How UK’s Snell keeps rushing record from consuming him and eclipsing Citrus Bowl
It’s a question he’s going to get at least 107 times between now and New Year’s Day.
The query about those 107 yards that Benny Snell needs to acquire in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1 if he wants to check the final thing off of his Kentucky bucket list.
When the question of getting one last shot at toppling that 43-year-old career rushing record in his final game in a Wildcats uniform came up on Friday night, Snell balked.
“I really wanna stay as far away from that (as possible) because Benny will handle that,” Snell said. “There’s no need to talk about it.”
Of the six goals for this season that hang by his bedside, Snell has crossed off five of them. This last one, this one that’s just 107 yards away, is the final one before he can leave early for the NFL Draft.
So does Snell not want to talk about it because it might jinx it? Is it a superstition thing?
Nope. Snell said: “It’s not a jinx thing. It’s just why are we talking about it? You’re going to go see me do it. There’s just no point in talking about it.”
Plenty of other people will be talking about it, though, like Penn State coaches and players who would like to stop Snell from achieving that final goal.
“When they’ve got a back like they do who’s been highly productive against really good defenses, and a guy who’s also motivated because from what I understand he’s 100 yards away or something from breaking the record,” Nittany Lions Coach James Franklin said last week. “So he’s going to be motivated from that perspective, too.”
Penn State’s run defense was near the middle of the pack in the Big Ten this season and No. 70 nationally, holding opponents to 168.4 yards per game with 14 touchdowns on the ground.
Opponents tried to run it on the Nittany Lions some 42.3 times per game, most in the Big Ten, but PSU is allowing just 3.99 yards per carry, top 50 nationally.
Five individuals have been able to rush for 100 or more yards this season against Penn State in Quadree Ollison (Pitt), Stevie Scott (Indiana), Karan Higdon (Michigan), Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin) and Raheem Blackshear (Rutgers).
And the Nittany Lions’ front seven is playing with a ton of confidence right now, Franklin said.
“That’s going to be an important part of the game, trying to take the thing that they pride themselves on doing, which is running the ball, and try to limit the impact.”
But this Kentucky run offense, which finished sixth in the Southeastern Conference at 201.3 yards a game, is a different type of beast, PSU defensive coordinator Brent Pry said.
“They are majoring in ways to run the football,” Pry said. “They’re unique in the way they run the football — jet motion, unbalanced, wildcat, RPOs, reads. They do it all.”
And they do it all mostly behind Snell, who has run for 1,305 yards and 14 touchdowns this season. The 5-foot-11, 223-pound junior joins Herschel Walker as one of only two players in Southeastern Conference history to rush for at least 1,000 yards and 14 scores in each of his first three seasons.
Snell finished the regular season second in the league and No. 15 nationally at rushing per game at 108.8 yards.
So the junior just needs his average to get where he wants to go before going on to the NFL Draft.
Snell’s offensive line is excited to go out and try to help the running back make history on New Year’s Day, although right guard Bunchy Stallings admitted he didn’t know how many more yards the junior running back needed.
“We’re not aware of it, but I’m pretty sure Benny will let us know,” Stallings laughed. “Benny does a good job of just trusting us and believing in us enough to go get it for him.”
Getting Snell to 107 yards to claim the school’s rushing record of 3,835 career yards held by Sonny Collins, isn’t the UK focus going into this game.
Kentucky’s going to run the ball often as it usually does, offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said, adding that balance will be one of the keys to victory.
“At the end of the day we win that game and you’re hoisting that trophy and Benny is short (of the record), he’ll be the happiest person around,” Gran said. “Would you love to get him the record? Absolutely. I think it would be fantastic. But the bottom line is win the game.”
Citrus Bowl
No. 14 Kentucky vs. No. 12 Penn State
When: 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 1
Where: Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
TV: ABC-36