Five things you need to know from UK’s crushing 38-35 loss to Clemson in the Gator Bowl

Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s crushing 38-35 loss to Clemson in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl:

1. Kentucky’s inability to stop Clemson on a third-and-18 cost it the game. Clinging to a 35-30 lead with 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Kentucky had Clemson facing a third-and-18 from the 50-yard line.

Set up to make a pivotal defensive stop, UK instead surrendered a 16-yard completion from Cade Klubnik to Antonio Williams.

On the ensuing fourth-and-2 play, Clemson’s Phil Mafah ran for 4 yards.

Seemingly discouraged, the Kentucky defense allowed Clemson to score the game-winning touchdown three plays later.

The critical third-and-long play that UK surrendered was the second such play that damaged Kentucky in the game.

With UK leading 21-10 late in the third quarter, Klubnik hit Troy Stellato with an 18-yard pass on a third-and-23 play from the Clemson 47.

That set up a Clemson first-down completion on fourth-and-5 from Klubnik to Adam Randall from the UK 35 to sustain a drive that, eventually, yielded a touchdown.

2. Turnovers killed the Cats. On three straight UK possessions in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats gave Clemson the ball in plus-territory with miscues.

A Devin Leary fumble set Clemson up at the Kentucky 25. The Wildcats escaped that one, however, when Jordan Lovett intercepted a Klubnik pass in the end zone after the Tigers QB was hit by Alex Afari as he tried to throw.

However, a Leary interception gave Clemson the ball right back at the UK 37. This time, the Tigers converted that into a field goal.

On Kentucky’s next play from scrimmage, Barion Brown lost a fumble while fighting for yards and Clemson took over at the UK 29.

That led to a Tigers touchdown and a 27-21 Lead.

To UK’s credit, the Wildcats fought back to twice more take the lead.

However, giving Clemson points off short fields created by turnovers ultimately proved the difference in the game.

3. UK wastes offensive big plays. When it wasn’t turning the ball over, Kentucky consistently diced the Clemson defense with big plays.

A Ray Davis 43-yard run set up UK’s first TD of the game, a 22-yard run from Barion Brown on an end-around.

A 58-yard pass from Devin Leary to Dane Key set up Kentucky’s second TD, a 5-yard pass from Leary to Key.

Brown’s 100-yard kickoff return to open the second half gave UK a 21-10 lead. It also set a UK school record for career kickoff-return TDs for Brown with four.

Once Clemson pushed ahead 27-21, UK took the lead back at 28-27 on a 60-yard touchdown pass from Leary to Brown.

Finally, once the Tigers went up 30-28, a 72-yard pass from Leary to Jordan Dingle set up Ray Davis for a 1-yard TD plunge that had UK up 35-30 with 2:39 left.

4. UK’s ACC winning streak snapped. Clemson’s win snapped Kentucky’s seven-game winning streak against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Wildcats have won their past five regular season games against intrastate rival and ACC member Louisville.

UK had also beaten Virginia Tech (2019 Belk Bowl), North Carolina State (Gator Bowl that followed the 2020 season) in their prior two postseason meetings against ACC teams.

5. Clemson dominating UK in bowls. With its victory, Clemson is now 3-1 against Kentucky in postseason meetings.

In addition to Friday’s win, Clemson also came out ahead of UK 14-13 in the 1993 Peach Bowl and 21-13 in the 2009 Music City Bowl.

For the Wildcats, their sole bowl victory against the Tigers came in the 2006 Music City Bowl by a 28-20 margin.

Fashion police

For its eighth consecutive bowl appearance, Kentucky wore silver chrome helmets, blue uniforms with white letters and numbers and blue pants.

Clemson’s win marks the first time Kentucky has lost in a bowl game during the Mark Stoops coaching era while wearing silver helmets.

Under Stoops, UK is now 4-1 in bowl games while wearing silver helmets and 0-3 while wearing blue helmets.

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