Quarterback Cutter Boley felt like the UK offense beat itself against Texas. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Numbers usually don’t lie, but they certainly did Saturday night when Kentucky lost 16-13 in overtime to Texas.
If you didn’t know the final score and looked at the statistics, no way would you have thought Kentucky lost.
— Kentucky had 371 yards of total offense, Texas had 171.
— The Cats had 135 yards rushing to 44 for the Longhorns and had the ball for 39 minutes, 23 seconds compared to 20:37 for Texas.
— UK had 25 first downs, Texas had 8. Kentucky ran 81 plays, Texas had 52.
— Kentucky quarterback Cutter Boley was 30 of 38 passing for 236 yards with one interception. Texas quarterback Arch Manning was 11 of 25 for 127 yards. Manning rushed 10 times for a minus four yards while Boley ran 13 times for 43 yards and had a 16-yard scoring run.
“We feel like we are a better overall team (than Texas),” a bitterly disappointed Boley said on the UK Radio Network after the game. “The offense kind of beat ourselves. The defense kept us in the game. We just have to keep getting better.”
So how did Kentucky not win?
Special teams hurt. Two Texas punt returns for 88 yards led to a short touchdown drive and a field goal. That was all 10 points Texas got in regulation.
“Kentucky was the better team in all facets except one. If you take the 88 yards away on punt returns, they had nothing. It’s hard to think this is the preseason No. 1 team in the nation and that kid (Manning) is not the best quarterback in college football,” UK Radio Network analyst Jeff Piecoro said.
Kentucky took its opening drive for 59 yards to reach the Texas 16-yard line but got stopped on third-and-two and again on fourth-and-one when UK coach Mark Stoops elected not to go for the field goal. Two other times in the first half, Kentucky had drives stopped in Texas territory.
Down 10-7 with only 49 seconds to play, Boley led a seven-play, 46-yard drive that set up Jacob Kauwe for a game-tying 44-yard field goal to force overtime.
Overtime could not have started any better as Boley threw a swing pass that Kendrick Law took for 22 yards to the Texas 3. Kroger Field was loud, but again the Cats could not finish. Nebraska running back Dante Dowdell, who was added this season as a short-yardage specialist, was stopped for no gain on first down at the three. Boley got one yard on a scramble. Dowdell was stopped for a one-yard gain on third down.
Stoops never hesitated and went for the touchdown on fourth down. Again, it was Dowdell up the middle, and he got clobbered well short of the goal line.
That meant all Texas had to do was kick a field goal to win, and that is what the Longhorns did to send UK to its ninth straight SEC loss and deny the Cats a season-saving victory.
“I am really proud of the guys for the effort they gave. It is tough to pay the price every single day. Our guys are busting their tails every day. We pay, but we have not got to collect yet. We are getting better but still lost,” Boley said. “The whole entire team is bought in and we are going to be able to collect here soon.”
Hopefully, that is true, but this was a great opportunity to “collect.” Instead, UK failed to get the scores it should have gotten and let Texas slip away with a win that Kentucky deserved.
14 Responses
Boley has heart and some raw talent, but his decision making has to get better and hopefully that will come with more experience. How much more? A lot more and that does not bode well for winning another game this season.
With you there Barry. He did play better but training wheels still not removed. He is still not capable of quicker decision making and telegraphs many of his throws. One of his biggest challenges continues to be the total ineptitude of Hamdan who continues to embarrass himself and all of us on weekly basis. I know…."let's just try at least 1 more run up the middle even though it hasn't worked all game" and then "lets allow our power runner to hurdle the line a couple of times" Whoops…"that didn't work to well either"
Barry you're right. Lots of raw talent. Some of his reads are still work and not automatic. You can almost see the wheels turning in his head. He'll get there. Needs to work on his foot speed.
This loss is 100% on the coaches, Stoops and Hamdan.
Who is responsible for special teams?
Fumbled punts twice, and one of the punts hit the UK receiver on his head. Punting that shows no appreciation for field position, kick coverage that allows a long return to set up a field goal for Texas, and a critical missed field goal.
You nailed one of my annual complaints, Professor!
Special Teams has been totally neglected by Stoops for 12 1/2 seasons, even going a few years without a Special Teams Coach. One year he admitted it was costing UK some games but he still did not get a Full-Time Dedicated ST coach. And he has NEVER gotten a quality ST coach!
This loss is 100% on the coaches, Stoops and Hamdan
Certainly needs repeating!
I didn't see Stoops miss any field goals. I didn't see him muff any punts. I didn't see him throw any interceptions. I didn't see him take dumb sacks. I didn't see him on the field all night.
But you also didn't see him add much to the game except arguing with the refs couple of times, constantly looking at monitor, or adjusting his head gear.
Points taken Jimmy. Is Stoops the right coach to develop a quarterback like Boley or any other quarterback given that he has brought in so many hyped up quarterbacks that fizzle out here?
He was forced to play Cutter and now he can't get him out.
Boley is the future of UK, and he needs this year to experience the mistakes, the surprises of the game, and settle into his leadership role.
Last night, on the first drive, he moved the team right down the field into scoring position. With 1st down at the TX 29, Boley scrambled and ran freely to about the TX 21 where he slid to avoid contact. I think he needed to continue the run for at least 3 more yards to secure another first down in the red zone, but he slid too soon.
On 3rd and short, the coaches sent this team straight to the line of scrimmage, as if Texas would not be ready, to run a QB sneak. Well, Texas showed UK's coaches that this is not Texas' first rodeo, and stopped the sneak dead in its tracks. The coaches abandoned the pass oriented offense that moved the ball to this position, but rather than take the 3 points after the 3rd down snafu, this brilliant coaching staff decided to try another QB sneak on 4th down, and again, the TX defense was not surprised, and UK turned the ball over on downs with NO POINTS.
I texted Little Baron shortly after that happened that the Coaches had already lost this game.
The UK coaches are among the densest I can recall.
That’s exactly what the Professor declared – that the game was decided by the HC-OC combo who basically took points away from the UK offense!
A very make-able FG would have boosted the team’s confidence, and th team showed their resolve by coming out fighting in their first possession – that’s a rare start for UK. The players must have closed their ears to the pre-game talk that usually puts them in a trance.
We missed a field goal which we would have won by 3 had we made it. But you can't put it all on the kicker. Why do we run the ball up the middle the same identical play and the whole game we couldn't run the ball up the middle. If we would have ran to the outside we would have scored a touchdown. Then Boley fakes the handoff and has nobody to throw the ball too I think the players were confused about the play. Other than that our defense looks like it's getting better as the year goes on but the offense Is stuck in neutral. Bush is terrible at calling plays in the RedZone. We had the ball on the 3 yard line first and goal and couldn't score a touchdown. They should have kicked the field goal because they didnt make the 3 other plays. We would have went to a second overtime and I think we had the momentum to beat Texas. You always take the points. Cutter Boley is getting better every game. That's great because this means we are set at QB next year. We need to invest every dollar we have in a offensive line. This year is better than last year but he gets pressured probably 50% of his passes. He is getting very good at moving around in the pocket to buy himself extra time to throw the football. I do think we beat Auburn Florida Tennessee Tech and possibly Tennessee. If we can get Waller back we will be much better in the secondary and we are getting better every week without him.
The UK Players fought harder then a top opponent and except for the special team play outplayed them in all other facets of the game But this football game like so many others in crunch time have been lost because of the decisions coming from the sideline. Stoops is NOT a good coach!
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