Kenny Minchey powers Kentucky past South Carolina in overtime

What Happened

Kentucky erased a 17-point deficit Saturday, Oct. 3, then beat South Carolina 35–34 in overtime when Kenny Minchey threw the game-winning two-point conversion to Willie Rodriguez. The victory moved Kentucky to 4–1 overall and 2–1 in the SEC, with road wins at Texas A&M and South Carolina. It also made Will Stein the first Kentucky coach to win his first two SEC road games. Stein told Tom Leach that Minchey looked different while leading the comeback. “He was cold-blooded tonight. Now, that dude was playing. He had a different look in his eye,” Stein said. Kentucky’s offense had only 18 yards and one first down in the opening quarter. South Carolina sacked Minchey twice. Minchey answered with 28 completions on 41 attempts for 272 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. All three touchdowns came after halftime. The performance made Minchey the first Kentucky quarterback since Jared Lorenzen at Vanderbilt in 2001 to post those passing numbers in an SEC road game. He also rushed for four first downs and had 31 rushing yards excluding sack yardage, including two first-down runs in the fourth quarter. In overtime, Minchey hit Henry Boyer for a 6-yard touchdown. Kentucky then went for two, and Rodriguez secured the winning throw. Stein ran onto the field to celebrate with his team and pulled Minchey into a hug on the way to a postgame interview.

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The win snapped South Carolina’s four-game winning streak in the series and gave Kentucky its second SEC road victory. The Wildcats’ only loss came against Alabama, 45–17, on Sept. 12. LSU brings the next measuring point to Kroger Field at 7 p.m. ET on Oct. 10. Kentucky has not confirmed whether Minchey will start against LSU. Stein’s postgame assessment left no doubt about how he viewed the quarterback’s performance. “I mean, he’s elite. He’s so calm in the chaos and very proud of him. This is a giant growth moment for him, being down the way that we were, battling back. You know, no panic, no nothing. Just, hey, next-play mentality, and he was excellent tonight,” Stein said.(Josh has not yet commented.)