Iowa beat Kentucky to win the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. What happened, who was the player of the game, and what does it all mean?
Iowa 21, Kentucky 0 TransPerfect Music City Bowl What Happened, Player of the Game, What It All Means
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TransPerfect Music City Bowl What Happened
– It wasn’t exactly pretty. Iowa scored all 21 points in the second quarter, with a two play drive with Luke Lachey making a 15-yard touchdown grab for the only offensive points of the game. Xavier Nwankpa followed it up with a 52-yard pick six on Kentucky’s ensuing drive, and Cooper DeJean took an interception back 14 yards late in the first half.
– With both sides missing their normal starting quarterbacks, it got ugly. Kentucky’s Destin Wade and Deuce Hogan combined to completed 22-of-37 passes, and Iowa’s Joe Labas hit 14-of-24 passes for 139 yards and a score.
– How weird/bad was this? Iowa was 0-of-11 on third downs and 0-of-2 on fourth downs. Kentucky only converted 2-of-18 on third downs. The two teams combined failed to generate 400 yards of offense.
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TransPerfect Music City Bowl Player of the Game
Xavier Nwankpa, S Iowa
His eight tackles – seven solo – were the second-most in the game, but it was his 52-yard pick six that all but ended the fun in the second quarter.
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TransPerfect Music City Bowl Fun Stats
– Average yards per carry: Iowa 2.8 – Kentucky 2.1
– Time of Possession: Kentucky 34:17 – Iowa 25:43
– Both teams only came up with ten first downs each
TransPerfect Music City Bowl What It All Means
Iowa was ugly at the start, it was ugly at the finish, and it was ugly in between. The win over Kentucky didn’t necessarily make up for the home loss to Nebraska to end the regular season – and miss out on playing for the Big Ten Championship – but no matter how this looked, the win helped.
With the win, it’s now seven years in the last eight with at least eight victories, and the lone outlier was 2020 when the program went 6-2. It also get the team back on track after losing last year’s Citrus – Iowa has won four of its last five bowls after going on an ugly losing streak.
Kentucky did what it could. It was missing QB Will Levis and RB Chris Rodriguez were out, the offensive wasn’t great throughout the season, and all the O had to do was not screw up. The defense did its job, but the two pick sixes given up in the second quarter ended everything.
However, the Cats beat Louisville, beat Florida, and they had a decent season, even if they didn’t get to eight wins. They won eight games or more three times in four years – 2020 the one time they didn’t – and missed out with this. It also ruined a run of four straight bowl wins going back to 2017.
