Will Stein took 3 video games to get win that validates UK imaginative and prescient

COLLEGE STATION, Texas

It took Will Stein three games to achieve the victory that authenticates his vision of what a new day in Kentucky football can look like.

That win came on a steaming hot day deep in the heart of Texas. As a stunned Kyle Field crowd of 105,185 looked on, Stein got his first SEC victory as UK head coach with a 31-21 throttling of No. 9 Texas A&M.

One week ago, UK was outscored 32-0 in the second half to turn a 17-13 halftime lead over then-No. 12 Alabama into a 45-17 skunking. In College Station, Kentucky (2-1, 1-1 SEC) broke away from a 7-7 tie with A&M (2-1, 0-1 SEC) by scoring 24 points on its first four possessions of the second half.

“The more physical team won the game. The more physical team won the game,” an exultant Stein said afterward. “I’m proud of every facet. Everybody had a piece in this victory.”

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko was succinct in his agreement: “Kentucky kicked our (butt),” Elko said.

In the first signature win of the Stein era, UK heroes were plentiful.

Rush end/outside linebacker Sam Greene personally snuffed out two Texas A&M first-half drives deep in UK territory. Greene foiled the first Aggies drive when he sliced in off the right defensive edge to stone A&M running back Rueben Owens II dead in his tracks on a fourth-and-1 play from the UK 11-yard line.

Texas A&M had reached the UK 27-yard line on its second drive when Greene, a 6-foot-2, 251-pound transfer from USC, said he read the eyes of Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed and stepped in front of a pass intended for receiver Aaron Gregory for an interception.

“Giant, giant,” Stein said of Greene’s two early stops. “… That was a huge momentum shift for us (because) they were driving the ball.”

A week after UK quarterback Kenny Minchey was sacked four times and committed two turnovers in the loss to Alabama, the Notre Dame transfer was the epitome of efficiency in his first career road start.

Minchey completed 14 of 18 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns. Of his four incompletions, two were drops and one he threw away intentionally to avoid defensive pressure.

Against a Texas A&M defense that returned two interceptions for touchdowns against former Kentucky QB Cutter Boley last week in a 48-20 win over Arizona State, Minchey’s play was cleaner than a freshly laundered suit.

“Kenny was elite. He was elite,” Stein said. “… The best thing that happened to Kenny Minchey was getting sacked four times last week, throwing a pick six. Why? Because he learned.”

After the Alabama loss, Kentucky was desperate for an injection of explosiveness from its wide receivers.

Against A&M, sophomore DJ Miller caught his first five passes of the season, good for 96 yards. “You get what you emphasize,” Stein said. “If you emphasize getting certain guys the ball, they show up.”

After dropping a sure touchdown pass as a wide-open receiver in the first half, Kentucky true freshman Kenny Darby came back with an electric 42-yard, catch-and-run TD to put UK ahead 14-7 on the opening possession of the second half.

After Darby’s dropped touchdown pass, “I told him, ‘The ball is coming right back to you,’ and it did,” Minchey said. “He took a bad throw of the football and turned it into a touchdown pass.”

It was a good day for Kentucky coaching.

Against the team for whom he coached the past two seasons, UK defensive coordinator Jay Bateman watched his unit do a lot of bending — A&M gained 423 yards — but little enough breaking to allow the Kentucky offense to win the game.

The Kentucky offensive brain trust of Stein and offensive coordinator Joe Sloan had a deft game plan that repeatedly used formations to create openings for UK playmakers to generate big plays.

“They felt like they knew what we were going to get from the (Texas A&M) defensive side of the ball,” Minchey said. “And they put us in position to win with ‘formation’ guys open.”

The victory over the No. 9 Aggies was only UK’s sixth all-time road win over a team ranked in the AP Top 10.

Amazingly, three of those wins — 38-31 at No. 9 Louisville in 2023; 20-17 at No. 6 Ole Miss in 2024; and Saturday’s win at A&M — have come in the past four seasons even as UK has gone 18-22 overall.

Through the offseason, Stein’s “because of me” bravado had brought attention to Kentucky football from quarters that often ignore the Wildcats.

Included among those taking notice of Stein’s brashness have been high school recruits, the most important constituency for any college sports coach.

To hold together UK’s 2027 recruiting class that 24/7 Sports rates as the 23rd-best in the country — and to attract an even higher level of prospect going forward — Stein needs victories that prevent rival recruiters from scaring off the best players with “you’ll never win at Kentucky.”

For Stein, beating a Top 10 Texas A&M on its home field is that kind of win.