Is Kentucky a trap game? The week after Red River is often interesting for Texas...
Coming off an emotional win against a highly-ranked Oklahoma team, the Texas Longhorns are traveling to Lexington, Ky. to face off against the Kentucky Wildcats. As cliches would predict, the Longhorns have seen a lot of close games on the other side of the Red River Shootout over the past 15 years. After overlooking Florida, the Longhorns have no margin for error and seeing how they perform versus a down but not completely out Kentucky team will tell us a lot.
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The Red River Shootout saw a desperate Texas team enter Dallas. The former No. 1 team had seen its name tossed around and kicked in the dirt, and its pride be questioned by the media and fans. The Longhorns came out swinging. The first half of the game was fairly even, with a missed Texas field goal giving OU the edge on the scoreboard 6-3.
The second half was outstanding. The offense opened the half with a 7:11 drive, scoring a touchdown to take the first lead. After the defense forced a 3-and-out, the Longhorns enjoyed another lengthy drive totaling 6:15. From there the defense stood firm and shut down any hopes of a 4th quarter comeback for the Sooners. Ryan Niblett also made his famous sprint to the end zone on a punt return.
The emotion on the field showed a team frustrated by previous performances they know could have been better. It’s these emotions that can drain a team’s energy and focus. Traditionally, we have seen Texas wind up in some really close games coming out of the Cotton Bowl.
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Since 2010 in the week after the Red River Shootout and regardless of the result in Dallas, the Longhorns are 11-4 with losses to No. 6 Oklahoma State in 2011, No. 10 Oklahoma State in 2017, No. 12 Oklahoma State in 2021, and No. 5 Georgia in 2024. When looking at the games coming out of Red River, something interesting happens.
Of those 15 games, nine were one-possession games.
This will be a huge game for Kentucky. If the Cats can win, they will be able to say they landed the final blow to the preseason No. 1 team’s College Football Playoff hopes. That may be the highlight for Kentucky since a bowl seems out of reach. They’d remember that win as possibly the final gift from Mark Stoops to Big Blue Nation after all the work he’s done over the years at a basketball school.
If Texas comes out firing on all cylinders, and plays fairly clean football like it did versus Oklahoma, it would be a sign Texas has a level of emotional and physical maturity that would bode well for its hopes going forward.
