LEXINGTON, Ky. — It wasn’t pretty, but road wins in the SEC rarely come with style points.
At least that’s the message Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian hoped his team delivered Saturday after the Longhorns survived for a 16-13 overtime win over Kentucky at Kroger Field with a 45-yard field goal from Mason Shipley on its lone possession overtime.
The No. 21 Longhorns (5-2, 2-1 SEC) couldn’t deliver much else on offense against a Kentucky defense that entered the game allowing 402.2 yards a game, the second-most amount in the SEC. Texas tallied a season-low 179 yards and quarterback Arch Manning reverted to the passer that last month drew boos from the home fans in a 27-10 win over UTEP. Manning ended the game with 132 yards on 12-of-27 passing and missed several open receivers that would have extended drives.
But the Longhorns didn’t need many points thanks to a weary but resolute defense that made one final stop in overtime. On fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line on the first possession of overtime, defensive tackle Cole Brevard and safety Michael Taafe stuffed Kentucky’s Dante Dowell for no gain. That was the last play for a defense that played 86 snaps and stayed on the field for 39 minutes, 23 seconds.
Texas’ beleaguered offense lost three yards on its one overtime drive, but Shipley didn’t need much while booting home his third field goal of the game.
Next week, Texas continues its extended road trip with a trip to play Mississippi State.
Texas had plenty more defensive hits than offensive highlights. The Longhorns stopped Kentucky on two of its three fourth-down tries, Colin Simmons had his team-high fifth sack in the second quarter and now has 5½ sacks in the last two games, and middle linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. dropped back into coverage in the flat and grabbed his first interception of the season and second of his career. Even cornerback Malik Muhammad had his first career sack on a blitz at the end of the first half that helped lead to a miss on a 53-yard field goal try by Jacob Kauwe.
The special teams stepped up again, too. Besides Shipley’s heroics, Ryan Niblett returned a punt 45 yards to the 5-yard line before Quintrevion Wisner plowed in from 1 yard out for the Longhorns’ lone touchdown. He also had a 43-yard return that set up a go-ahead 39-yard field goal by Shipley with 1 minute left in regulation.
But Kentucky did just enough in the final minute by marching 21 yards and tying the game 13-13 at the end of regulation on a 45-yard field goal from Jacob Kauwe to set up a taut overtime.