Kentucky Wildcats fall to the Texas A&M Aggies in overtime: 3 things to know and Postgame Banter

The Kentucky Wildcats are now 5-1 after an overtime loss to the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday. Kentucky failed to score on their overtime possession, and the A&M scored a touchdown to push the Aggies to a 20-14 victory.

It was a defensive battle from beginning to end, and looked more like an SEC football game than any other match-up that took place on Saturday. Unfortunately, the Wildcats ended up on the wrong end of the slug fest.

Here are 3 things you need to know.

Defensive play makers stepping up

Josh Allen has been a beast all season. He came into this game with 6 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 33 overall tackles. And he has looked absolutely impossible to block when rushing the quarterback.

Against Texas A&M, Allen showed that he is even more versatile than we have seen up to this point. He got tackles in space, he took pursuit angles across the field, and he broke up a pass like a veteran defensive back.

Darius West not only led the team in tackles. He also had a huge interception and a fumble recovery for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. He has 3 interceptions for the season and continues to be the star of this team’s secondary.

These guys push this stellar Kentucky defense to new levels every week, and their draft stock continues to rise as a result.

Sputtering offense

Some criticized the play calling in the second half against South Carolina last week, and Mark Stoops publicly supported how they played to win. It worked against the Gamecocks with a big lead, but it looked as though Eddie Gran kept the same game plan for the entirety of the match-up with the Aggies.

The offense struggled mightily in this game. Aside from Lynn Bowden’s touchdown in the first half, there was very little progress made by Benny Snell and crew. Despite excellent punting and solid defense providing solid field position, the Cats could not move the chains. T

erry Wilson often looked lost and Benny Snell rarely touched the ball. Snell, Kentucky’s best player, only got 13 carries for the entire game. Kentucky ran zero players on the Texas A&M side of the field before overtime.

Penalties kill

Kentucky had several offensive drives killed by penalties on Saturday. False starts, holding, silly mistakes that cost them in major ways. The Aggies’ first touchdown drive was also aided by a questionable roughing the passer call against he Cats.

In fact, Kentucky doubled up Texas A&M when it came to penalties. The Wildcats had 8 penalties for 52 yards, and they seemed to come at the absolute worst times. If Kentucky is going to compete with the big boys in the SEC, they have to be more disciplined and clean that up.

Now let’s hear your thoughts on the game!