Ugly may not be strong enough of a word to describe the No. 21 Texas Longhorns’ efforts in their win over the Kentucky Wildcats in overtime, 16-13, on Saturday in Lexington.
Texas looked hapless on offense until the very end, nearly blowing a sure thing in overtime after needing just a field goal to win the game in the extra period. The passing game was out of sync, and the run game was something even worse than failure-to-launch.
It looked like the offense may have found a recipe for success against Oklahoma in last week’s rivalry win at the Cotton Bowl, but it looked like its typical listless self in Lexington.
Texas started the game with three consecutive punts, only breaking the trend thanks to a massive punt return from Ryan Niblett that set them up with a short field.
The Longhorns were somehow worse in the second half, with three of their first four drives going three-and-out for one yard. Just two drives in the second half ended with points, both of which were field goals. One had a single chunk play — a 31-yard pass to wide receiver Emmett Mosley — and the other was set up by Ryan Niblett’s second big return of the night, a 43-yarder into opposing territory.
Even on that final offensive drive of regulation, the offense made a crucial mental error, with wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. going out of bounds to stop the clock and give Kentucky more time to tie the game up in regulation.
This defense deserves better
The Texas defense did enough in regulation to beat Kentucky.
Pete Kwiatkowski’s unit forced the Wildcats to punt on six of their 13 drives, keeping a clean sheet for the first half, with a turnover on downs, three punts, an interception, and a missed field goal. Colin Simmons and Anthony Hill played like men possessed, with Hill finishing the game with 12 tackles and an interception and Simmons with three sacks and a forced fumble.
The unit sputtered a bit late, but they were rightfully gassed in the second half, with Kentucky massively controlling the time of possession 20:31 to 9:29, ending regulation with an almost 19-minute advantage in time of possession, running 81 plays to Texas’s 52.
Despite that, the Longhorns defense came up with stop after stop in the second half, sending the Wildcats off the field without points on three of their five drives to close regulation. They did it again in overtime, after allowing a big chunk play to set up UK in scoring position, but stonewalling them on the goal line to set up the game-winning field goal.
Texas needs answers on the ground
While Quintrevion Wisner looked solid a week ago against Oklahoma, that seemed to be an apparition based on what Texas managed in Lexington. Texas put together just 50 yards by its running backs on 15 carries, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry in the contest. The Longhorns went 1-of-4 on downs when they needed two or fewer to convert and were stuffed on 32 percent of their carries. They were 0-of-4 on third and shorts, with just 18 yards on the ground on third downs, converting just one by rush.
The offensive line looked exceedingly average against a Kentucky defense giving up an average of 192.7 yards in its three SEC games this year. Texas put up fewer yards on the ground than both Toledo and Eastern Michigan did against Kentucky, a simple summation of how bad things were.