Quinn Ewers passed for 191 yards and two touchdowns while playing the final two and a half quarters with a gimpy right leg as No. 3 Texas handled Kentucky 31-14 on Saturday in a Southeastern Conference dustup in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (10-1, 6-1 SEC) survived despite fumbling six times (they lost two of those) including one that was returned for a touchdown in the third quarter to give Kentucky some hope.
Quintrevion Wisner rushed for 158 yards on 26 carries that includes a 1-yard scoring dive off right guard with 3:10 to play, That rush culminated an 86-yard, 15-play drive (all runs) that consumed 8:22 of the fourth quarter and iced the win for the Longhorns.
Jaydon Blue added 96 yards and a TD and Matthew Golden caught seven passed for 86 yards for Texas.
Cutter Boley, who entered at quarterback for the Wildcats (4-7, 1-7 SEC) to start the second half in favor of starter Brock Vandagriff, passed for 160 yards. Kentucky amassed just 232 yards of total offense.
The Longhorns scored on their first possession, driving 75 yards in 11 plays to an Ewers-to-Gunnar Helm 3-yard TD pass on fourth down. Kentucky answered to tie the game with a 4-yard TD pass from Vandagriff to Josh Kattus – also on fourth down – with 11:36 to play in the second quarter.
Texas retook the lead at 14-7 via a 5-yard touchdown run by Blue at the 6:39 mark of the second quarter. The scoring play came one snap after a personal foul penalty by the Wildcats’ Maxwell Hairston on third down kept the Longhorns’ drive alive.
Ewers found Helm again for a 17-yard touchdown connection to expand Texas’ advantage to 21-7 with 3:12 remaining until halftime. The Longhorns’ drive began at the UK 34 after an interception by Jelani McDonald.
Bert Auburn ripped a 49-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the second to push the Longhorns’ lead to 24-7 at the break.
Texas outgained the Wildcats 295-99 over the first two quarters while running twice as many plays and building a near 2-1 edge in time of possession.
The Wildcats missed out on a chance to cut into their deficit when Alex Raynor was wide left on a 33-yard field goal with 3:40 left in the third quarter after a fumble by Blue. But Kentucky’s defense continued to make plays, with Jamon Dumas-Johnson grabbing an Ewers fumble just a minute later and returning it 25 yards for a TD to whittle the Texas lead to 24-14.
–Field Level Media
