How Mark Stoops, Bush Hamdan explained controversial decisions in Texas loss
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Gameday: No. 21 Texas 16, Kentucky 13 (OT)
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Texas football game at Kroger Field in Lexington.
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Turns out, Kentucky football’s opening drive against Texas was a sign of things to come on what ended up another in a long line of heartbreaking nights for the Wildcats.
A golden opportunity to change the narrative about a disappointing first half to the season instead ended in a 16-13 overtime loss.
Kentucky opened the game with three first downs. Quarterback Cutter Boley looked impressive. Running back Seth McGowan returned from an injury suffered at Georgia and continued to make plays.
But facing third-and-2 at the Texas 17-yard line, Boley gained just 1 yard on a quarterback sneak after coach Mark Stoops elected not to call a timeout to alter the play call after it became apparent the ball had been spotted farther from the first down than he expected. Stoops left his offense on the field for fourth-and-1, but this time it was running back Dante Dowdell who was stopped for no gain and no points.
“Disappointing from the standpoint of it’s something last year that hampered us a bunch (in short-yardage situations), and we had cleaned up,” offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said. “We’re a yard away. Got to go make those plays.”
Unfortunately, for the Wildcat faithful in Kroger Field, that was just an appetizer for the heartbreak to follow.
The game looked lost when Texas took a 10-7 lead on a 39-field goal with 57 seconds left in regulation, but Boley and company refused to accept defeat.
Kentucky needed just three plays to cross midfield.
A Boley pass to freshman DJ Miller gave the Wildcats a first-and-10 at the Texas 27-yard line with 15 seconds left, but Kentucky had no timeouts remaining. Boley quickly spiked the ball to stop the clock, and Stoops elected to send the field goal unit out on second down with 14 seconds remaining rather than take a shot at the end zone.
“Scoring in that situation, a touchdown, is pretty tough,” Stoops said before seemingly acknowledging the calls for him to be fired. “I mean, if I don’t get the three, then do I even walk in here (for the press conference)?”
Jacob Kawue sent the game to overtime by converting a 45-yard kick, but that euphoria proved short-lived.
Texas won the toss to start overtime and elected to play defense first so it would know how many points it needed to tie or win the game on its first possession. Kentucky began its possession with a 22-yard catch-and-run by wide receiver Kendrick Law for a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line.
Dowdell was stopped for no gain on first down. Boley avoided a sack to scramble for 2 yards on second down. Dowdell was stopped short of the goal line when he tried to leap over the pile on third down.
Stoops left his offense on the field again for a fourth-and-goal from the 1, but Dowdell was stopped short again on another leaping attempt.
Just like on the first possession. No gain, no points.
“There’s always decisions that I can definitely second-guess myself on, but not that one,” Stoops said. “I wanted to go to play to win, and we played well the entire game and had a great opportunity. Six inches or whatever, half-yard to win, put yourself in a position to win the game.
“We came up short. And that hurts.”
As it had for the vast majority of the game, Kentucky’s defense stymied Texas on the ensuing possession. But that effort was not enough with the Longhorns needing only a field goal to win.
Five plays later, Mason Shipley converted from 45 yards for the 16-13 victory.
Texas had failed to live up to the hype of its preseason No. 1 ranking even before traveling to Lexington for the first time, but a win against the No. 21-ranked Longhorns could have been the type of momentum-building outcome that at least quieted the rampant negativity surrounding the program.
Instead of the focus being on a strong showing from Boley, who completed 31 of 39 passes for 258 yards and rushed for 45 yards and one score, Stoops and Hamdan were left to defend another performance where Kentucky failed to score multiple offensive touchdowns.
“We’re falling short,” Hamdan said. “We’re not making those plays. I understand the criticism. It’s warranted. We got to get it fixed.”
As he has throughout the first half of the season, Stoops insisted again this team has been steadily improving despite the lack of wins.
But he also repeatedly acknowledged the final score is the ultimate arbiter of success.
Progress from Boley and a bounce-back showing from a Kentucky defense that had struggled in losses to South Carolina and Georgia are unlikely to be enough to ease the pressure on Stoops after a night when so many of his decisions could be second-guessed.
The last of those decisions came when Kentucky elected to hand the ball off to Dowdell twice on near-identical dives with the game on the line in overtime.
Should star running back Seth McGowan, who had been so crucial on the game-tying drive at the end of regulation, have been given a touch in overtime? Should Kentucky have attempted a pass against a Texas defense that entered the day allowing the fourth-fewest rushing yards per game in the country? Should Stoops have just kicked the field goal and hoped his defense could hold Texas to three points too?
“I think we were just in a situation where when you’re a yard, yard and a half away, you got to make those decisions of what you’re going to live with,” Hamdan said. “And we felt we were going to rely on being downhill with the backs and our O-line, and that was a decision we made.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2025 at 12:45 AM.
