Ray Davis breaks Benny Snell's single-season touchdown record
Thank goodness for Ray Davis. The transfer from Vanderbilt scored THREE touchdowns to help Kentucky upset No. 10 Louisville 38-31 in the Governor’s Cup. Davis now has 20 touchdowns as a Kentucky Wildcat, which breaks Benny Snell’s record of 19. His final touchdown, a 37-yard zig-zag run through Louisville’s defense, put the Cats up for good.
Davis’ final stat line is 14 carries for 76 yards and one touchdown on the ground and four catches for 51 yards and two touchdowns through the air. After the game, he told UK Sports Network’s Jeff Piecoro that he’s had his eye on Benny’s single-season record for a while.
“I kept saying it every time a camera came to me, I kept saying, I’m coming Benny, I’m coming,” Davis said. “Hopefully, I get to have a conversation with Benny and tell him I appreciate everything he did to see the standard here. Same thing with C-Rod [Chris Rodriguez]. My goal was always to continue it and I hope the next back that comes in behind me knows how much of a high praise you have to be to play at Kentucky and be a running back.”
Davis’ quotes kind of sound like a goodbye, but he can return to Kentucky for another season if he chooses.
Stoops takes credit for play call on Davis’ game-winning TD
During his postgame conversation with Tom Leach, Mark Stoops said Liam Coen had a different play in mind when Kentucky had the ball inside Louisville’s 40-yard line with under two minutes to go, but Stoops stepped into the huddle and told the offensive line to get ready to protect Ray because it was going to be a run.
“Well, I’m taking credit for that one because we’re talking about the perimeter, we were talking about what to do and I said, no. And I grabbed the O-line, looked Eli Cox and the rest of them right in the eye and I said, ‘We’re on putting it right on you. You’re running straight downhill.’ And that’s what we did. It worked. We went a little old school there. A little Eddie Gran style.”
Davis on the Governor’s Cup: “You just felt the bad blood”
Davis’ three touchdowns are the most he’s had in a game since the win over Florida in September. He also crossed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season for the second time in his career, previously crossing that milestone at Vanderbilt. He said that the Governor’s Cup is unlike anything he experienced during his time on West End.
“This is nothing compared to the last school I went to, our rivalry. This is crazy. I loved everything about the atmosphere, the student section talking smack and you just felt the bad blood. You felt the energy from both teams right during warmups to the first kickoff to everything but all I can say now is I’m part of two rivalries at Florida and at Louisville and all of a sudden, I was able to make an impact on both games and I hope Florida remembers me and I hope Louisville remembers me at the end of the year.”
Other Kentucky Wildcats Reach Career Milestones
Davis wasn’t the only Wildcat who crossed some important benchmarks today. Tayvion Robinson’s catch for six yards put him over the 1,000-yard receiving mark for his two-year Kentucky career. Barion Brown’s 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter brought his career total to three, which ties Craig Yeast for the most in Kentucky Football history.
Per UK Athletics statistician Corey Price, Brown is the third Kentucky Football player with a kickoff return touchdown vs. Louisville, joining Keenan Burton in 2006 and Derrick Locke in 2009. There were several game-changing plays today. Brown’s return was definitely one of them.
Phew. Go Cats.
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