LEXINGTON, Ky. — When a university hires a coach recognized as one of the rising offensive minds in college football, there are certain things that school needs to see in the head man’s debut game.
On a sweltering-hot Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field, Will Stein’s initial outing as Kentucky Wildcats football coach gave UK exactly what it needed.
Just as the high-powered offenses that Stein coordinated the previous three seasons at Oregon generally did, Kentucky put its scoreboard operator through a vigorous workout Saturday. The Wildcats (1-0) blitzed visiting Youngstown State (1-1) 45-13 before a sun-seared crowd announced at 60,166.
Until Saturday, no UK coach in the Commonwealth Stadium/Kroger Field era (since 1973) had ever had a team score more than 40 points in his first game as Wildcats head man.
“I was really happy for our guys after all the work they’ve done the last eight months,” Stein said, “to go out there and reap the benefits of their hard work.”
The new Kentucky offense was balanced, producing 301 yards through the air and 205 yards on the ground.
UK’s operation was clean, with the Wildcats scoring six touchdowns on their first eight drives of the game, committing no turnovers and only six penalties.
“Offensively, we started fast and strong,” Stein said. “We were able to run the ball, able to give them a bunch of different personnel groupings to keep them on their toes.”
For a Kentucky fan base that had grown weary of the limited offenses of recent seasons, a UK attack which had five different players score touchdowns and nine different Cats catch a pass was a jolt of hope.
When a school entrusts its football program to a quarterback whisperer who molded Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore at Oregon, it needs to see a strong opening performance from its own QB.
Making his first college start, Kentucky’s Kenny Minchey, the former Notre Dame backup, completed 18 of 27 passes for 301 yards with four touchdowns vs. no interceptions.
“I thought Kenny played well,” Stein said. “... I thought the majority of the game, he managed extremely well. ... For his first start, I was very pleased with his performance.”
Throughout the closed practices of Kentucky’s fall camp, the buzz was that Minchey’s accuracy was high level. The best demonstration of that Saturday came midway through the third quarter, when Minchey hit true freshman wideout Prince Jean perfectly in stride on a swing pass.
Able to catch the well-placed throw with all his momentum going downhill, Jean streaked down the sideline for a 26-yard touchdown.
“Sometimes those short ones, they seem like they’re easy throws,” Minchey said. “But some of the short throws, they are sometimes hard.”
In building Kentucky’s 2026 roster, Stein and UK obviously invested a healthy chunk of their player acquisition budget to bring in offensive linemen from the transfer portal.
With Kentucky starting five transfers along its offensive line Saturday, it was important for the UK front to dominate an FCS defense.
The new “Big Blue Wall” did every bit of that, creating vast holes for UK backs to hit and keeping Minchey all but untouched.
Kentucky’s new offensive line “was really, really good,” UK junior tight end Willie Rodriguez said. “Definitely the best (Kentucky offensive front) I’ve been around.”
When you hire a head coach with an offensive background, the defense becomes a worry.
Kentucky still has questions to answer on that side of the football, but the Wildcats on Saturday were able to make Youngstown State’s star dual-threat quarterback, Beau Brungard, one-dimensional.
While Brungard hurt UK through the air, throwing for 243 yards, the Cats limited the YSU QB to 29 net rushing yards on 12 carries.
“For the most part, we stopped him running the ball, which was a big part of the plan,” Stein said.
When you hire a head coach who is the son of a former player at your school, you expect the first game to yield some poignant emotional moments.
For Stein and UK, that box, too, was checked on Saturday.
Stein’s father, Matt, a wide-tackle-six defense end for Kentucky during the Jerry Claiborne era, was an honorary game captain for UK Saturday.
As a head coach for the first time, Will rode the pregame bus to the stadium where, as a child, he used to attend games with his dad.
“I had some emotions coming over here on the ride from the hotel,” Will said.
At Kroger Field in the pregame, UK videographers captured new Kentucky athletics director J Batt and UK men’s basketball coach Mark Pope each giving Will a hug of support.
In the game’s final minute, Kentucky offensive linemen Lance Heard and Jordan Knox doused the soon-to-be victorious head coach with a Gatorade bath.
With No. 13 Alabama coming to Lexington next Saturday, we will learn a lot more about Kentucky’s realistic expectations for 2026.
But for one game of the Will Stein coaching era, UK got everything it needed to see.