wildcats’ ninth consecutive home loss in league play dating back to the 2023 season. UK is 2-16 in its last 18 games against conference opponents.
The Wildcats passed on two short field goals in the game, bookending their first and last drives of the night.
Stoops stood by his decision to play for the touchdown in overtime.
“There’s always a decision that I can definitely second-guess myself on, not that one,” he said. “I wanted to go to play to win, and we played well the entire game and had a great opportunity, 6 inches, whatever half-yard, whatever you put yourself in the position to win the game. We came up short. And that hurts.”
Texas won despite gaining the fewest yards (179) against a UK defense in an SEC game since Vanderbilt was held to 139 in 2014. Sophomore quarterback Arch Manning was held to 132 yards passing on 12 of 27 attempts.
Kentucky lost despite gaining 395 yards of total offense against a Longhorn defense that entered the game ranked 11th nationally in total defense at 269.8 yards per game.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley completed 31 of 39 passes for a career-high 258 yards and added 45 yards rushing on 14 carries for the Cats. Kentucky’s lone touchdown came on a 16-yard scramble by Boley early in the fourth quarter, and he engineered the game-tying drive at the end of regulation in only 51 seconds without benefit of any timeouts.
“I’m very impressed with Cutter,” Stoops said. “… He was operating very efficiently.”
Senior running back Seth McGowan added 45 yards rushing and caught seven passes for 68 yards for UK despite briefly leaving the game for X-rays at the hospital before returning to make a handful of key plays on the final drive of regulation.
Redshirt freshman kicker Jacob Kauwe went 2-for-3 on his field goal attempts, hitting from 46 and 45 yards — the latter coming under high pressure with just eight seconds left in regulation — and missing from 53 at the end of the first half.
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In our regular postgame feature, Cats Illustrated touches on some quick-hitters from the UK loss…
GAME BALL:
Ryan Niblett, Texas — The Longhorns’ star return specialist had two punt returns for 88 yards, setting up 10 of the 16 points scored by Texas.
BY THE NUMBERS:
1st – Matchup between Texas and Kentucky in Lexington. The Longhorns now lead the all-time series 3-0.
1.7 – Yards per carry by the Longhorns against the UK defense. Texas finished with just 47 yards rushing on 28 carries.
5 – Sacks by the Texas defense, including three by outside linebacker Colin Simmons.
3-9 – Kentucky’s all-time record in overtime games.
31 – Completions by UK quarterback Cutter Boley were the most by a freshman since Jared Lorenzen in the 2000 season.
10/3/2020 – The last time UK played an overtime game at Kroger Field, falling 42-41 to Ole Miss.
60,937 – Attendance at Kroger Field.
QUOTABLE:
“No, it wasn’t. I think on the first one, he was very close on that leap. And on the next one, I felt like (the Longhorns) were ready for the leap. But they were definitely creating some push down low as well.” — UK head coach Mark Stoops on whether the last two plays for the Wildcats were designed for running back Dante Dowdell to leap over the line of scrimmage.
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action next week at Kroger Field against Tennessee (5-2, 2-2 SEC). The No. 11 Volunteers lost 37-20 to No. 6 Alabama on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Kickoff for the Cats and Vols is slated for 7:45 ET on the SEC Network.