The Cutter Boley era may officially be underway. In his first start of 2025, the redshirt freshman looked comfortable guiding Kentucky’s offense, spreading the ball around, and even proving that tight ends exist in Lexington, with touchdown throws to both Willie Rodriguez and Josh Kattus. Add in three rushing scores from Seth McGowan, and the Wildcats’ offense finally found some rhythm against winless Eastern Michigan.
The defense? Not as pretty. Eastern Michigan piled up nearly 300 yards and scored 16 points before halftime, including 10 unanswered points with under two minutes left in the second quarter. But after the break, the Wildcats tightened up and pulled away for a 48-23 win under the lights at Kroger Field.
Now that it’s over, let’s Bush Hamdan the game and take a look at it.
Running back Seth McGowan is Kentucky’s offensive MVP for a second week in a row. The New Mexico State transfer rushed for three touchdowns against Eastern Michigan, extending his tally to six rushing touchdowns in the first three games of the season. It’s a record-setting pace, nearly a third of the way to Benny Snell’s 19 in 2017.
Kentucky safety Jordan Lovett takes MVP honors on that side of the ball for his team-high eight tackles, but defensive coordinator Brad White would likely prefer to not celebrate any of his players after Kentucky gave up 461 yards of offense to a winless team.
The teams combined for eight touchdowns in Week 3, scored mainly by the good guys.
The Play of the Game was the first play of the game: the tip-drill interception to set up Kentucky’s offense in an immediate scoring position. Don’t throw on UK’s defense in the first quarter!
For Big Blue Nation’s purposes, the Not Play of the Game was the 64-yard touchdown allowed at the end of the first half, part of another pre-halftime meltdown by your University of Kentucky Wildcats.
Honorable mention: Kentucky calling a timeout before Eastern Michigan’s extra point.
Interception on the first play of the game
The first play of the game was a big momentum swing. Kentucky’s defense deflected and picked off Noah Kim’s pass attempt, returned 25 yards to the EMU10 by Daveran Rayner. The offense capitalized in two snaps to take a 7-0 lead right away.
Yet another end-of-half disaster by the Cats
There were fewer than two minutes left in the first half when Eastern Michigan scored a touchdown, forced Kentucky into a punt, and then kicked a field goal for 10 straight points. The Mark Stoops special.
Eastern Michigan stuffed on a fake punt
Down by 15 in the third quarter, Eastern Michigan tried a fake punt on 4th-and-8 at its own 27. The desperate move was sniffed out by Kentucky and stuffed for no gain. Kentucky stretched its lead to 22 four plays later.
20 unanswered in the second half
Out of halftime, Kentucky stretched its lead to 32 with four unanswered scores: a field goal, a touchdown, a field goal, and a touchdown, putting the game out of reach.
Dante Dowdell – Mark Stoops said he thinks his power running back will be fine after leaving the game with a thigh injury.
Terhyon Nichols – Like Dowdell, Nichols, a cornerback, left the game with an injured thigh, but Stoops does not expect the injury to linger. Kentucky is thin at that position.
DJ Waller – Kentucky’s starting corner missed a second straight game. Waller needs to return in a hurry.
Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.
58,489
The stadium music has improved each of the last two weeks since the opener drew heavy criticism for the atmosphere and lack of “Grove St. Party.” Tonight, “Do The John Wall” was one of the more popular songs played during the game as several fans stood through unexpected rain to bring energy to Kentucky’s first night game of the season.
The new UK Athletics Hall of Fame class headlined the list of special guests. However, Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hines-Allen did not hang around for Saturday’s game after Friday night’s H.O.F. ceremony. Abbey Cheek-Ramsey, Makayla Epps, Doug Flynn, and Sonia Hahn represented the 2025 class on C.M. Newton grounds.
With the out-of-conference win, Kentucky sits at 2-1 on the young season, and a quarterback change already looks like the right move. Cutter Boley has the offense trending upward, but now the challenge gets real with the first SEC road trip coming up. The Wildcats head to Columbia next Saturday for a critical SEC matchup against South Carolina, seeking revenge for last year’s Week 2 game in Lexington.
The Gamecocks are reeling after getting drilled at home by Vanderbilt, and they may be without star quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who left tonight’s game with an injury. Still, Williams-Brice at night is never easy. If the Cats want to prove this rebuild has legs, grabbing a win over a wounded South Carolina squad is the next big step.
