Cats lose heartbreaker to No. 21 Texas in OT

No. 21 Texas made its first excursion to Kroger Field on Saturday night and left the commonwealth with a hard-fought 16-13 overtime win over the Wildcats.

Kentucky (2-4, 0-4 Southeastern Conference), which lost its last six conference games last season, dropped its fourth consecutive league encounter and fell to 1-11 overall in the league during the past two seasons. The second half of the SEC slate includes games against No. 11 Tennessee and Florida at home and road contests at Auburn and No 17 Vanderbilt during the next five weeks.

Kentucky quarterback Cutter Boley looks for an opening against Texas.

Coming off a bye week and back-to-back losses to South Carolina and Georgia, respectively, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops praised his team’s ability to make things interesting against the Longhorns.

“It was a very difficult loss for our players,” he said. “… when you're losing games, it's real easy to cave, it's real easy to submit and give in. None of these guys do that. You know, they've worked their tail off. It was a great investment by them, and it hurts.”

Texas booted three field goals, including a 45-yard field goal in overtime, to fend off Kentucky’s upset bid. Shipley’s game-winner came after the Longhorns used a goal-line stand on four straight running plays up the middle within the 5-yard line by the Wildcats. Stoops opted to go for the touchdown instead of a field goal.

"There's always a decision that I can definitely second guess myself on, but not that one,” he said. “I wanted to play to win. We played well the entire game, and had a great opportunity, six inches, you know, whatever half yard to win. You put yourself in a position to win the game, so we came up short and that hurts.”

Coach Mark Stoops took another tough loss Saturday against Texas, 16-13 in overtime, at Kroger Field. 

In his third start of the year, Kentucky quarterback Cutter Boley’s production surpassed Texas signal caller Arch Manning, grandson of Archie Manning and nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning.

Boley connected on 31-of-39 passes for 258 yards and rushed for 45 more, including a 16-yard touchdown run that tied the score at 10-10 in the fourth quarter. Manning threw for 132 yards and was sacked three times for a loss of 24 yards. Boley threw an interception and was sacked five times by the Longhorns.

Cutter Boley led a Kentucky offense that produced 396 yards but only one touchdown.

Much like their previous three conference encounters, Kentucky’s opening drive began with a bang but ended with a blank check after the Longhorns stopped the Wildcats on fourth-and-1 at the Texas 16-yard line. Kentucky had a chance to prevent a first-half shutout, but kicker Jacob Kauwe misfired on a 53-yard field goal attempt with eight seconds left in the first half.

Kauwe connected on a 46-yard field goal that capped a drive that spanned 8:44, with 4:09 remaining in the third quarter, that made the score 7-3. Texas punched in a 53-yard field goal on the ensuing drive for a 10-3 lead with 2:05 left in the third quarter.

Kentucky’s defense dominated the first two quarters and limited the Longhorns to just 93 total yards in the first half. If not for a 45-yard punt return and an eventual fumble recovery by Texas, the score could have been deadlocked at the break. Kentucky limited Texas to just 179 yards, including 47 on the ground, a stark contrast to last season when the Longhorns rushed for 251 yards in a 31-14 setback a year ago in Austin.

“They hit some timely blitzes that caused some issues in the backfield, in the run game and the pass game, and got pressure on the quarterback, and they minimized the explosive plays, which is the way they play,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “You know, they can start shrinking the field on you. We never were able to get them out of that.”