‘They said we weren’t gonna be good.’ UK’s record day propels it to another bowl.
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Gameday: Kentucky vs. Tennessee Martin
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Kentucky’s game against Tennessee Martin wasn’t over before it started, but it was soon after.
A long snap into the end zone that resulted in a safety set the tone for a record-setting UK football rout, 50-7, Saturday at Kroger Field.
The outcome made Kentucky eligible for a postseason bowl, the fourth straight year it’s achieved that distinction. The current streak is one year shy of tying the school record, a five-year span of qualifications from 2006-2010.
Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops, who’s in his seventh season, matched Rich Brooks and Paul “Bear” Bryant as the only coaches who four times have led UK to bowl eligibility.
After threatening to do so last week at Vanderbilt, UK set a mark for single-game rushing as a team. The Wildcats piled up 462 yards on 45 carries; a 45-yard touchdown run by freshman walk-on Tyler Markray pushed them past the previous record of 446, which had stood since 1951.
“I didn’t know about it until the end, to be honest with you,” Stoops said. “I had no idea. And somebody told me we were pretty close and we kept on taking a knee, going backward. I didn’t want to do that to our team, so I wanted to give them an opportunity to go forward but it didn’t affect it.”
Lynn Bowden started his sixth game at quarterback and for the fifth time rushed for more than 100 yards. He finished with 129 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, but was 1-for-6 passing for 9 yards and an interception.
His effort on the ground led the Wildcats, who also had another 100-yard rusher in junior A.J. Rose.
“I wanted it,” Bowden said of another 100-yard outing. “ ... (Coach Stoops) told me if anything bad happened he was gonna get on me, so after I got it I just wanted to get out.”
Bowden said becoming bowl-eligible means a lot to him personally because of perceived doubts about his ability to succeed at quarterback.
“They said we weren’t gonna be good,” Bowden said. “Our record don’t show it, but I think we’re a pretty damn good team.”
The game
Skyhawks quarterback John Bacchus, a nominee for the Jerry Rice Award that goes to the top FCS freshman, was called for intentional grounding in the end zone after recovering a botched snap. That put Kentucky ahead, 2-0, just 8 seconds into the game.
UK went three-and-out on its first drive. Safety Yusuf Corker recovered another errant snap in the end zone on UT Martin’s next possession after Bacchus bobbled it and failed to take the safety; his first career touchdown made it 9-0.
Kentucky forced a punt before scoring again: Rose took off for a 63-yard scoring run as the Cats’ second drive started to swell their lead to 16.
Bowden didn’t attempt a rush until the second quarter. He capped consecutive Kentucky scoring drives with TDs to finish the first half, the first from 2 yards out and the second a 9-yard gain on fourth-and-1 on which he carried a couple Skyhawks into the end zone.
Bowden rushed three straight times on UK’s first possession of the third quarter. The last was a 40-yard carry that put him over the 100-yard threshold; Sawyer Smith immediately replaced him at quarterback, signaling that Bowden’s day was done.
Reserves took most of the second-half snaps at every position. Three other running backs — redshirt freshman Chris Rodriguez, true freshman Travis Tisdale and Markray — added TDs in the second half. UT Martin’s only score came on a 6-yard run by Jaimiee Bowe with 11:07 to play in the game.
“(We) got an opportunity to get a lot of guys out,” Stoops said. “ ... Hopefully they’ll be a little bit fresher going into Monday knowing we have a big game coming up here this week.”
Notes
▪ Rose’s TD run in the first quarter was UK’s longest scoring play this season. A 54-yard TD throw from Sawyer Smith to Ahmad Wagner against Eastern Michigan — Smith’s first throw as a Wildcat — was its previous long.
Rose finished with 105 yards on six carries after riding the pine most of last week following an early fumble that led to a Vanderbilt TD. With 1,203 career rushing yards to date, he is UK’s 30th all-time leading rusher.
He never dreamed that he’d be part of back-to-back 400-yard rushing games at UK.
“Not at all, not at all,” Rose said. “When I committed I didn’t know what to expect. ... It just goes to show that this team is pretty good regardless of all the injuries. We got a pretty good thing going here.”
▪ Sophomore linebacker Chris Oats, UK’s fifth-leading tackler coming into the game, did not play due to a violation of team rules. Stoops said he will be available for the Louisville game.
▪ The announced attendance — 41,495 — was Kentucky’s smallest home crowd since 1996, when it defeated Vanderbilt, 25-0, in front of an announced crowd of 33,000 on Nov. 16. UK’s previous lowest announced crowd under Stoops was 47,535 last year against Middle Tennessee.
▪ True freshman Amani Gilmore made his debut for the Wildcats late in the fourth quarter. His first play was the historic handoff to Markray.
Next game
Louisville at Kentucky
Noon Saturday (SEC Network)
This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 8:50 PM.
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