who nearly transferred out of the program over the\u00a0offseason<\/a>. He has transitioned into a lethal punt returner, setting up the only touchdown of the game for the Longhorns\u2019 offense with a 45-yard first-half return that positioned Texas at the Kentucky 5-yard line. In the second half, he returned another punt 43 yards to the Kentucky 42, setting up a Will\u00a0Shipley field goal.<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
![\"Texas]()
<\/p>\n
Texas quarterback Arch Manning (16) looks for a receiver in the second quarter against Kentucky on Oct. 18, 2025, in Lexington,\u00a0Ky.<\/p>\n
Michael Swensen\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Arch Manning, Texas offense looked listless<\/p>\n
The Longhorns turned in one of their ugliest offensive performances of the Steve Sarkisian era Saturday. They averaged 3.3 yards per play, tying the second-worst output under Sarkisian. The only worse effort came in a 30-7 loss to Iowa State in 2021. Texas\u2019 issues developed from the same root as they have all season: UT\u2019s offensive line simply couldn\u2019t cope with Kentucky’s front seven. That, coupled with a 12-for-27 disappointment from Arch Manning, made the Texas offense unwatchable.<\/p>\n
Lack of situational awareness nearly dooms Texas<\/p>\n
One of Saturday’s biggest plays was a 9-yard reception by DeAndre Moore Jr. in the fourth quarter. The yardage on the play was inconsequential, but what Moore did after he caught the ball wasn’t. The junior receiver went out of bounds. With the game tied 10-10, Texas was attempting to kill the clock in regulation before sending\u00a0Shipley out for a game-winning field goal. Moore going out of bounds with 65 seconds left, however, allowed Kentucky to\u00a0save its last timeout for UT’s third-down play. Shipley then kicked a 39-yard field goal with 57 seconds left for the 13-10 lead. With 57 seconds to work with instead of 30, Kentucky marched downfield without a timeout and tied the game on a 45-yard field goal with nine seconds left in regulation. Texas then had to go win the game in overtime.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Mason Shipley shows off his leg in Lexington<\/p>\n
If there were any questions as to why Texas recruited Mason Shipley out of the transfer portal this offseason, the former Texas State kicker has answered them over the past two weeks. One week after he kicked three field goals against Oklahoma,\u00a0Shipley went on the road and again hit three field goals at Kentucky. His 45-yarder in overtime was the game-winner, but his 53-yard kick in the first half was notable as well. Texas last hit a 50-yard field goal during the 2023 season, and Shipley missed 55- and 56-yard tries last week.<\/p>\n
Next for Texas: Mississippi State<\/p>\n
In Starkville, Miss. It’ll be either a 2:30 p.m. or a 3:15 p.m. kickoff.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Basically, every game from here on out is do or die for the Longhorns, who don’t have much wiggle room anymore. The Bulldogs lost 23-21 at Florida earlier Saturday and are now 4-3 overall and 0-3 in the SEC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kentucky running back Seth McGowan (3) is tackled in the first quarter\u00a0against Texas on Oct. 18, 2025, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3230,261,4973,3232,266,27,29,537,536,28],"class_list":["post-10609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-arch-manning","tag-college-football","tag-kentucky-wildcats-football","tag-sec-conference-football","tag-sec-football","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-football","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}