Kentucky made winning fourth quarter plays in Governor's Cup

Kentucky entered Week 13 with an 0-3 record in games that were within one possession against power conference competition. Louisville thrived all season in close games. In Saturday’s 38-31 upset win by the Wildcats, the tables were turned.

After being outscored 32-3 in the final quarter against Missouri, Tennessee, and South Carolina, Kentucky flipped the script against a Louisville team that was 6-0 in one-possession games entering the fourth quarter. The Cardinals were outscoring foes 67-19 in the winning time. Kentucky outscored the home team 17-7 to win the game on Saturday.

The Cats came up in big in the significant moments of the latest Governor’s Cup win. These are the plays that made the biggest difference at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium.

Jack Plummer’s big mistake

Former Purdue and California quarterback Jack Plummer is having a career year as a super senior. The former high three-star recruit in the class of 2018 has reunited with Jeff Brohm and has had some bright moments. However, ball security has been an issue.

Plummer entered Saturday with 10 interceptions and six fumbles. The transfer quarterback has had a couple of multi-turnover games this season. Another occurred on Saturday in the Governor’s Cup. His first turnover of the afternoon was perhaps the biggest play of the game.

Following a Jawhar Jordan fumble that led to a game-tying field goal by Kentucky with 10:21 left in the fourth quarter, Louisville got the ball back with the game tied for the first time since it was 7-7 in the second quarter. After a pass breakup on second down set up a third-and-three, Louisville went to the air. Plummer broke the pocket to the right but made a costly mistake.

The scrambling quarterback does a bad job of protecting the football, and that leads to a fumble recovery by J.J. Weaver. Two plays later, Devin Leary would find Ray Davis on a screen pass for a 20-yard touchdown to give Kentucky a 31-24 lead with 8:37 left in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats would never trail in the ballgame again.

A huge mistake by Louisville’s quarterback was the beginning of the end for the home favorite.

Timely turnover on downs

Following the touchdown where Kentucky took a 31-24 lead in the fourth quarter, Louisville finally started to gain some momentum on offense. A 16-yard completion from Jack Plummer to Jamari Thrash on third-and-long got the drive started. A nine-yard completion from Plummer to tight end Nate Kurisky set up a third-and-one at the Kentucky 38.

All of a sudden, Louisville had created another scoring opportunity with six minutes and changed left in the third quarter, but Kentucky bowed up. On a shotgun run on third down, Louisville tailback Isaac Guerendo was stopped for no gain by Trevin Wallace. Wallace would then get another short-yardage stop on fourth down.

Louisville got into a heavy set and fourth-and-short. Josaih Hayes won at the point attack and created a mass of humanity. That created a one-on-one with Guerendo and Wallace again. The UofL tailback leaves his feet and loses all momentum. Wallace stones him at the line of scrimmage to give Kentucky a huge fourth quarter stop.

Devin Leary finds Barion Brown

Things were not gravy for Kentucky after the turnover downs. A bad third down decision by Devin Leary ends in a pop-up interception that gives Louisville a first-and-10 at the Kentucky 25. However, a second down sack would put Louisville behind the chains. A checkdown completion on third-and-long created a fourth-and-medium. That led to Jack Plummer scrambling and finding Ahmari Huggins-Bruce for a 21-yard touchdown to tie the game.

Kentucky’s offense failed the team late, but Liam Coen‘s unit showed some immediate resiliency on their final drive of the game.

A 15-yard run by Ray Davis got the party started. Barion Brown followed that up by making one of the best plays of his career on second-and-long.

Lined up as the No. 2 wide receiver into the field, Brown gets vertical and finds the soft spot in the zone. Leary puts the ball into the open window, and the sophomore receiver completes a great catch away from his body to create a first-and-10 at the Louisville 37 with under two minutes left in the game.

One play later, Davis gives Kentucky the lead with a 37-yard touchdown run. But without the Brown catch, Kentucky would have been looking at a third-and-long outside of scoring range. The former top-100 recruit came up huge in one of the biggest moments of the game.

Kentucky made all of the key plays in the fourth quarter against a Louisville team that has thrived in crunch time all year.