Monday, December 30, 2019
Bowl Season
Western Kentucky beat Western Michigan 23-20 in the First Responders' Bowl down in Dallas today. Now Louisville is beating Mississippi State 24-14 with 2:48 left in the 3d quarter of the Music City Bowl. Big day for the Commonwealth so far.
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An easy 38-28 win for the Cardinals, and now the pressure is on UK to win the Belk Bowl and give the Commonwealth a sweep.
ReplyDeleteUK troll.
DeleteWKU should've won its game by about three touchdowns, and I don't care for the silver helmets, but who cares? It was great. A true freshman (who had missed one from twenty-some-odd yards earlier in the game) hit a 52-yard field goal (by a lot) on an untimed down to end the game.
ReplyDeleteKentucky is underway at the Belk Bowl. The Cats are going with blue shirts, blue pants, and silver helmets. Virginia Tech is wearing maroon helmets, white shirts with maroon numerals, and maroon pants.
ReplyDeleteThis is about as good a luck as Tech has. You can't do much if maroon and orange are your colors.
DeleteI meant, of course, that this is about as good a "look" as Tech has.
DeleteHere is a complete list of Kentucky bowl victories since I started watching the Cats:
ReplyDelete12/31/76: Peach Bowl -- Kentucky 21, N. Carolina 0
12/29/84: Hall of Fame Classic -- Kentucky 20, Wisconsin 19
12/29/06: Music City Bowl -- Kentucky 28, Clemson 20
12/31/07: Music City Bowl -- Kentucky 35, Florida St. 28
01/02/09: Liberty Bowl -- Kentucky 25, E. Carolina 19
01/01/19: Citrus Bowl -- Kentucky 27, Penn St. 24
Here's a complete list of seasons in my lifetime when UK finished in the AP Top 20:
ReplyDelete1976: 8-4 (18th in the AP Poll)
1977: 10-1 (6th)
1984: 9-3 (19th)
2018: 10-3 (12th)
If the Cats win today, they would be 8-5 for the year, which wouldn't be good enough for the Top 20. But they would have Bowl victories on the First and Last Days of 2019, which would be really cool.
ReplyDeleteWith 3:20 left in the first quarter, UK leads 7-3. But Tech is at the UK 18.
Tech scores and now leads 10-7 with 2:04 left in the first quarter.
ReplyDeleteThe Matt Jones crowd on Twitter doesn't like the blue and white checkerboard in UK's uniforms, but I don't mind it.
ReplyDeleteUK punts and Tech will take over from around its own 40 to start the second quarter.
ReplyDeleteTech zips down the field and scores another touchdown. Hokies lead 17-7 with 10:20 left in the second quarter.
ReplyDeleteKentucky punts again. Tech will start from its own 29. There is 7:02 left in the 2d quarter.
ReplyDeleteKentucky holds and forces a punt. The Cats start from their 36 with just under 5 minutes before halftime.
ReplyDeleteThe Cats drive the length of the field and score. With 53 seconds left in the half, Tech leads 17-14. Very good game so far.
ReplyDeleteTech leads 17-14 at the half. It's a bright and sunny day in Charlotte, and these two teams are really playing hard. Can't ask fairer than that.
ReplyDeleteKentucky kicks a field goal. The game is tied at 17 with 11 minutes left in the 3d quarter.
ReplyDeleteTech only needs one minute and a half to score again. The Hokies go untouched on a 43-yard run to make the score Tech 24, Kentucky 17.
ReplyDeleteOn 3d and 8 from his own 39, Lynn Bowden races SIXTY-ONE YARDS through the entire Tech secondary. That was marvelous stuff. It looked like Bowden was going out of bounds at around the Tech 20, but he cut back inside and beat several defenders to score. Fantastic! The game is tied at 24 with 7:57 left in the third quarter.
ReplyDeleteThis was a stunning run, and, at this point, I thought it was going to be the pinnacle moment of Lynn Bowden's short, brilliant UK career. Not quite.
DeleteTech drives 53 yards and kicks a 40-yard field goal. The Hokies lead 27-24 with 3:13 left in the third quarter. Other than the Fiesta Bowl -- which was the game of the year in college football so far -- this has been the best bowl game of the season.
ReplyDeleteWith 33 seconds left in the third quarter, UK fumbles the ball. The Hokies will take over at the Kentucky 40. Hokies still lead 27 to 24.
ReplyDeleteThere are 44,138 fans at this game. Pretty good turnout for a match-up between an 8-4 team and a 7-5 team.
ReplyDeleteI like these Fansville commercials for the most part. On the other hand, I literally cannot remember the last time I had a Dr. Pepper. Here's my current go-to list for soft drinks:
ReplyDelete1. Coca-Cola
2. Mountain Dew
3. Sprite
4. Cherry Coca-Cola
5. Mello Yellow
6. Nu Grape
7. Orange Crush
I think Cherry Coke is getting the reps that would otherwise go to Dr. Pepper.
They are great commercials, and Dr. Pepper is, indeed, huge in Madisonville. I married into a big Dr. Pepper family, and it feels like the whole town picks Dr. Pepper over Coke, about 2 to 1.
DeleteEven though I don't drink Dr. Pepper very often, I'm glad to know that others are doing so.
DeleteTech boots a field goal to make the score 30 to 24. That ends UK's streak of 26 games without giving up 30 or more points. We have 12:47 left in the game.
ReplyDeleteNot Jerry Tipton, who has one of the best accounts on Twitter, points out that the last time UK allowed more than 30 points in a football game, Louisville still had three national titles in basketball.
ReplyDeleteKentucky gets to midfield, and then Bowden throws a long pass that is intercepted at the Tech 10 yard line. For some reason, the Kentucky receiver just froze, and the defender was able to run under the ball. He returns it to the Tech 39, and the Hokies can now put the hammer down. We have 9:34 left in the game.
ReplyDeleteThe UK defense holds! Tech punts, and the Cats will start from their own 15. We have 8:25 left in this game.
ReplyDeleteI was so impressed with UK's defense in these last three possessions, holding Virginia Tech to only two field goals.
DeleteBowden now has 25 carries for 193 yards. UK has first and 10 at its own 28. 6 1/2 minutes to go.
ReplyDeleteOK, so here we go. The Cats face 4th and 7 from their 43 with 3:46 left.
ReplyDeleteBowden scrambles to his right and completes a pass to the Tech 48. First down!
ReplyDeleteThis play looked hopeless.
DeleteBowden scrambles down to the Tech 35. First and 10 with 2:30 left.
ReplyDeleteTwo more Bowden runs and it's 3d and 2 at the Tech 27. The Cats are stuffed at the line. Now it's 4th and 1 from the 26. There is 1:01 left in the game.
ReplyDeleteThe Cats call time. All over America, Kentucky fans yell, "LET BOWDEN RUN FOR IT!"
ReplyDeleteBowden takes the snap -- and dashes straight up the middle. He gets two yards and a first down. 48 seconds left.
ReplyDeleteFelt certain at this point they were going to run out of time.
DeleteBowden scrambles out of bounds at the 13. First and 10. There are 19 seconds to go. The Cats have one timeout.
ReplyDeleteTech calls time. When this drive started, there were 8 minutes and 25 seconds left. Now only 19 seconds remain. The Cats only have one timeout left, so Bowden can only run one more time.
ReplyDeleteBowden steps back -- and lofts a PERFECT PASS INTO THE END ZONE! For a moment you could see the ball and Josh Ali breaking free, and you had time to think, please, please catch it. AND HE DID! Kentucky makes the extra point, and the Cats lead 31 to 30.
ReplyDeletePerfect description of my experience of this play. One of my all-time-favorite drives in football, even counting the NCFA Salisbury Popes.
DeleteThere are still 15 seconds to go, but that was the greatest performance I've ever seen from a UK football player. That's the sort of stuff you dream about in your back yard.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteOne of the neat things about this game was how the ESPN color commentator earlier had criticized UK's passing game being limited to the sort of thing you would draw up in backyard football. And he was right. But then UK actually won with a backyard-football fantasy play.
DeleteThe kickoff goes into the end zone, and Tech will start from its own 25. The Hokies have one time out left.
ReplyDeleteTech throws the ball out of bounds. Nine seconds left.
ReplyDeleteTech throws the ball out of bounds again. Four seconds left.
ReplyDeleteOn the last play of the game, Tech tries that play where everyone laterals to each other -- and they fumble, and the Cats run the ball in for a touchdown! Kentucky WINS THE BELK BOWL by a score of 37 to 30. What a game!
ReplyDeleteAnd Belk will not be sponsoring this game next year, so Kentucky has won the Final Belk Bowl. Congrats to the Big Blue!
ReplyDeleteI was in a Belk's for a bit Friday. Also, Sunday, I met a guy at church who was in town from Warner Robins, Georgia. UK won the Belk Bowl today, and WKU's kicker who hit the game-winning field goal Monday is from Warner Robins. So I have a satisfying sense of participation in both of these victories.
ReplyDeleteThen, later this afternoon, NFL Network replayed Miami's win at New England on Sunday. Huge, happy couple of days of football for me.
ReplyDelete