Kentucky went for two in overtime with the game on the line and Kenny Minchey ran it in himself. That is how an unranked Kentucky team beat No. 10 LSU 35-34 at Kroger Field on Saturday night, and how Lane Kiffin’s first season in Baton Rouge became a problem.
LSU had the ball first in overtime, scored a touchdown, and kicked the extra point. Kentucky answered with a C.J. Baxter touchdown run, and first-year head coach Will Stein never considered sending out his kicker. Minchey took the snap, found nobody open, and went up the middle.
Stein Had Already Done This Once
This was not a coach rolling dice in a panic. Stein made the same call the previous Saturday against South Carolina, when tight end Willie Rodriguez converted it. Kentucky is now the first FBS team to win back-to-back one-point overtime games since the overtime rule arrived in 1996.
The kicker math explains part of the decision. Adam Zouagui had already missed twice on Saturday. Kentucky also needed a field goal with 12 seconds left in regulation just to force the extra period, so Stein had watched his special teams swing both directions in the same night.
Kentucky is 5-1, the best start any head coach has managed in his first season in Lexington. Stein was hired on December 1, 2025. His quarterback threw for 246 yards and zero touchdowns and still won the game. Baxter carried 19 times for 123 yards, and Kenny Darby caught four passes for 79.
Kiffin Walked Off Through Middle Fingers
Kentucky fans stormed the field, and the ESPN broadcast caught several of them trailing Kiffin’s police escort, filming him and holding up middle fingers. It looked bad. It was also predictable inside a stadium that had just watched its team knock off a playoff contender.
Kiffin used none of it as cover. “This goes on all of us,” he said, pointing at a punt return and at turnovers. “We had all kinds of chances to close the game out and win the game, and didn’t do it.” He also said you look at yourself first.
That accountability does not change the numbers. LSU is 4-2 and 1-2 in the SEC, with both losses on the road, and Kiffin is 0-2 in true road games at LSU. The Tigers outgained Kentucky 410 to 401 and got 275 passing yards and two touchdowns from Sam Leavitt. They still lost.
What It Means
LSU fell 12 spots to No. 22 in Sunday’s AP poll, the steepest drop of any ranked team. A team that opened the season by hammering Clemson 51-10 now needs help to reach the playoff, and the remaining schedule does not offer much mercy. Kiffin inherited a roster built to contend and sits at 4-2 in October.
Kentucky entered the AP poll at No. 15 from nowhere and plays at Oklahoma next Saturday. The Wildcats have not proven they can survive a full SEC schedule. They have proven that Stein will take the aggressive option twice in eight days and be right both times, which is more than most first-year SEC coaches can claim.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.