Kentucky takes a seventh defeat and won’t be going to a bowl game.
On Saturday, the Kentucky Wildcats traveled as far west as they ever had to play a football game. Waiting for them, besides intense humidity, was a top-five Texas Longhorns team that had looked great all season long outside of a hiccup vs. the Georgia Bulldogs.
The No. 3 Longhorns were jacked up for the 3:30 PM ET nationally televised kickoff, seemingly running on juice from pregame senior day festivities. The home team wasted no time marching the ball down the field and scoring on their opening drive.
Kentucky would return the favor early in the second quarter with a gutsy score on 4th and goal tying the game at 7-7.
Unfortunately, it was nearly all Longhorns after that.
Texas would go on to score 17 straight points and take a 24-7 lead into halftime. UT pummeled the Cats on the ground and through the air, out-gaining them 295-99 in total yardage.
Vandagriff’s 42-yard hook-up with Ja’Mori Maclin was one of the only positive moments in the half aside from the Josh Kattus touchdown reception.
At no point did it feel like Kentucky had a real chance to pull off the upset in a hostile environment.
Cutter Boley was called upon to start the second half and came out firing.
The freshman from Lexington Christian Academy would connect with Barion Brown for a huge 43-yard play and immediately flashed his ability to step up in the pocket and deliver a catchable pass.
Boley kept multiple drives going with his strong arm and made it evident that he should be QB1 moving forward.
A defensive score late in the third quarter cut the Longhorns’ lead to 10 points, but it wasn’t enough as Kentucky ultimately fell by a final score of 31-14.
There was no denying that the Cats’ much-needed swagger increased when Cutter Boley took over as quarterback.
Here are five things to know following loss No. 7 for the Cats.
No Bowl Game
With seven losses now in the books, Kentucky is set to miss the postseason for the first time since 2015. Mark Stoops managed to take this program to eight straight bowl games, but the consistent regression over the past three years finally proved to be too much to overcome.
With 2025 set to be mostly the same schedule as this year, you have to wonder if Stoops can get this program back to the postseason anytime soon.
One SEC win in 2024
With only one game remaining against a non-conference opponent, it’s now set in stone that this Mark Stoops-coached football team will win just one SEC game in 2024.
Take that, Ole Miss…though that win looks less impressive after the Rebels lost to unranked Florida today.
It seems like an eternity ago that Shane Beamer and South Carolina came into Kroger Field and smacked the Wildcats 31-6 back in early September.
That poor performance set the tone for the rest of the season, and despite nearly upsetting Georgia and beating Ole Miss, this season never fully recovered.
Of course, playing in the SEC is extremely tough, but mustering one win just isn’t going to cut it.
Brock Vandagriff out, Cutter Boley in
For the fifth straight game, Kentucky QB Brock Vandagriff threw a brutal interception that later led to an opposing touchdown.
The Georgia transfer has shown promise over the course of the season but has never been able to put together the full package.
Cutter Boley started the second half and immediately showed his poise and moxie. While he still has some growing to do, there’s no excuse for Boley not to be the starting QB next week vs. the Louisville Cardinals.
More Missed Opportunities
For the fifth straight game, Kentucky made it within five yards of the end zone and failed to score a point.
Bush Hamdan’s offense has been infinitely frustrating this season, and aside from Cutter Boley’s contributions, it was much of the same today in Austin.
An ill-timed Eli Cox penalty would negate a huge gain and prevent Kentucky from potentially putting some more points on the board.
It’s no secret that Stoops wants to have more continuity on offense, but is Hamdan being the offensive play-caller the way to go? Nothing we’ve seen this season suggests he’s capable of making this offense perform at the level required to win in the SEC. Nothing.
Louisville Looms
No matter what happened in Austin on Saturday afternoon, we all knew that Kentucky’s biggest game of the season would be next week at home against Louisville.
The Cardinals will be coming off a monster beat down of Pittsburgh and looking to avenge the recent losses to UK.
During his tenure at Kentucky, Mark Stoops has been a mastermind in dismantling the program’s biggest rival year after year.
To be fair, it’s been such a blah season that it wouldn’t be surprising to see UK’s dominance finally come to an end next week in what will be cold temperatures for a noon kickoff.
On the other hand, there’s no better way to end a season than by whooping up on the Cards, and Kentucky has made a habit of doing just that.
Now, let’s vent.