Texas Longhorns vs. Kentucky Wildcats Way-Too-Early Season Preview

As with all of their Southeastern Conference opponents from last season, the Texas Longhorns will face the Kentucky Wildcats for the second year in a row in 2025. But after hosting them at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial in their inaugural SEC season, the Longhorns will head to Lexington to face the Wildcats on Oct. 18.

The Kentucky game is Texas's third conference game of the season, following after Florida and Oklahoma, and seventh overall. The resounding hope is that the Longhorns are undefeated or have at most one loss going into Lexington.

The clash at Kroger Field will be one between programs with contrasting storylines entering the matchup. While it will be Texas' third non-home game consecutively, Kentucky will be returning from a bye after facing Georgia on the road on Oct. 4.

Texas vs. Kentucky at DKR last season

The Longhorns beat the Wildcats by a score of 31-14 in their second-to-last conference regular season game of 2024.

It was a battle that Texas dictated on the ground, outrushing Kentucky 251 to 21 yards. The run game was led by Quintrevion Wisner, who totaled 158 yards and a touchdown on 6.1 yards per carry. The Longhorns were in fact secondary in the passing department, though not much was required from Quinn Ewers as the home team pulled away to a three-score victory.

That was because the Longhorn defense gave Kentucky little wiggle room throughout the span of the game.

The Kentucky offense only scored one touchdown, as the second touchdown came on a defensive score. The Wildcats went two of 12 on third down, punting five times. Texas forced two interceptions and recorded six sacks and 12 tackles for loss, the defensive front oftentimes getting its way. Anthony Hill Jr. headlined Texas tackling, collecting two sacks and 11 total tackles himself.

The outcome pushed Texas to a 10-1 record, while Kentucky fell to 4-7.

What has changed since then?

There has been key personnel turnover for both teams ahead of the 2025 season.

Coming off only its second losing year in the past nine seasons, Kentucky will have a new quarterback-running back tandem, bringing in senior QB Zach Calzada and junior RB Dante Dowdell. The Wildcats are expected to have more offensive capability than shown a year ago, as they scored 21 or more points only three times in 2024 -- none of those performances happening in conference play.

Texas is also undergoing a quarterback change, transitioning from Ewers to Arch Manning. With this matchup being midseason, you have to think both Calzada and Manning will be settled in to their systems by the time Oct. 18 rolls around.

Though it could get thunderous for a matchup against the potential No. 1 team in the country, Kroger Field is not considered one of the premier home environments in the SEC, ranked 15th out of 16 on Blake Toppmeyer of USA Today's SEC stadium rankings. Texas will go into Lexington anticipating a win, but there are no givens or guarantees in college football, especially in the nation's best conference.