What Went Wrong on the Final Kentucky Defensive Possession vs. Clemson

The Kentucky defense kept the team in the ballgame, but they could not do enough to give the Wildcats a win over Clemson in the Gator Bowl.

The Tigers averaged only 4.6 yards per play. Cade Klubnik was sacked eight times and hurried three more. Even more impressively, Clemson started four straight fourth quarter drives inside the UK 40-yard line and only managed 13 points.

Regardless, there’s only one play many people want to talk about: Third and 18.

Clemson had the ball at the 50-yard line with less than a minute remaining, needing a touchdown to pull off a miraculous comeback win. The Cats were two plays away from ending the football game. Instead, Klubnik found Troy Stellato for a 16-yard gain. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Clemson converted on fourth down, then punched in the game-winning touchdown three plays later.

“(That) play really hurt us. It gave them an opportunity to get it to fourth and manageable there,” Mark Stoops said after the 38-35 loss.

“Obviously, that’s a play that’ll haunt us for a while. We’re down our two top corners at that point. You know, we tried to do some things and play some coverages that can protect them. We had a nickel that was inexperienced that could have cut underneath it. But you know, we could play better. We can call defense better. We will second guess ourself on that one.”

Maxwell Hairston exited the game in the first half with a hand injury. Kentucky’s other starting cornerback, Dru Phillips, was sidelined early in the fourth quarter. Even though Jantzen Dunn had just forced an intentional grounding to back Clemson up on the previous play, the Ohio State transfer did not get enough depth to force a throw underneath to the flat.

“We got loose out to the field. We got to play that better,” said defensive coordinator Brad White. “It was just a flat route by a (slot receiver) and a stop route by (the outside receiver). No excuses. We gotta play that better. We gotta force them to check it down, make a tackle and play out fourth down.”

He later added, “Credit to them, they did a great job of making the plays that needed to be made when they needed to be made and we didn’t in that regard.”

The long gain was a microcosm of the season. The defense was gassed. Clemson ran 80 plays to Kentucky’s 51. After an excellent effort forced third and long, the Cats let their opponent make a game-changing play.

“It’s hard to stomach the loss because we had an opporuntity to win the ballgame,” said White. “The offense made a great play to score and all we had to do was keep them out of the end zone and we didn’t do it.”