Unable to stop the run and take care of the ball, NC State falls to Kentucky in Gator Bowl
Kentucky stuck to its blueprint and there wasn’t much N.C. State could do about it.
It was no secret that the Wildcats came into Saturday’s Gator Bowl wanting to run the football and force turnovers — a formula that was successful. Kentucky ran almost at will and forced three turnovers to knock off the Wolfpack 23-21 for its third straight bowl win.
N.C. State (8-4), winners of their final four games in the regular season, has dropped its last two bowl games, both to SEC teams in Jacksonville. N.C. State, despite an off day, had a chance for a comeback late in the game thanks to Kentucky (5-6).
After going up 16-7 on a third field goal from Matt Ruffolo, the Wildcats were called for two personal fouls on the ensuing kickoff, allowing N.C. State to start from the Kentucky 37.
Wolfpack quarterback Bailey Hockman found Thayer Thomas for a big gain, and the officials added 15 more yards after a late hit on Hockman. That set up a 13-yard touchdown run by Zonovan Knight, making it 16-14, with 4:46 remaining in the game. The Wildcats, who all of a sudden abandoned the run, went three and out, kicking the ball back to the Wolfpack with 3:11 remaining.
But a turnover ended the day for N.C. State. On first down, Kentucky linebacker Jamin Davis picked off Hockman, giving the ball back to Big Blue with 3:02 left. Running back Chris Rodriquez scored from 26-yards out to seal the win for the Wildcats.
Wolfpack running back Jordan Houston scored from 2-yards away, but Kentucky recovered the onside kick attempt. Hockman finished the game with 268 yards passing, but the three interceptions ultimately cost the team.
“I’m proud of the way we fought back in the second half,” Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren said. “Obviously, it’s one of those games where you lose by two points there are a lot of plays you think about.”
About the only thing that went right for N.C. State in the first half was an illegal formation call against Kentucky. That penalty took a touchdown off the board that would have given the Wildcats a 17-0 lead at the break. Instead, Kentucky settled for a second field goal from Ruffolo, this one from 26-yards away.
Ruffolo’s first field goal, in the opening quarter, were the first points of the day in the Gator Bowl. The Wildcats took a 10-0 lead in the second quarter when Chris Rodriquez scored on a four-yard run.
Four NC State starters missed the game
Kentucky’s defense picked off Hockman on N.C. State’s opening drive and the Wolfpack was scoreless in the first half for the first time this season. N.C. State managed just 82 yards in the first half, only 13 on the ground, as the Kentucky defense had an answer for every Wolfpack attack.
True to their nature, the Wildcats relied on the ground game and sent that message early, opening the game with a nine-minute drive that covered 68 yards. Kentucky rushed the ball 26 times in the first half, averaging 6.9 yards per carry.
N.C. State’s defense came into the game down four starters — Alim McNeill, Tanner Ingle, Payton Wilson, Drake Thomas — and lost another, Isaiah Moore, to an injury in the first quarter. Moore did return in the second half.
The Wolfpack offense only made it into the Wildcats’ territory once, but came up empty on their best drive of the half. N.C. State ran 14 plays to cover 52 yards, but junior kicker Chris Dunn’s 40-yard attempt came up short. Dunn, the best field goal kicker in N.C. State history, missed two from 40 yards or more in the game.
Kentucky got the ball back with 1:23 remaining and went for the jugular. Starting at the 23, senior running back Asim Rose busted open for a gain of 31 on first down. Wildcats quarterback Terry Wilson followed that run with a 17-yard pass to junior wide receiver Allen Dailey, then connected with tight end Keaton Upshaw for a gain of 23, moving the ball to the N.C. State three-yard line.
On second and goal it appeared Wilson had a touchdown pass to Dailey, but the Wildcats were flagged and settled for another Ruffolo kick. So N.C. State went down 13 instead of 17, the second time this season the Wolfpack trailed by double-digits at the break.
The Wolfpack showed life in the third quarter, scoring their first touchdown when Hockman found senior C.J. Riley for nine yards on fourth down. The N.C. State offense, which struggled to find consistency in the first half, picked up 129 yards on two drives in the third quarter. The defense also did its part, pitching a third-quarter shutout and holding Kentucky to just 40 yards.
“I thought our defense really battled,” Doeren said. “Not having Alim, and Payton and Drake and Tanner Ingle, the kids who had to play in their place played hard.”
Wolfpack struggled with turnovers
Overall, though, the Pack couldn’t stop the run as the Wildcats finished with 284 yards rushing, more than six yards per carry. It was, however, the first time this season the State defense held a team to less than 100 yards through the air, but that wasn’t Kentucky’s bread and butter to begin with. the Wildcats’ Rose finished with 148 yards on 12 carries and Rodriguez had 84 yards on the ground. The Pack had no balance, rushing for 58 yards, their second losing run total this year. The defense also didn’t force a turnover, the seventh game this season that’s happened.
“Offensively, we turned the ball over three times, we missed two field goals,” Doeren said. “We had our chances to make that a different game and we didn’t. You have to give Kentucky credit for that. It was a hard-fought game and a physical game, as I expected it to be.”
State’s last win over an SEC opponent came against Vanderbilt in 2016 in the Independence Bowl. It was the third time this season the Wolfpack turned the ball over three times or more.
Knight, the sophomore running back, was N.C. State’s MVP. The Pack is now 1-5 in the Gator Bowl.
This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 12:24 PM.
