Kentucky registered 26 first downs, while Texas tallied eight.
LEXINGTON – October 18, 2025 – Bradley Charles
The UK football team gave No. 21 Texas a tough game on Saturday night, but the Longhorns emerged victorious 16-13 in overtime. While it does come with the frustration of losing, the Cats did ultimately register a really good performance against a Texas team that entered the season ranked No. 1 in the country.
Kentucky QB Cutter Boley was impressive throughout the matchup. Boley finished the game 31-of-39 through the air for 258 yards, no passing touchdowns, and one interception.
His 31 completions is the most for a UK freshman QB since Jared Lorenzen in 2000. As Lorenzen was known to do, Boley extended the play on numerous occasions. Boley tallied 14 carries for 45 yards and one rushing touchdown.
“I was very impressed with Cutter,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said. “The protection was pretty decent. I liked the way he was hanging in the pocket and hitting some unders; hitting some crossing routes and different things to move the chains. He was operating very efficiently.”
Boley completed a pass to 12 different Wildcats. The leading receiver was running back Seth McGowan who tallied seven receptions for 68 yards, which led all players in each statistic. Boley outdueled Texas quarterback Arch Manning.
Manning was 12-of-27 through the air for 132 yards as the UK defense played well against the Longhorn QB. Kentucky’s defense allowed just 179 yards of offense, while registering three sacks, seven TFLs, and seven QB hurries. It’s the first time since 2014 that UK has held an SEC opponent to 179 yards or less.
The Kentucky offense was able to move the ball against Texas, but struggled to score points. The Cats registered 395 yards of offense, while having 26 first downs compared to eight for Texas. Kentucky’s 26 first downs are the most for the Cats in an SEC game since 2021. The Longhorns entered the matchup allowing just 14 first downs per game.
For UK, Saturday’s performance marked the fewest total yards allowed and fewest first downs allowed against a ranked opponent since the 1976 Peach Bowl.
Kentucky’s 395 yards of offense came against a Texas defense that entered the game ranked No. 11 in the country in total defense with an average of 269.8 yards allowed per game.
It’s an obvious statement, but there are both positives and negatives to takeaway from the Cats’ performance tonight. The positives were that UK played really well against the Longhorns, and that Kentucky showed much improvement from its past two games, but the negatives were that the Cats still ultimately ended up with a loss. Based on his postgame comments, Stoops seemed to also have that mindset.
The Cats are now 2-4 (0-4 SEC) this season, while No. 21 Texas is 5-2 (2-1 SEC.) Up next for UK is a home game against No. 11 Tennessee on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7:45 p.m.