WATCH: Wan'Dale Robinson makes bowl-saving play, leads to Kentucky touchdown
The Kentucky Wildcats were trailing the Iowa Hawkeyes, 17-13, in the Citrus Bowl, when Kentucky’s offense got the ball at the 20-yard line needing to drive the length of the field to save any bowl-winning hopes — and thanks to some heroics from Wan’Dale Robinson, the Wildcats did just that.
Robinson caught all four of Kentucky’s pass completions on the Wildcats’ last drive of the game, taking them for 86 yards and setting up a touchdown on the one-yard line. His final catch of the drive, good for 51 yards and setting up quarterback Will Levis on the one-yard line, was remarkable — not just because of the moves he pulled, but also because on the last catch, a 10-yard completion that Robinson took to the 47-yard line, he was leveled and appeared, at least momentarily, on his way out of the game with an injury.
Levis dropped back in the pocket on a second-and-10 from Kentucky’s own 47-yard line, and he found Robinson wide open at the opposing 35-yard line. Robinson reeled in the catch, juked out one Iowa defender near the sideline, picked up one critical block and was able to bring it all the way down to the one-yard line. From there, Kentucky’s offense just needed to convert a goal-line drive to potentially win the game.
Kentucky picked up a false start penalty on the goal line, pushing the drive back to the six-yard line, but running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. then punched in a six-yard touchdown run. After the extra point, Kentucky had taken a 20-17 lead, and Iowa received the ball with just 1:48 left on the clock — should the Wildcats find a way to stop the Hawkeyes, they would win the Citrus Bowl.
Once again, Kentucky delivered. Iowa managed to gain a bit of momentum, working the drive all the way down to Kentucky’s 40-yard line, but Spencer Petras had a second-and-5 pass intercepted by DeAndre Square with 48 seconds left, cementing Kentucky’s 20-17 Citrus Bowl victory.
Robinson finished the game with an incredible stat line for Kentucky, singlehandedly carrying the offense with 10 receptions for 170 receiving yards. Though he didn’t score a touchdown, his last catch came just one yard short. Kentucky running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. also tacked on 20 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Will Levis went 17-for-28 with 233 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception.