Kentucky has one big box to check when it plays Iowa in the Citrus Bowl
READ MORE
Citrus Bowl preview: Kentucky vs. Iowa
The University of Kentucky football team concludes its 2021 season Saturday against Big Ten West Division champion Iowa in the VRBO Citrus Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla. Click below to view all the stories previewing the game that have been published on Kentucky.com.
Expand All
Despite nine victories, a second-place finish in the SEC East and a sixth consecutive bowl trip, the 2021 Kentucky football team has one hole in its résumé, according to the skeptics.
Who have the Cats beaten?
That’s a box Mark Stoops’ troops can check on Saturday when the Wildcats, 22nd in the College Football Playoff rankings, take on the 15th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in the VRBO Citrus Bowl. ABC has the 1 p.m. telecast.
Make no mistake, Iowa is a good football team. Kirk Ferentz’s club brings a 10-3 record to Orlando. It ascended all the way to No. 2 in the September AP Top 25 before a stumble or two knocked the Hawkeyes back a bit. Still, Iowa won the Big Ten West, statistically boasts a top-15 defense and leads the nation in interceptions with 24.
Kentucky is a good football team, as well. “We know we’re going to have our hands full,” Ferentz said Friday.
Up to now, however, Kentucky has defeated one team with a winning record. That was South Carolina, whose coach, Shane Beamer, sat for a mayonnaise bath after the Gamecocks finished the year 7-6 with a victory over North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte. UK beat the Gamecocks 16-10 in Columbia on Sept. 25.
Kentucky’s October wins over Florida and LSU lost a bit of their shine when both the Gators and Tigers played their way into coaching changes. Florida finished 6-7 after losing to UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl. Former Louisiana coach Billy Napier will lead the Gators next season. LSU is 6-6 heading into its Texas Bowl game against Kansas State on Tuesday. Former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly will lead the Tigers next season.
As it stands now, UK is 1-3 against teams with winning records. It lost to Georgia (12-1 heading into its College Football Playoff semifinal on Friday), Mississippi State (7-6) and Tennessee (7-6).
Meanwhile, Iowa hopes to become just the fourth team in its program history to win 11 games in a season. It has some obstacles to overcome. Lead running back Tyler Goodson opted out of the bowl game after rushing for over 1,000 yards this season. And the team’s quarterback situation is such that Ferentz said he would not publicly say whether Spencer Petras or Alex Padilla would start on Saturday.
“I guess you’ll know at one o’clock” — probably before that, actually, Ferentz said Friday.
Kentucky must overcome the loss of its second and third receivers, Josh Ali and Isaiah Epps, out after being injured in a car accident. UK will probably also be minus defensive leader Josh Paschal, who reaggravated a leg injury in the season finale against Louisville.
“Josh is highly questionable,” Stoops said Friday. “He really wants to play. I don’t feel like I could play him with a clear conscience. He’s given us everything.”
Fun fact: Iowa was the first school to offer Kentucky quarterback Will Levis a scholarship. Levis opted for Penn State instead, before transferring to Kentucky this season. He’s improved as the season progressed, finishing the regular season with 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Then there’s Wan’Dale Robinson, Kentucky’s star receiver who was 0-2 against the Hawkeyes in his two seasons as a Nebraska Cornhusker. His team lost 27-24 to Iowa in Lincoln in 2019; 26-20 to the Hawkeyes in Iowa City in 2020.
Robinson needs just six more receptions to hit the century mark for the season. He’ll face an Iowa secondary that boasts the Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year in Riley Moss.
Truth be told, it’s the coaches who make this Citrus Bowl an intriguing matchup. Stoops is an Iowa alumnus, having played cornerback for the Hawkeyes under Hayden Fry when Ferentz was an assistant coach. Both coaches boast a Midwest mentality, preferring physical, hard-nosed football with an emphasis on eliminating mistakes.
“They are extremely fundamental. They play extremely hard,” Stoops said of the Hawkeyes. “You always have an opportunity to win when you do that.”
For Kentucky, a win not only closes out the season on the right note, it silences the skeptics.
Saturday
No. 22 Kentucky vs. No. 15 Iowa
What: VRBO Citrus Bowl
When: 1 p.m.
Where: Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
TV: ABC-36
Records: Kentucky 9-3, Iowa 10-3
Series: First meeting
This story was originally published December 31, 2021 at 3:53 PM.
.JPG)
.JPG)
