‘It’s not a city we have on our jersey. It’s a state.’ Proud UK linemen lead record day.
Several of the greatest rushing achievements in Kentucky football history happened in the latest renewal of its rivalry with Louisville.
After eclipsing 400 the last two weeks, UK for the first time as a program rushed for 500 yards in its 45-13 rout of the Cardinals on Saturday. It finished with 517, to be precise, on 40 carries — an average of 12.9 yards per rush, the single-best average for any Southeastern Conference team in league history.
It was the most impressive feat yet by an offensive line that’s among the 10 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, given annually to college football’s top unit. Kentucky’s unit is one of two from a team not ranked in the top 20 with Washington being the other.
“I don’t know how you get much better than that,” center Drake Jackson said. “…. We gotta perform, and that’s what we’ve done. Of course, we’re not looking for attention, but it is nice when people recognize the work that we’re doing.”
Logan Stenberg, who along with Mason Wolfe is an offensive lineman who will be lost to graduation, didn’t believe he could write a more fitting script for his last game at Kroger Field.
“We came out here, whooped Louisville’s ass, set a new rushing record, I had a good time with my boys, we got a win,” Stenberg said. “I can’t think of a better way to go out.”
UK wanted to hit the 500-yard total, Stenberg said. The Wildcats ran for 462 yards against Tennesse Martin, breaking a school record that had stood since 1951. The newest mark didn’t even make it a week.
With one game left to play, Kentucky has already reached 3,293 total rushing yards for the year, besting the 1974 team’s record of 3,124 yards. Since Lynn Bowden took over as quarterback, the Wildcats have averaged 295.8 yards per game on the ground.
“Coach (John) Schlarman every day preaches hard work and discipline, and we go out there and try to execute that,” Stenberg said. “We did pretty well today. I think it’s all cause of John Schlarman.”
Bowden finished with 284 yards — the most ever by an SEC quarterback and second-most rushing yards by a Wildcat — and rushed for four touchdowns, tying the single-game school record.
He has rushed for 1,235 yards, giving Kentucky a 1,000-yard rusher for the fourth straight season, the longest streak in program history. That mark is the fourth most in a single season by an SEC quarterback behind Cam Newton (1,473), Johnny Manziel (1,410) and Nick Fitzgerald (1,375).
Bowden has been fast to credit the guys up front after each victory, but this week he made a promise.
“Whenever I get rich, I’m gonna take them out to dinner and we’re gonna spend as much money as they want,” Bowden said with a grin. “It was all of ’em. The best O-line in the nation, you saw it today.”
Running back Chris Rodriguez, who finished with 125 yards (five shy of breaking his own career high) and a TD, is ready to reward ’em, too.
“For real, I’m gonna have to take them boys out,” Rodriguez said. “… They’re not good, they’re great.”
Landon Young, who sat out last season due to knee surgery, said he’d be just fine having everybody over for some steaks on the grill.
Young and several other Wildcats added that it’s a credit, too, to other offensive principals — running backs, tight ends, wide receivers — who’ve committed to being blockers more often than not to help the offense.
Louisville, like several teams before it, was not ignorant to what Kentucky was trying to do — “Did ya see the box that was out there today?” co-offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said — but it struggled more than any other team has against UK’s revamped offense.
“It’s good for us to know that we can put the ball down, and even if they have a whole week to prepare for what we’re going to do, we’re going to do it to ’em,” Young said.
Being born and raised in Kentucky makes the accomplishment and outcome even sweeter for guys like Jackson, who graduated from Woodford County, and Wolfe, a standout for Henderson County.
Young was a star at Lafayette, whose campus is about a mile from Kroger Field.
“Knowing that I wear Kentucky across my chest is the reason I came here,” Young said. “Just being able to be raised here and see the crowd and the emotions that they have along with our team, it’s just a huge pride thing. I’m not gonna go out and let somebody else in the state walk into our territory and punish us. We gotta be able to go and punish them. It’s not a city we have on our jersey. It’s a state.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 5:50 PM.
