Jan. 16, 2009

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky’s victory over East Carolina in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl marked the third-straight year for a Wildcat post-season win, the first time in school history that has been accomplished, and put UK in elite company.

Only 11 teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision have won bowl games each of the last three years. Here’s a list of the 11 teams and the consecutive number of seasons they have won bowls.

UK Among Bowl Percentage Leaders: Having won bowl games in three straight seasons, Kentucky’s bowl-game winning percentage now ranks seventh in the nation among the NCAA Division I schools that have played in 13 or more bowl games.

Kentucky has an all-time record of 8-5 in bowl games, a winning percentage of .615. A total of 62 Division I schools have played at least 13 bowl games. UK ranks seventh among those 62 teams.

Bowl-game winning percentage (min. 13 bowls)

UK Now has Second-Longest Non-Conference Win Streak: Kentucky’s victory over East Carolina gives the Wildcats 14 consecutive non-conference wins, the second-longest active streak in the nation.

LSU has the longest active streak with 19 straight victories over non-league opponents. It is Kentucky’s longest non-conference win streak since a 17-game stretch from 1954-60.

Active Winning Streaks vs. Non-Conference Opponents, Including Bowl Games (through games of Jan. 8, 2009; min. 12 consecutive wins)

Lindley, Masthay and Pryor Honored by CollegeFootballNews.com: Cornerback Trevard Lindley, punter Tim Masthay and defensive tackle Myron Pryor have received All-America and All-Southeastern Conference recognition by the website CollegeFootballNews.com

Lindley was named second-team All-America while Masthay and Pryor received honorable-mention All-America. All three players were tabbed first-team All-SEC (no second team selected). College Football News waits until January to announce its honors squads in order to take the bowl-game performances into account.

Here are details on their 2008 seasons:

• Lindley, a junior from Hiram, Ga., had four interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, and 11 pass breakups. He led the SEC and ranked 18th nationally for total passes defended. A semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award (nation’s top defensive back), Lindley set the school record for pass breakups in a career with 34.
• Masthay, a senior from Murray, Ky., led the SEC and was fifth nationally with an average of 45.2 yards per punt. As the team’s kickoff man, he was second in the league with 23 touchbacks. He also is the team’s holder for placekicks.
• Pryor, a senior from Louisville, was a dominant presence in the defensive line with 36 tackles, including 11 for loss and 4.5 quarterback sacks. He was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the Louisville game when he returned a fumble for a touchdown and caused another fumble that was returned for a touchdown. He also had a career-high seven tackles in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl and caused the fumble that Ventrell Jenkins returned for the game-winning touchdown.

Kentucky Football Calendar