Will Stein didn’t blink when overtime arrived in Columbia.
With Kentucky trailing South Carolina 34-33, the Wildcats coach chose to go for two after Kenny Minchey’s touchdown pass to Henry Boyer on the first overtime possession. Minchey then found Willie Rodriguez on the conversion, sealing a 35-34 win at William Brice Stadium and completing the largest road SEC comeback in school history.
It was Kentucky’s first overtime win since beating Eastern Kentucky in 2015, and it ended a four-game skid against South Carolina. The No. 24 Wildcats improved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference, while handing the Gamecocks their eighth straight SEC loss since their 35-13 win over Kentucky last season.
“That was a wild one,” Stein said on his postgame radio show. “Hats off to South Carolina.
I thought they played super hard. … We battled and it wasn’t pretty.
Good teams find a way to win, and that’s what it was tonight. It was a really good football team here with us in Kentucky and we found a way to win on the road in the SEC.”
Kentucky’s rally started after a rough opening stretch that left the Wildcats down 17-0, including 14 points surrendered in the first quarter. Stein never backed away from the belief that his team could still get it done away from home.
“We said this whole week, (we’re) a band of brothers,” Stein said. “A band of brothers came to Columbia, South Carolina, got a win in a really tough environment vs. an excellent coach.”
South Carolina had plenty of firepower, too, and quarterback Lanorris Sellers was the biggest problem Kentucky had to solve. He produced 373 of the Gamecocks’ 458 total yards, throwing for 226 yards and two touchdowns while adding 147 rushing yards. One of his most damaging plays was a 74-yard run that set up a key fourth-quarter touchdown.
Still, Kentucky kept answering. After Minchey’s overtime touchdown to Boyer made it 34-33, Stein decided the safest way out was the aggressive one: go for the win, not the tie.
“We decided right at the beginning of overtime (to go for two), the momentum kind of swung back to them after regulation,” Stein said. “I felt like if we were able to go down there and score, our best chance to leave this place with a win was to go for two and go for the win.
“(It was) great execution by our guys, great protection check by Kenny to get him protected. To step up in the pocket, deliver it, backline hairline-type throw, really with the toe tap and the rest is history.”
Minchey finished with 272 passing yards and three touchdowns, and Kentucky piled up 394 yards of offense. The numbers tell the bigger story of the comeback: 374 of those yards came in the final three quarters.
Kenny Darby led the Wildcats with 12 catches for 96 yards and a touchdown, while Nic Anderson added five receptions for 80 yards.
Stein said South Carolina’s performance shouldn’t have surprised anyone, especially after the Gamecocks came out of a 49-18 loss to Alabama the week before.
“That’s a good football team. I don’t care what anybody says,” he said. “They were battling Alabama, and then Alabama did what they did to us.”
Kentucky’s road work keeps paying off. The Wildcats already beat Texas A&M 31-21 on Sept. 19 in College Station, giving them two SEC road wins before turning back home to face LSU on Saturday night.
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Will Stein's Late Gamble Put Kentucky Fans On Edge
Kentuckys 35-34 overtime win at South Carolina came with all the chaos youd expect from a road game that turned into the largest comeback in program history. Will Stein spent much of his postgame press conference walking through how it all unfolded, from the defensive strain that made the finish feel so precarious to the way key players helped the Wildcats dig out of a hole and keep the game alive.
Stein also owned the clock-management mistake late in regulation, a rare public slip in a night filled with high-leverage decisions. The biggest one came in overtime, when he chose to go for the win with a two-point conversion instead of extending the game, a gamble he tied to how worn down his defense had become as Kentucky dealt with injuries and a game that kept asking for one more answer. [Read more 🡒]
Kenny Minchey Just Delivered A Kentucky Road Performance Fans Rarely See
Kenny Mincheys night in Columbia started slowly, but it ended with Kentucky leaving South Carolina with a 35-34 overtime win and a quarterback performance the program has not seen often on the road. Minchey settled in as the game went on, completing 28 of 41 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns while helping the Wildcats bounce back from early trouble and stay in the thick of the SEC race.
The bigger significance may be what Minchey just did in a road conference setting. He became the first Kentucky quarterback since 2001 to post those passing numbers in an SEC road game without throwing an interception, a rare blend of volume, efficiency and poise away from home. With the win, Kentucky moved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in league play, and it now has a quarterback performance worth circling as the schedule gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Kentuckys Gutsy Win Left The Wildcats With A Worrying LSU Problem
Kentuckys overtime escape against South Carolina came with the kind of toll that can change a week in a hurry. The Wildcats survived 35-34, but the win was shadowed by a string of injuries, with running back Jason Patterson, linebacker Antwan Smith and defensive back Jaden Smith all leaving the game hurt. Jaden Smiths injury was described as severe, turning what should have been a momentum-building finish into a far more uneasy evaluation of the roster.
Coach Will Stein said several other players were already unavailable before kickoff, adding another layer of concern as Kentucky shifts its focus to LSU. The Wildcats know they earned something valuable by pulling out a gutty overtime victory, but the challenge now is figuring out how much of that lineup will be intact when the next test arrives. [Read more 🡒]