Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s loss at No. 3 Texas
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Game day: No. 3 Texas 31, Kentucky 14
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Texas football game at Austin, Texas.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky’s 31-14 loss to Texas in an SEC football game at Darrell K Royal Stadium in Austin, Texas, on Saturday.
1. Kentucky just not good enough
There was no great mystery to this outcome. Texas is the No. 3-ranked team in the country, now 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the SEC on the season. Kentucky is at or near the bottom of the SEC, its record now 4-7 overall and 1-7 in conference play, its eight-year bowl streak officially done.
True, the Cats have hung tough against some of the league’s better teams. They lost by a point, 13-12, at home to Georgia. They beat Ole Miss 20-17 in Oxford. They trailed Tennessee 21-18 in the fourth quarter in Knoxville before falling 28-18. All three of those opponents were ranked in the AP’s top 10 at the time.
Still, if you are Kentucky, you have to play near perfect games to beat teams with superior talent. This is a far from perfect Kentucky. Saturday brought more examples. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on UK defensive back Maxwell Hairston turned a fourth-and-9 from the Kentucky 11-yard line into a first-and-goal at the 5. Texas running back Jaydon Blue scored on the next play. An offensive holding penalty by Eli Cox erased a 33-yard pass in the third quarter. Imperfections like that.
I thought Kentucky played hard. No questioning its effort. When Jamon Dumas-Johnson returned a Quinn Ewers fumble 25 yards for a score to cut Texas’ lead to 24-14 with 2:41 left in the third quarter, you thought the Cats had a puncher’s chance. Instead, Texas punched the visitors in the mouth with a punishing 15-play, 86-yard drive to salt the game away in the fourth quarter. All 15 plays were running plays.
Texas was too good. Kentucky was not good enough. Story of the season.
2. Cutter Boley is the future
For the second straight game, true freshman quarterback Cutter Boley didn’t just play the entire second half, he was impressive the entire second half. Last week, Boley’s performance came against Murray State, one of the worst teams in FCS. This week, Boley’s performance came against Texas, one of the best teams in FBS.
The stat sheet says that, after replacing starter Brock Vandagriff at the beginning of the second half, the former Lexington Christian Academy star completed 10 of 18 passes for 160 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. The numbers only tell part of the story, however.
After taking a 13-yard sack on the first play of the second half, Boley hit Barion Brown for a 43-yard gain. Three plays later came that 33-yard pass to Ja’Mori Maclin that was wiped out by the Eli Cox penalty. Later in the third quarter, Boley hit tight end Willie Rodriguez for a 25-yard gain. In the fourth quarter, he threw a 19-yard strike to Dane Key, and hit Fred Farrier with a 15-yard pass after showing nice patience in the pocket.
Boley’s best throw might have been on UK’s final series when he hit Rodriguez with a perfect pass in the hole of Texas’ zone defense for a 22-yard gain. The execution of the play, and the pass, had ESPN color analyst Jesse Palmer gushing. After all, Palmer is a former Florida quarterback.
I will be shocked if Boley is not the starting quarterback for Saturday’s Governor’s Cup game against Louisville. Yes, he’s young. Yes, he’s inexperienced. But he’s also the future, and appears to give the Cats the best chance to win.
3. The Governor’s Cup is Kentucky’s bowl game
As mentioned earlier, Kentucky will be home for the postseason for the first time since 2015. That was Stoops’ third season as UK’s head coach. The Cats ended up 5-7. Now, nine years later, Kentucky needs a win over Louisville to finish 5-7.
You remember last year. Stoops’ squad was coming off a disappointing loss at South Carolina when it traveled to the ‘Ville to face the No. 9-ranked Cardinals. Jeff Brohm had Louisville humming. Yet Kentucky rose to the challenge, walking off with the Governor’s Cup for the fifth straight year.
The Cards have been up and down this season. They beat Clemson at Clemson, then gave away a game at Stanford. They have talent. I like quarterback Tyler Shough and freshman running back Isaac Brown has been terrific. And, as we all know, Brohm knows how to score points. Now 7-4, the Cards are coming off a 37-9 win over a reeling Pittsburgh on Saturday.
How will Kentucky react? The guess here is the Cats will be up to the challenge. Doesn’t mean they will win. U of L would love nothing better than to end that five-year losing streak — and do it on UK’s home field. Next Saturday might be better than a bowl game.
This story was originally published November 23, 2024 at 8:09 PM.
