Know Your Foe: At Texas, Kentucky will try to derail the Longhorns’ playoff plans

Scouting Kentucky football’s next opponent, the Texas Longhorns:

Game details

Kentucky (4-6, 1-6 SEC) will play SEC foe No. 3 Texas ( 9-1, 5-1 SEC) on Saturday, Nov. 23, at Campbell-Williams Field at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (seating capacity 100,119) in Austin.

The game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. (EST) and will be telecast by ABC (Channel 36 in Lexington).

Coach Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns won at Arkansas 20-10 last Saturday.

History and trends

Texas leads the all-time series with Kentucky 1-0.

UK coach Mark Stoops has never faced the Longhorns as a head coach.

Texas head man Steve Sarkisian has never faced the Wildcats as a head coach.

For Kentucky, Texas will be the third top-10 opponent the Wildcats have faced on the road in 2024 — and UK has played well in the two previous such games.

The Wildcats upset then-No. 6 Mississippi 20-17 in Oxford on Sept. 28. UK gave a spirited account of itself before falling 28-18 at No. 7 Tennessee on Nov. 2.

The only loss for Texas this season came in Austin, 30-15 to then-No. 5 Georgia on Oct. 19.

Most recent meeting

On Sept. 22, 1951, No. 11 Texas forced a Babe Parilli fumble to set up a short-field touchdown and the Longhorns made it stand up to record a 7-6 win over No. 6 Kentucky in Austin.

Parilli, the All-America UK quarterback, was back to pass in the first quarter when he was hit by the Longhorns’ Paul Williams and fumbled. Texas recovered at the Wildcats’ 28-yard line and turned that advantageous field position into a 13-yard touchdown pass from T. Jones to Don Barton with one minute left in the first quarter.

Crucially, Gib Dawson successfully booted the extra point to put Texas ahead 7-0.

UK’s only touchdown came with 8:40 remaining in the third quarter on a 6-yard pass from Parilli to Bucky Gruner.

Kentucky’s attempt to tie the game was foiled, however, when holder Herb Hunt could not get the long snap down to be kicked.

Though UK finished with 21 first downs to only six for Texas, the visiting Wildcats nevertheless took the “L.”

“I thought it was a good ballgame right down to the wire,” Kentucky coach Paul “Bear” Bryant said afterward. “Somebody had to lose it. I hated that it had to be us, of course.”

Pride of the program

While running for 4,443 yards and 40 touchdowns over his four-year Texas career (1974 through 1977), Earl Campbell became a Longhorns football icon.

As a running back, the 5-foot-11, 232-pound Campbell boasted a fearsome combination of speed and power.

His greatest season came in 1977, when the Tyler, Texas, product ran for 1,744 yards and 18 TDs while leading the Longhorns to an undefeated regular season (11-0) and the No. 1 ranking.

After that year, the “Tyler Rose” — as Campbell was nicknamed — became the first Texas player to win the Heisman Trophy.

Alas, Notre Dame ruined the perfect season for Campbell and Texas with a 38-10 demolition of the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl.

Over his four-season Texas career, Campbell led the Longhorns to a 34-12-1 mark and three bowl games.

In 1990, Campbell was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

On Sept. 4, 2021, the University of Texas named the playing field at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium the “Campbell-Williams Field” in honor of Campbell and another ex-Longhorns running back, 1998 Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams.

Three things to know

1. Texas controls its own destiny in earning a berth in the SEC Championship Game.

After Kentucky, Texas will complete its first regular season as a Southeastern Conference member with a long-awaited contest at bitter rival Texas A&M.

The Longhorns and Aggies have not played since Nov. 24, 2011, a 27-25 Texas win at College Station. Following that season, Texas A&M left behind the Big 12 — and, temporarily as it turned out, Texas — to join the SEC.

UK’s best chance of springing what would be a monumental upset could be Texas looking ahead to the showdown with the Aggies.

2. The consensus in the Lone Star State is that Texas starting quarterback Quinn Ewers played his best game of 2024 in the Longhorns’ 49-17 strafing of Florida on Nov. 9.

Against the Gators, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Ewers completed 19 of 27 passes for 333 yards and five touchdowns.

On the season, the Texas junior quarterback entered the Arkansas game completing 69.3% of his passes and having thrown for 1,722 yards with 19 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Against the Razorbacks, Ewers completed 20 of 32 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns.

3. The Texas backup quarterback has quite a high profile as well, of course.

Arch Manning, the grandson of Archie and the nephew of Peyton and Eli, comes from a long family line of quarterbacking greatness.

Due to injuries to Ewers, the 6-4, 225-pound Manning has started twice this season for Texas. The redshirt freshman completed 15 of 29 passes for 258 yards and two touchdown throws and two interceptions in a 51-3 win over Louisiana Monroe on Sept. 21.

The following week, Manning went 26-of-31 for 325 yards and two TDs in a 35-13 SEC victory at Mississippi State.

Manning has appeared in five games this season and thrown for 939 yards and nine touchdowns versus two picks.

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