Citrus Bowl Penn State vs. Kentucky Volume 81, Issue 13 — Jan. 4, 2019 State’s all-time winningest quarterback, who holds most school records for passing, rushing, and touchdowns leaves field for last time. The veteran players who saw their last action in a Penn State uniform in the VRBO Citrus Bowl game against Kentucky on New Year’s Day carried the Nittany Lions through a significant transition from the remnants of NCAA sanctions to a return to contention on the national level. That included a Big Ten title and four bowl games, but not the goal they desired most to end their careers – the claim of being the first in State’s Big Ten era to post three consecutive seasons with double-digit wins. Rising from a 7-6 record in the 2015 season that ended with a 24-17 loss to Georgia in the TaxSlayer (Gator) Bowl to a surprising 11-3 Big Ten Championship campaign in 2016 and an 11-2 mark climaxed by a 35-28 win over Washington in the 2017 Fiesta Bowl, the No. 12 Lions slipped to a 9-4 record, after a disappointing 27-24 loss to the No. 14 Wildcats in Orlando. It was just the ninth bowl win in 18 post-season appearances for Kentucky, and only the third time in history that the Wildcats achieved a 10-win season. UK’s 9-3 regular season record was its best in 41 years, as it finished second to Southeast Conference Eastern Division Champion Georgia. This year’s team had three all SEC and All-American players in senior linebacker Josh Allen, junior running back Benny Snell Jr. and senior offensive guard Bunchy Stallings. All are expected to be high draft choices by NFL teams this spring. Head Coach Mark Stoops was named SEC Coach of the Year. Penn State, which entered the game with a 29-17-2 mark in bowl games, had an identical 9-3 regular season mark with two of its losses coming in back-to-back games against Ohio State and Michigan State by a total of just five points. In a contest that confounded prognosticators, befuddled fans and disappointed alumni, Penn State dug itself into a 27-7 hole that it couldn’t quite climb out of, despite the fourth-quarter heroics of its beloved but injured senior leader, Trace McSorley. Playing for the first time in 38 days, the Lions made six weeks’ worth of mistakes in the first 43½ minutes to leave Penn Staters in a 20-point depression and the sports betters in an apoplectic stupor. State’s first mistake was made by second team All-Big Ten defensive nose tackle Robert Windsor, who was suspended for a violation of team rules and did not play. Another mistake was made by starting outside linebacker Cam Brown, who was ejected from the game on a targeting call for making helmet-to-helmet contact on a tackle of Kentucky’s star wide receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. on the third play of the second half. Other mistakes were repeats of ones made in the regular season, including dropped passes, poorly thrown passes, missed tackles, missed blocks, critical penalties, horrible special teams play and questionable play-calling. Penn State won the coin toss and elected to receive. And things went quickly downhill from there. McSorley, who completed only nine of 22 passes in the first three quarters, tossed his first attempt into the ground. Running back Miles Sanders dropped the second pass. On third down McSorley, wearing a knee brace ever since injuring it against Iowa in October, rushed for eight yards – two yards short of the sticks. Penn State lined up in punt formation at its own 33-yard line and tried a fake punt with the ball being snapped to reserve running back Johnathan Thomas. He dropped the ball and recovered it but was stopped for no gain, and Kentucky took over at the PS-33. Coach Franklin explained after the game that he wanted the Lions to play aggressively right from the start of the contest. Snell, who has already declared for the NFL draft but chose like the team’s other stars to play in the bowl game, rushed 16 yards through Lion arm-tackles on the ‘Cats first offensive play. State stopped the Wildcat advance at the PS-9, and Miles Butler kicked a 28-yard field goal to give UK a 3-0 lead, just two and one-half minutes into the game. It would prove to be a lead it would never surrender. After Kentucky’s kickoff, Penn State could gain only one yard on three plays. But Academic All-American punter Blake Gilliken gave the Lions good field position by booming a 71-yard punt (his third this season of 70 or more yards), downed on the UK-3. State’s defense held, and Wildcat punter Max Duffy’s 42-yard boot went out-of-bounds at the PS-46. A promising Nittany Lion drive started with a 23-yard pass from McSorley to wide receiver DeAndre Thompkins, but eventually stalled at the UK-22, when Josh Allen, Kentucky’s season sack leader with 14 and career record holder with 28.5 sacks, got his first of three sacks on QB McSorley. Freshman Jake Pinegar attempted a 40-yard field goal, but pushed it just wide of the right upright. State’s defense stopped three Wildcat plays at the UK-28, but Duffy flipped field position by sailing a 67-yard punt over the Lions to the PS-5. McSorley completed a 15-yard pass to Juwan Johnson to get the Lions out of the hole, but it was nullified by an ineligible receiver downfield call against Lion guard Steven Gonzalez. On third-and-six McSorley was sacked for a seven-yard loss by Kash Daniel, but fought hard to avoid a safety by falling just outside of the end zone. Gillikin had to punt from a tight space along the end line. His boot sailed 56 yards to the UK 42, where Lynn Bowden Jr. caught it, eluded a few unrushing members of the coverage team, cut diagonally across the field to the left sideline and scampered untouched 58 yards for a touchdown. It was the first punt return for a touchdown in the Citrus Bowl since 1992 and the first against Penn State since the 2012 game against Northwestern. Kentucky held a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Nittany Lions finally got on the scoreboard on their first possession in the second stanza. McSorley rushed twice for 29 yards and completed a bubble screen pass to freshman wide receiver KJ Hamler. The speedster dashed 41 yards down the right sideline to the UK-1, setting up Trace’s quick pass to tight end Nick Bowers for the Lions’ first score. Midway through the quarter Penn State moved 33 yards down the field on two carries by junior running back Miles Sanders for 21 yards and one by McSorley for 12. But the quarterback injured his foot on that run and had to come out of the game. Freshman Sean Clifford, who had thrown only five passes in the regular season but completed them all, including two for long touchdowns, replaced McSorley and immediately launched a bomb toward Thompkins, streaking down the left sideline. DeAndre couldn’t control the ball, and it slipped through his hands. When State faced another 4th-and-1 at its own 42-yard line, Gillikin punted it away. A seven-yard sack of Kentucky QB Terry Wilson by defensive end Shariff Miller on 3rd-and-six ended the next Wildcat possession at the UK-14. After a 39-yard punt by Duffy and a one-yard return by Hamler, State started at its own 48-yard line. McSorley, who said in a post-game interview the doctors told him the foot injury was going to be painful, came back into the contest and rushed for 12 yards to ignite a Lion drive. And Slade matched his run. But the drive fizzled on the UK-18. Facing a 4th-and-five, Pinegar attempted a 36-yard field goal, but it was blocked by, who else? Josh Allen. And the first half ended Kentucky 10, Penn State 7. After a colorful halftime show, featuring a field full of dancers and fluid performances by the Kentucky and Penn State bands, Lion freshman Rafael Checa hooked his kickoff out-of-bounds, and the ‘Cats started from their own 35-yard line. Snell, who became Kentucky’s all-time rushing leader, immediately ripped through the State defense for 32 yards, then four more. Wilson escaped a pass rush and threw on the run eight yards downfield to Bowden, who was brought down hard by Lion linebacker Cam Brown. Brown was flagged for targeting and ejected from the game. He will also have to sit out the first half of next year’s opener against Idaho. The accompanying 15-yard personal foul penalty moved the Wildcats to the PS-11. Wilson ran a quarterback draw nine yards, and Snell gained the final two for his first TD, as Kentucky raised the score to 17 -7. Clifford started at quarterback for the Lions in the second half and moved State 12 yards on the ground to a first down. But when he was later sacked for a four-yard loss on third-and-10, Gillikin punted 52 yards to the UK-15, and Bowden returned it 10 yards. Snell immediately rushed for 10 yards and Wilson matched his run.