Kentucky will get SEC challenge in Gator Bowl

Getting out of the gauntlet in the Southeastern Conference has likely meant good things for Mark Stoops and his Kentucky football program. Since 2018, the Wildcats are 20-1 in non-conference games with an 8-1 record against Big Ten and ACC competition. Most notably, Kentucky has faired well against the latter with wins over Louisville, NC State, and Virginia Tech during this stretch.

In two weeks down in Jacksonville, Kentucky will face off against another ACC team in the Gator Bowl. However, this one will look different than the rest. Stoops believes that head coach Dabo Swinney has an SEC team playing in the ACC at Clemson.

“Just starting our prep on Clemson. Obviously, a very good football team. Very consistent. They’ve been winners and won a lot of games for a lot of years,” Stoops told reporters on Friday evening at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. “So credit Dabo and his staff. Very talented football team. You look at them, and they are a team built like just about everybody we see in the SEC.”

“Very talented, very physical. Very good team.”

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Under Swinney’s leadership, Clemson has won two national titles, eight ACC championships, and owns a 12-year double-digit wins streak that will be snapped this season. The 54-year-old head coach has turned the Tigers into a national powerhouse that recruits at a top-15 level and has produced two generational quarterbacks — Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence — during his stint. The Tigers are stout in the front seven and have athletes on the perimeter that will be hard to match up with.

That will make the Gator Bowl a tough challenge for Kentucky.

After a whirlwind recruiting period that included hitting the road to visit high school prospects and closing on transfer portal prospects during campus visits, Kentucky finally got some time to breathe this week. Stoops pointed out that both offensive coordinator Liam Coen and defensive coordinator Brad White got some time in the office alone this weekend to begin game planning for No. 22 Clemson. Bowl practices officially started for the Wildcats on Friday.

Kentucky will look to close with a consecutive ACC win in a trophy game to end the season after defeating Louisville to claim the Governor’s Cup.

“There’s two games of the year where you’re going to walk off the field with a trophy or not. And believe there’s a big difference in how you feel,” said Stoops. “We took care of one, and we want to take care of the other one because walking off the field of a bowl game with a trophy or without is a much different feeling.”