Tennessee once again separated from Kentucky in the Middle 8

Despite throwing a pick-six in the first quarter and allowing three touchdown drives of five plays or less, Kentucky found itself very much in the football game in front of 60,153 fans at Kroger Field. The Cats marched 96 yards in 16 plays in the second quarter while milking over eight minutes off the game clock and scored a Middle Eight touchdown when Cutter Boley found J.J. Hester in the back of the endzone to cut Tennessee’s lead to 28-21 with 1:49 left in the second quarter. The Vols had just one timeout left, and UK was set to take advantage of the double-dip possession in the third quarter after winning the toss and deferring their option to the second half.

Then Josh Heupel‘s offense did what Josh Heupel’s offense does to Kentucky. For the fourth time in five matchups against the play-calling head coach, UK allowed a Middle Eight score in the two-minute drill ahead of halftime.

The Vols marched 75 yards in 10 plays with Joey Aguilar completing 4-of-6 passes for 64 yards. Tennessee didn’t even need to call a timeout as the road team moved the chains on third down twice in the possession. This drive ended on 13-yard strike from Aguilar to tight end Ethan Davis up the seam.

2-minute drill run to perfection

📺 SECN
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— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) October 26, 2025

“That was very frustrating, very discouraging. We’re trying to protect guys at times,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said about the two-minute drill. “As you can see, when you didn’t, they run right by us sometimes. And so with that, protection opens up some other things, and it hurt us on that play and through the middle. That’s certainly one, really whole sequence we could play better, and they made plays.”

Stoops called Tennessee a tough matchup for the home eam because of some of the injuries that Kentucky is dealing with at cornerback, and how the Vols force them to play. Nowhere has that been move evident over this recent series history than in the two-minute drill before the end of the first half. This is typically where the Vols win the game against the Wildcats. Kentucky cannot find stops in this crucial situation.

— 2021: 4 plays, 35 yards, 0:16, Field Goal to take 24-21 lead at halftime (Started drive at 0:16).

— 2022: 2 plays, 35 yards, 0:15, Touchdown to take 27-6 lead at halftime (Started drive at 0:37).

— 2023: 7 plays, 59 yards, 1:41, Field Goal to take 23-17 lead at halftime (Started drive at 1:46).

— 2025: 10 plays, 75 yards, 1:32, Touchdown to take 35-21 lead at halftime (Started drive at 1:37).

With these games in the balance, Tennessee has landed haymakers in the Middle Eight. It has allowed the Vols to win two one-possession games at Kroger Field and to create two blowout victories in 2022 and 2025. Under Heupel, Tennessee has scored 20 Middle 8 points — via the two-minute drill — in five games vs. Kentucky.

Kentucky has always had a Tennessee problem in football. That has been made worse in the Josh Heupel era. The Cats have no answers for this offense. Despite once again getting another strong offensive performance, the Cats blew another opportunity on defense at the end of the first half against the Vols.