Northern Illinois’ rally falls short in a 31-23 road loss to No. 8 Kentucky, dropping the Huskies to 1-3

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Will Levis tied a career high with four touchdown passes, including critical scores of 70 and 40 yards to Barion Brown and Tayvion Robinson after halftime, and No. 8 Kentucky held off Northern Illinois 31-23 on Saturday night.

After allowing the pesky Huskies a tying touchdown seconds before halftime, Levis put the Wildcats (4-0) ahead 21-14 just 58 seconds into the third quarter by hitting Brown across the middle on third-and-10. Coming a snap after the senior quarterback was nearly intercepted, it was just what Kentucky needed to gain room from a NIU team unfazed by being 26-point underdogs.

Matt Ruffolo’s 49-yard field goal later in the third provided a 10-point cushion and came during a hot stretch in which Levis completed eight consecutive attempts. Levis later found Tayvion Robinson, who spun off a tackle and ran 40 yards for his second touchdown to make it 31-17 with 8 minutes 46 seconds remaining.

That cushion helped as the Huskies fought back to within 31-23 with 2:47 left on Justin Lynch’s 2-yard run after a defensive holding penalty. Ethan Hampton’s two-point conversion pass failed, Kentucky recovered the onside kick and Levis knelt to seal the win.

Levis overcame five sacks to complete 18 of 26 passes for 303 yards, his third 300-yard effort this season, with chunk plays on each touchdown. Robinson (seven catches, 147 yards) also had a 69-yard score on a crossing pass as Levis was a second away from a crushing sack. Brown caught four passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns, including a 15-yarder on Kentucky’s first possession.

NIU (1-3) drove 75 yards on the opening possession for Hampton’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Tristan Tewes, who also snagged a 3-yard score from Shemar Thornton six seconds before halftime. The Huskies made it a one-score game late but lost their third in a row and second in as many weeks to a Southeastern Conference school.

Northern Illinois: Like last week against Vanderbilt, the Huskies started fast and forced the Wildcats to counterpunch before shocking them with a wideout pass in the second quarter. They harassed Levis early and often but couldn’t slow his receivers, who broke coverage to get open for big-play touchdowns.

Kentucky: Pass protection remains a concern after again allowing multiple sacks of Levis, whose rollouts bought time to hit big passes later in the game.

Northern Illinois: The Huskies open MAC play Saturday at Ball State.

Kentucky: The Wildcats resume SEC play Saturday at No. 16 Mississippi.