Five things you need to know from UK’s 16-13 overtime loss to No. 21 Texas
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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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Five things you need to know from Kentucky football’s 16-13 overtime loss to No. 21 Texas:
1. An unpleasant blast from the UK football past. In the overtime, Kentucky had the ball first and had a first-and-goal at the Texas 3-yard line after Kendrick Law took a Cutter Boley screen pass 22 yards on the first play of OT.
Needing only 3 yards to go up by a touchdown, UK instead awakened ghosts of a nightmare from Kentucky’s star-crossed football past.
On first-and-goal from the 3, Dante Dowdell slammed into the middle of the Texas defensive line for no gain.
On second-and-goal, Boley scrambled around right end for 2 yards.
On third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Dowdell tried to leap over the line of scrimmage into the end zone but was stopped short.
On fourth-and-goal, UK tried the same play. Dowdell was again snuffed.
Texas then won the game on a 45-yard field goal by Mason Shipley.
Well-seasoned Wildcats fans were no doubt reminded of the end of the 1987 Kentucky-Tennessee game.
Trailing 24-20, UK had the ball first-and-goal at the UT 5-yard line — but the Volunteers stopped Cats star running back Mark Higgs four times, and Kentucky lost.
2. Two long Texas punt returns cost UK a signature win. On a night when the Kentucky defense dominated Texas, holding the Longhorns to 179 yards of total offense, the Wildcats’ punt coverage failures essentially cost them the game.
In half one, a 40-yard punt return by Ryan Niblett set up a short-field Texas TD drive of 5 yards.
Late in the fourth quarter, a 43-yard Niblett punt return set up the Mason Shipley 39-yard field goal with 57 seconds left in regulation that put Texas ahead 13-10.
3. Cutter Boley is a developing standout. Last season, as a true freshman, Kentucky quarterback Cutter Boley played the entire second half of the Wildcats’ 31-14 loss at then-No. 3 Texas in Austin — and played well.
The former Lexington Christian Academy star completed 10 of 18 passes for 160 yards with an interception.
On Saturday night, Boley made his fifth career college start and first against the Longhorns — and looked every bit like the cornerstone of UK’s football future.
Boley completed 31 of 39 passes for 258 yards with one interception. The redshirt freshman QB also hurt Texas with his legs, including UK’s sole touchdown on a 16-yard scramble.
4. The negative numbers are mounting. Even though Kentucky gave a good account of itself, UK is now 3-18 in its past 21 games against power-conference foes.
Kentucky has now lost 10 SEC games in a row and 14 of its past 16.
Since going 5-3 in SEC games in 2021, Kentucky has since gone 7-21 in league contests.
From the start of the 2023 season, UK is 5-18 against power-conference opposition.
With Kentucky’s loss to Texas, UK has now lost six of its previous seven contests that immediately followed a bye week.
Under Mark Stoops, Kentucky is now 6-12 in games that follow open dates.
5. Another Manning quarterbacks against UK in Lexington. Texas QB Arch Manning became the fourth member of his family to start against Kentucky in the commonwealth.
Arch’s grandfather, Archie Manning, and the Texas quarterback’s uncles, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, have also quarterbacked against UK in Lexington.
This is how each Manning has fared in games played at Kentucky:
• Archie Manning: In 1969, the Mississippi QB completed 8 of 13 passes for 84 yards and had a 64 yard touchdown run but the No. 8 Rebels were upset 10-9 by UK at Stoll Field.
• Peyton Manning: The Tennessee star quarterback played against Kentucky in Lexington twice.
In 1995, as a sophomore, he completed 23 of 41 passes for 272 yards with two touchdown throws and one interception in UT’s 34-31 victory over UK at Commonwealth Stadium.
Two years later, Peyton Manning won a shootout with UK QB star Tim Couch by completing 25 of 35 throws for 523 yards and five touchdowns in a 59-31 Volunteers win in Lexington.
• Eli Manning: As an Ole Miss sophomore, Eli Manning completed 19 of 36 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns in a 42-31 win over Kentucky at Commonwealth Stadium.
• Arch Manning: The Texas QB completed only 12 of 27 passes for 132 yards no TD throws or picks.
The Kentucky defense sacked Manning three times and hurried him seven other times.
UK QB Cutter Boley decisively won the statistical battle against Manning, but the Longhorns got the win.
With the win by Texas, the “Manning family QB tree” is now 4-1 against Kentucky in games played in Lexington and is 8-1 overall against the Wildcats.
Fashion police
For its sixth game of 2025, Kentucky wore silver chrome helmets, blue jerseys with white letters and numbers and blue pants.
Since the start of the 2020 season, UK is now 6-8 in silver chrome helmets.
This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 11:06 PM.
