LSU appeared late Saturday to avoid instances of playing with fire, but ultimately once again couldn’t escape what continued to be a house of heartbreak in Lexington, Ky.
Kentucky (5-1, 3-1) missed a pair of potential game-tying field goals, but received one more chance after a decision by coach Lane Kiffin to punt after the No. 10 Tigers (4-2, 1-2) couldn’t move the chains to safely run out the last three minutes of regulation.
Senior Adam Zouagui finally exorcised his demons with the 33-yard kicker to force overtime.
LSU was not so fortunate, falling 35-34, as the Wildcats went on to win on do-or-die two-point conversion on which senior quarterback Kenny Minchey waltzed through a wide-open middle of the field to stun Kiffin and company and draw the Kroger Field crowd barreling down from the stands.
“The game came down obviously to a one play game, but there were a lot of plays before that,” the coach told reporters after the game. “Like I told ’em before the game, ‘When a chance comes in the fourth quarter, you can’t let ’em hang around.’ We had the ball ahead, and then we turn the ball over. And then another chance to end it there, so they don’t get it back, obviously if some things go the other way and you go get yourself a first.
“Thought about going for it on fourth-and-1 and talked myself out of it with the way that their kicker had missed two field goals already and that we’d punt ’em deep and play defense. And that worst-scenario even if they drove down and made it, it would go to overtime. And that’s what happened. And those guys had a good opening series of overtime and scored, and then they scored and got a two-point conversion. So, disappointing. All three phases could’ve won this game.”
The Tigers scratched first in the extra period as quarterback Sam Leavitt took their second snap 15 yards to the 34-27 lead after the extra point.
Kentucky answered five plays later with a goal-line run by senior back C.J. Baxter to cap a five-play series highlighted by former Airline star and one-time LSU commit Kenny Darby catching a pass over the middle and fighting his way through multiple Tigers for 22 yards down inside the 5.
Coach Will Stein and the Wildcats opted for the second straight week in the situation to go for two points and the win and gashed their way into the history books as the first team in three decades to earn back-to-back victories in that fashion since NCAA Division-I FBS implemented overtime in 1996.
The Tigers’ loss marked their sixth straight on the road, eighth straight on the road in SEC play and third straight in Lexington.
LSU last won on the road Aug., 30, 2025, at Clemson and against an SEC opponent Oct. 19, 2025, at Arkansas.
The Tigers’ last win at Kentucky came Nov. 9, 2002, as coach Nick Saban and company came home with a 33-30 victory.
Since then, the Wildcats have upset LSU, 43-37, on Oct. 13, 2007, in triple overtime; 42-21, on Oct. 9, 2021; and now again in Saturday’s disappointing trip for the purple and gold.
“These guys have done that for years up here,” Kiffin said. “I mean, shoot, what did Texas go to overtime, I think, last year against ’em here and won it, 16-13, or whatever it was. So these guys have done a good job. The new coach has done a good job. And we didn’t close ’em out when we needed to.”
The droughts finally seemed to be coming to an end with the combination of a few key offensive plays, including a highlight-reel go-ahead touchdown, and just six points allowed Kentucky on seven second-half possessions thanks to the Tigers’ stops and a few costly UK miscues.
LSU pulled ahead, 27-24, on a well-called and -executed, 41-yard double-pass play from Leavitt out to wide receiver Jackson Harris to fellow junior Roman Mothershed.
And Zouagui missed potential game-tying kicks from 42 and 26 yards, leaving the Wildcats with nothing to show for a 51-yard drive or then a short field gifted by a Leavitt fumble.
But Kentucky managed to force a punt with 1:37 remaining, and Minchey, Darby and company quickly pushed 67 yards down the field to set up another chance for their kicker, one on which he finally capitalized.
Leavitt finished 25-for-34 for 275 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 15 times for 39 yards and the overtime score.
He coughed up a pair of possessions with a third-quarter interception and the late fumble, but the Wildcats failed to convert either into points.
“A lot of good,” Kiffin said of Leavitt’s performance. “And then obviously the turnover, the bad, and settle for a field goal with the guy open for a touchdown. But I thought outside of that, he played really good and made a lot of good plays in the game. And really,
Sophomore running back Dilin Jones carried 16 times for 56 yards and caught seven passes for a game-high 84 yards.
Sophomore wide receiver Wintson Watkins Jr. and Harris caught six passes each for 62 yards and 54 yards, respectively, with Harris both catching and throwing touchdowns.
Senior linebacker T.J. Dottery and junior linebacker Davhon Keys led the defense with 12 and nine tackles, respectively, including one for loss by Dottery.
Junior defensive tackle Malik Blocton recorded the team’s lone sack, and the Tigers didn’t manage any takeaways.
Minchey completed 23 of his 36 pases for 246 yards and rushed seven times for 12 yards and a touchdown.
Baxter carried 19 times for 123 yards and two scores, and Darby led the Wildcats with four catches for 79 yards on a strong finish after a quiet start.
Kentucky managed to take a 21-17 lead into halftime thanks to a pair of explosive plays and a critical, but controversial fourth-down conversion in the final seconds.
LSU struck first in what proved to be a back-and-forth first half and night overall with a promising opening drive that was forced to settle for a 24-yard Scott Starzyk field goal.
But the Wildcats limited that initial damage with a strong defensive stance inside the 10-yard line and then needed just two plays to snatch the lead with senior running back C.J. Baxter popping a 77-yard near-breakaway and then picking up the final 3 yards to the goal line on the next snap.
Leavitt and company mounted a methodical 11-play, 75-yard drive in response with the a reverse flea-flicker play for the 22-yard touchdown strike and 10-7 lead through the first quarter.
Jones took the handoff and tossed to receiver Watkins, who tossed back to Leavitt, who then hit a wide-open junior tight end Zach Grace for the first touchdown of his college career and the Tigers’ longest gain of the night.
A 55-yard punt return bounced outside and up the sideline by sophomore receiver Brock Coffman reclaimed a 14-10 lead for Kentucky and re-engerized the home crowd.
“If you don’t execute, you don’t execute,” Kiffin said. “The punt return, we’ve got a player there tackling him and doesn’t tackle him, and then he goes outside. And the long run, we get scooped out of a gap, and the ball goes for a long run. So if you don’t do fundamentally sound stuff, you get exposed vs. good teams.”
LSU countered with another long drive, this time 14 plays and nearly seven minutes for the 75 yards, and a nicely placed throw by Leavitt and tough catch through contact by Harris for the 10-yard go-ahead score.
The Wildcats would have just enough time and just enough push find the end zone once more before the break, though, with a 15-play, 75-yard march to an eventual fourth-down conversion and goal-line touchdown on a Minchey sneak as time expired.
Kentucky’s initial push was held up strong by the Tigers, but the senior quarterback’s running backs continued to push him across the goal line before an official whistle was ever blown to take a 21-17 lead into the locker room.
Starzyk and Zouagui traded short field goals late in the third and early in the fourth, as the drama continued to mount.
LSU returns home for an 11 a.m. kickoff next Saturday against No. 17 Mississippi State (4-1, 2-1) before heading back on the road Oct. 24 against Auburn (3-2, 1-2).
“I’ll get to that tomorrow,” Kiffin said of dealing with potential negative noise reacting to the team’s second loss. “This, I just told ’em, this goes on all of us. We had all kinds of chances to close the game out and win the game and didn’t do it. And you let people hang around on the road in the SEC, that’s gonna happen.”
