By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
It looks like LSU will have a chance at its first quality win of the season on the road at Kentucky on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN).
The Tigers (4-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference), who moved up from No. 11 to No. 10 in the Associated Press poll on Sunday, have two wins over ranked teams in No. 23 Clemson (51-10) and No. 23 Texas A&M (35-6). But that was at the time of the game, which is not as significant as later rankings. Clemson (3-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) and Texas A&M (3-2, 1-2 SEC) are both well out of the polls. LSU’s other wins are over far from ranked Louisiana Tech (2-2) by 45-14 and FCS McNeese State (2-4, 1-2 Southland Conference) by 63-14 on Saturday.
Interestingly, LSU coach Lane Kiffin’s Tigers beat Clemson and A&M so badly that those scores contributed to neither team being ranked at the moment and could have hurt LSU’s own ranking as it actually fell from No. 10 to No. 11 last Sunday after the win over the Aggies.
Kentucky (4-1, 2-1 SEC) went into Saturday ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press poll, but fell out of it after a 35-34 overtime win at lowly South Carolina (2-3, 0-3 SEC). The Wildcats were at No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches’ poll with LSU at No. 10 in the A.P. and Coaches polls.
Kentucky also has a win over Texas A&M, 31-21, on the road and have a home loss to Alabama, 45-17.
And the Wildcats are in rare air under first-year coach Will Stein, who at 37 is in his first head coaching job after serving as Oregon’s offensive coordinator the previous three seasons. When the A.P. ranked Kentucky No. 24 last week, it marked the Wildcats’ first ranking since 2023 – a span of 1,085 days.
Then Kentucky’s win over South Carolina via a two-point conversion gamble that ended the game in the first overtime, Stein became the first Kentucky coach to go 4-1 in his first five games since Paul “Bear” Bryant in 1946 when he led the Wildcats to a 7-3 season (2-3 SEC).
KENTUCKY BEATS SOUTH CAROLINA IN OVERTIME
Stein led Kentucky back from a 17-0 deficit in the second quarter for Kentucky’s largest road comeback win in program history. Not bad for a coach picked to finish 14th out of 16 league teams at the SEC Media Days over the summer.
“We put together a great roster and a great coaching staff,” Stein said after the game Saturday.
That roster includes the No. 10 portal class in the country last January with 32 transfers, including former LSU wide receiver Nic Anderson (6-foot-4, 208 pounds), who caught five passes for 80 yards Saturday with a 32-yard touchdown for Kentucky’s first lead at 24-20 in the third quarter, and former LSU defensive lineman Ahmad Breaux.
Stein also signed No. 17 portal quarterback Kenny Minchey, a senior who was a career backup at Notre Dame. Minchey (6-2, 211) completed 28 of 41 passes against South Carolina for 272 yards with three second half touchdowns. He is No. 39 in the nation and No. 6 in the SEC in effiiency on 97-of-142 passing for 1,148 yards and 11 touchdowns with an interception for offensive coordinator Joe Sloan, another transfer from LSU you might say.
LSU fired Sloan the day after it fired head coach Brian Kelly last season, which was the day after a 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M that dropped the Tigers out of the College Football Playoff at 5-3 (2-3 SEC).
“Unbelievable fight from our team,” Stein said after the game Saturday. “Couldn’t be more proud to be a Kentucky Wildcat.”
Minchey hit tight end Henry Boyer on a 6-yard touchdown pass to get Kentucky within 34-33 in the second possession of the first overtime after South Carolina scored a touchdown with an extra point for a 34-27 lead. Then Minchey hit tight end Willie Rodriguez for the 35-34 victory.
“We decided let’s go for it,” Stein said. “We (he and Sloan) had a play called we loved.”
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