The Kentucky football team drew two mentions in a bowl wrapup column, ?What?s Hot (and not) From Bowl Season? by Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com:
?Trick plays. Boise State wasn’t alone in using trickeration in winning bowl games,? Schlabach wrote. ?Coach Rich Brooks had Kentucky fake a punt from its 20-yard line. The Wildcats threw for a first down, then scored on a 70-yard touchdown pass on the next play in winning their first bowl game in 22 years, a 28-20 win over Clemson in the Music City Bowl.?
In a section titled ?Big-armed quarterbacks,? Schlabach mentioned seven QBs, including, ?Kentucky’s Andre Woodson (299 yards, 3 TDs) vs. Clemson in the Music City Bowl.?
Lindley, Little Named to Rivals.com ?All-Bowl Team?: Redshirt freshman quarterback Trevard Lindley and tailback Rafael Little have been named to the ?All-Bowl Team? by Rivals.com for players who excelled during the bowl games.
Selected by David Fox and Steve Megargee of Rivals.com, they wrote, ?The Wildcats’ first bowl win in 22 yards came thanks to a pair of critical turnovers from Lindley in the second quarter of the Music City Bowl. First, the redshirt freshman picked off Clemson quarterback Will Proctor. Then, he recovered a Chansi Stuckey fumble. Both turnovers came with Clemson in the red zone.?
Little also was named honorable mention to the All-Bowl Team as a punt returner. Little had three punt returns for 59 yards against Clemson.
Jim Brown Saw the First One and the Most Recent: It’s been estimated that more than 50,000 Kentucky fans were present for the Wildcat victory in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. At least one of them, Wildcat superfan Jim Brown, had a personal recollection of UK’s first bowl appearance.
“I remember going to our first bowl back in December, 1947, the Great Lakes Bowl,” Brown recalled. “My first wife (the late Carolyn Rodes Brown) and I were engaged and we went with another couple.
“It was in that big lakefront stadium in Cleveland. It was right on the shore of Lake Erie and it was cold. It was Coach (Paul “Bear”) Bryant’s second year. George Blanda was the quarterback and (All-SEC center/linebacker) Jay Rhodemyre was on that team. We beat Villanova that day.”
Indeed, Kentucky won the battle of Wildcats on Dec. 6, 1947, defeating Villanova 24-14 as 14,908 fans watched in Cleveland Memorial Stadium.
Fast forward 59 years later, and the now-87-year-old Brown was in Nashville for UK’s most recent post-season appearance.
“My wife (Mary Anne) and I went with her son Warren and their family. The Kentucky crowd turned out so well and we beat what I thought was a very good Clemson team,” Brown said.
“I was really surprised with the fake punt. At the time, I gave credit to Joker (offensive coordinator Joker Phillips) but I found out later it was Coach Brooks who called it. Games like that are what’s kept us old-timers hanging on,” Brown said, laughing.
With the exception of 1944, when he served in an air squadron in Burma in World War II, Brown has seen every Kentucky home football game since he was a UK freshman in 1938. His streak has reached 394 consecutive home games.
Wildcats are Among Top 10 Storylines for 2007: Looking ahead to next season, Kentucky is among 10 teams selected as the top storylines for the 2007 season in a column by Olin Buchanan of Rivals.com.
?Kentucky: The Wildcats are so hot they’re winning after the season. Running back Rafael Little announced he would return for his senior season. That means coach Rich Brooks will have seven starters back on offense, including slick QB Andre? Woodson. The defense will have eight starters back from an 8-5 team that defeated Clemson in the Music City Bowl. Could Brooks go from the hot seat in 2006 to the SEC driver’s seat in 2007? Uh, not likely. But there is no reason to believe the Wildcats won’t get better,? Buchanan wrote.
