Two Longhorns land on the SEC Football Players of the Week superlatives

Texas had two incredible performances in its overtime win at Kentucky on Saturday night in Lexington. Kicker Mason Shipley and EDGE Colin Simmons earned honors today from the SEC.

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DEFENSIVE LINE

Colin Simmons, EDGE, Texas

• Simmons posted a career-high three sacks and his first forced fumble of the season as Texas went on the road and earned a 16-13 overtime win at Kentucky.
• The defense held Kentucky scoreless in the first half and out of the end zone until the fourth quarter for a stretch of eight-straight quarters without allowing a touchdown going back to the third quarter at Florida.
• Simmons’ first sack came early in the second quarter on a 3rd-and-five when the Wildcats had advanced to the Texas 39-yard line with the game still scoreless. Any forward progress might have led to a fourth-down attempt, but Simmons first dropped into coverage before charging the quarterback after a rollout. The sack resulted in a loss of five yards and forced a punt.
• His other two sacks came on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 10-10. After Kentucky had just completed a 19-yards pass to UK 34, Simmons killed the momentum with a 3-yard sack on first down and 2-yard sack with the forced fumble on second down. A defensive teammate was inches from recovering the fumble on a diving attempt, and although the Wildcats managed to get it back, the series ended on the next play, forcing a punt.
• The teams would exchange field goals in the last minute of the game to go to overtime where Texas prevailed.
• Simmons is second in the SEC and seventh nationally this season with seven sacks, while his eight tackles for loss leads the team. It was also Simmons’ fourth-straight game with a sack.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Mason Shipley, PK, Texas

• Shipley connected on all three of his field goal attempts, all of which came in the second half of Texas’ 16-13 road win at Kentucky and included a season long 53-yarder with two minutes left in the third quarter, a go-ahead 39-yarder with 57 second left in regulation, and the game-winning 45-yarder in overtime.
• Also kicked a PAT to account of 10 of the team’s 16 points, in addition to handling primary kickoff duties for the first time this season.
• Shipley kicked off four times for an average of 63.2 yards with a touchback.
• Shipley’s first field goal that came from 53 yards out provided an immediate answer to Kentucky’s first points of the game and provided the Longhorns a 10-3 lead. The second field goal came with 57 seconds left and broke a 10-10 tie to regain the lead for Texas.
• Although Kentucky would tie it again to force overtime, the Longhorns’ defense stopped the Wildcats at the goal line on the opening possession, providing Texas the chance to win with a score.
• Shipley delivered that from 45 yards out even after a penalty had pushed the team back. He is now 6-of-8 on field goals this season with his only misses coming from 55 and 56 yards.

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