For the first time ever, the No. 21 Texas Longhorns are in Lexington playing the Kentucky Wildcats trying to keep the team’s College Football Playoff hopes alive in a tough environment against a team that
has lost three straight SEC games to open the season.
Texas sophomore defensive tackle Maraad Watson dressed and participated in pre-game warmups after he was listed as questionable until the final injury update 90 minutes before kickoff that termed the Syracuse transfer a game-time decision.
Redshirt sophomore running back CJ Baxter, redshirt freshman wide receiver Aaron Butler, senior center Cole Hutson, redshirt sophomore left guard Connor Stroh, freshman nickel back Jonathan Cunningham, and redshirt freshman safety Xavier Filsaime are all out for the Longhorns.
First quarter
After winning the coin toss and deferring to the second half, Texas kicked off to Kentucky to start the game. Throwing to running back Seth Gowan picked up 23 yards and quarterback Cutter Boley converted a 3rd and 7 with a 10-yard completion. The Texas defense was able to hold in its red zone, however, when Kentucky made the strange decision to run a quarterback sneak on 3rd and 2. On fourth down, Longhorns junior linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. filled the hole and stopped Dante Dowdell short of the line to gain for a turnover on downs.
Offensively, Texas wasn’t able to take advantage against a long field as redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning scrambled for 14 yards to convert a 3rd and 8, but the Horns weren’t able to move the chains again when a trick play designed to target junior tight end Jack Endries was well covered by the Cats, forcing an incompletion and a punt by redshirt senior Jack Bouwmeester that resulted in consecutive penalties on Texas.
Despite a nine-yard run on first down, Kentucky made more strange decisions on offense, trying to throw back-to-back vertical passes that went into good coverage by Texas, including a nice break up by senior cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau to spoil a good throw by Boley.
Back on offense, the Longhorns missed an opportunity on a shot play when Manning underthrew sophomore wide receiver Ryan Wingo, but did manage to draw a pass-interference penalty. Even though the drive looked like it would stall when Manning was sacked on a stunt that freshman left guard Nick Brooks failed to pick up, Texas picked up a 3rd and 12 with a 15-yard pass to Wingo when Manning showed good poise moving in the pocket to extend the play. The Longhorns weren’t able to convert the ensuing third down, however, when Manning reverted to missing crossing routes, airmailing a pass to Wingo, who was wide open on the play.
The first quarter ended after Kentucky was able to overcome a four-yard loss on a run by McGowan to open the drive thanks to consecutive completions to wide receiver Ja’Mori Maclin that totaled 15 yards, followed by an 11-yard completion by Boley, and a bruising nine-yard run by Dowdell that turned 2nd and 15 into 3rd and 6 to start the second quarter.
