In typical UK Football fashion, the Cats took another one down to the wire in SEC play, this time it was against Mississippi State and fortunately for the Big Blue Nation, things went their way. 

In a game that looked as if it had been squandered away by UK, the team fought back against adversity to pull out a dramatic and important 40-38 victory over the Bulldogs, snapping Dan Mullen’s seven game win streak against the Cats.

“Once again, we showed that resiliency, and we showed that toughness, and all that stuff I talked about is starting to pay off in the off-season with being physically tougher, mentally tougher, and being able to bounce back from adversity,”  head coach Mark Stoops said. “That’s what I’m most proud of.”

That resiliency and toughness were no more evident than in the final ten minutes of the game. Those ten minutes on Saturday night could end up being the minutes that dictate if UK will get to a bowl or not in 2016.

With just over 9:33 left on the clock and UK up 34-24, the Cats looked as if they were going to basically put the game away inside the MSU ten yard-line, but instead quarterback Stephen Johnson fumbled and the Bulldogs returned it for a touchdown cutting the UK lead to 3.

As the momentum shifted, the Cats were able to respond with an Austin MacGinnis field goal which brought their lead up to six with 6:52 left in the game.

Unfortunately, the Bulldogs responded with a 14-play, 77-yard drive capped off by a Nick Fitzgerald touchdown pass to grab a 38-37 lead with 1:09 left on the clock.

At that moment, it felt like yet again, the Cats would lose a winnable conference game at home, but instead a quick 7-play, 46-yard drive had UK in range for MacGinnis to win the game. And that’s what he did, drilling a 51-yard field goal as time expired to give the Cats arguably their biggest win of the Stoops-era.

Related: UK, Johnson made plays towards winning culture in victory over Mississippi State

“As soon as we went up six, I started telling myself ‘this might come down to me.’ they started driving, so I had to put in my mind ‘I’m about to kick a game-winner,’” MacGinnis said. “I told Grant (McKinniss), our punter, ‘I’m about to kick a game-winner.’ I told the managers, ‘I’m about to kick a game-winner.’ And then, God Bless, got a chance and put it through the uprights.”

Had it not been for the crazy second half that followed a sluggish first half, MacGinnis may have never been in that position at all.

The first half saw only 20 total points between the two teams in total, but with 4:55 left in the third, the two teams had already put up 24 points, including a 44-yard TD reception by Jeff Badet on a trick play that opened the scoring in the second half.

That trick play, jump started Johnson’s game through the air as well after struggling mightily in the first half. Badet and Johnson each had big third quarters along with freshman stud Benny Snell Jr. who ran one in untouched from 34 yards out.

Following the third quarter, UK fans have become accustomed to the weekly hype man, Marcus McClinton who always gets the crowd going and this time it may have rubbed off on the team as Marcus McWilson had a pick-six on the first play of the fourth quarter, which set the tone for a crazy ending.

The shootout of a second half might have been tough on the Big Blue Nation’s blood pressure, but nonetheless a pair of 100+ yard rushers, a 100+ yard receiver in Badet and a quarterback that stepped his game up when the team needed surely helped with the anxiety.

“It feels good to win; I don’t think I have ever celebrated harder in my life than I did in that press box. There may have been some damaged windows up there because we were celebrating like we won the lottery up there,” defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot said. “It was a tremendous feeling; we are so excited. It’s the players that did it and we just have to build off of this and keep going.”