Kentucky pulls off crazy backdoor cover vs. Ball State

The Kentucky Wildcats opened their season with a 44-14 win over Ball State, and it included one will be one of the craziest backdoor covers of Week 1.

Coming into the game, Kentucky was a 26.5-point favorite (via DraftKings) over the Cardinals out of the MAC. After the Wildcats blocked a Ball State field goal with 3:22 left in the fourth quarter, it seemed like they would just run out the clock while leading 37-14 and possessing the ball at their own 34-yard line.

However, Mark Stoops and Liam Coen had other plans, as they had the Wildcats run what was effectively the two-minute offense.

Then in the closing moments, Ray Davis broke off a 30-yard touchdown to beat the spread with just seconds remaining.

As you can see, the clock was running, so Kentucky could have simply let it run out and end the game at 37-14, coming up just short of the 26.5-point spread.

You don’t typically see teams trying this hard to score in the closing minutes with a 23-point lead, so you can bet this will be among ESPN’s Bad Beats segment with Scott Van Pelt.

But most importantly, the Cats are 1-0 to open the new season.