Future is Bright for Kentucky Defense After Excellent Music City Bowl

On New Year’s Eve we saw the future of the Kentucky defense in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. There were only four members of the Kentucky defense — Jacquez Jones, Keidron Smith, Jordan Wright and Ty Ajian — playing in their final college football games.

“The sky is the limit,” Jones said after the game. “I told ’em after the game just go to work, keep your head down, compete with yourself. Don’t even look at the outside. Push yourself everyday to see how good you can be.”

True sophomore Trevin Wallace led the Cats with six tackles as the Wildcats stifled the Hawkeyes all afternoon in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. His future running-mate at inside linebacker, D’Eryk Jackson, was tied for second on the team with four tackles.

“It excites me. I have such respect for the guys we’re losing. I absolutely love them. You know that. I’ve always talked so highly of those guys, and I love them. I’ll be there for them the rest of their life,” said Mark Stoops.

“But it excites me when I see young guys that come up because as I’m telling them all, I’m trying to recruit somebody to take their job. We want good, strong, talented players like this to keep on coming up through our program. So it excites me when these guys get the opportunity to move forward.”

Kentucky Forced Three-and-Outs, but Not Turnovers

The Kentucky defense’s excellent performance got lost in the wash, but it cannot be overlooked. After scoring a touchdown early in the second quarter, Iowa did not get a first down until the nine-minute mark in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats forced eight three-and-outs, including six straight, and had two turnovers on downs. Iowa only had 48 offensive snaps and averaged just 4.3 yards per play. Even though they did not get much help from the offense and special teams, the Kentucky defense did not back down.

“What was working for us was everybody was coming together,” said Wallace. “Even though we was still down, no matter what happened we still had our heads up because most teams when they go down, they start backing up, but we still had our food on the pedal. Even though we didn’t like the outcome, the energy was still up, so that’s what was working for us.”

Iowa finished the night 0-13 on third and fourth down. Kentucky continuously answered the call. As new players emerge into larger roles, to take the next step the Cats must create more havoc by making tackles behind the line of scrimmage and forcing turnovers. In 2022 Kentucky ranked sixth in defensive efficiency yet ranked 83rd with only 16 takeaways. That was ultimately the deciding factor in Kentucky’s Music City Bowl loss.