Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl
Who: Kentucky (7-5, 4-4 SEC) versus Clemson (8-4, 5-3 ACC)
When: Dec. 29, 1 p.m.
Where: LP Field, Nashville, Tenn.
TV: ESPN (Dave Pasch, play-by-play; Rod Gilmore, analyst; Trevor Matich, analyst; Stacey Dales, sideline reporter)
KENTUCKY
Head Coach: Rich Brooks (Oregon State, 1963)
Overall/Years:107-139-4 (.436)/22nd Season
UK/Years:16-30 (.348)/4th Season
In Bowl Games: 1-3 Overall/First Appearance with Kentucky
National Rankings: Not ranked
Formations: Offense-Multiple Sets, Defense-4-3
UK record in Music City Bowl: 0-1
Key Players
Andre Woodson, junior, quarterback: He has thrown for 3,216 yards and 28 touchdowns, leading the Southeastern Conference in passing yardage, total offense and touchdown passes ... His touchdown-to-interception ratio of 28-to-7 is the best in the league ... His career interception ratio is the lowest in SEC history (minimum of 400 attempts).
Wesley Woodyard, junior, linebacker: Woodyard made 110 tackles during the season, ranking second in the league in tackles per game ... He also had eight tackles for loss, one quarterback sack, three fumbles caused, two fumble recoveries, one interception and three pass breakups.
Keenan Burton, junior, receiver-return specialist: Burton leads the SEC and is sixth nationally in all-purpose yardage with 149.8 yards per game ... He has caught 72 passes for 1,006 yards and 12 touchdowns this year ... He is only the third player in school history to reach the 1,000-yard receiving mark in a season ... He is third in the league in kickoff returns with a 24.9-yard average ... He led the team in scoring with 78 points.
Jacob Tamme, junior, tight end: He led all SEC tight ends with 28 catches for 327 yards and one touchdown ... He was a consensus first-team all-conference selection.
Rafael Little, junior, running back-return specialist: He led Kentucky with 652 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns despite missing four games because of injuries and average 5.0 yards per carry ... He returned 11 punts for 258 yards, an average of 23.5 per return ... He also had 29 catches for 377 yards.
CLEMSON (8-4, 5-3 ACC)
Head Coach: Tommy Bowden (West Virginia, 1977)
Overall/Years: 78-41 (.655)/9th Season
Clemson/Years: 60-37 (.619)/8th Season
In Bowl Games: 4-3 (.571) Overall/3-3 (.500) at Clemson
National Rankings: Not ranked
Clemson record in Music City Bowl: First Appearance
Key Players
Gaines Adams, senior, defensive end: Adams led the ACC and ranked ninth in the nation in quarterback sacks this year with 10.5, tied for the second most in a season in Clemson history ... He currently has 26 career sacks, trailing just Michael Dean Perry (28) and William Perry (27) ... He had 56 tackles this year, including 15.5 tackles for loss, recovered three fumbles and caused two fumbles.
James Davis, sophomore, running back: Davis was named first team all-ACC running back after he was named second team last season ... Davis rushed for 1,134 yards and 17 touchdowns this season ... His touchdown total is first in the ACC and he tied a Clemson record for rushing touchdowns in a season ... The 1,134 rushing yards ranks sixth best in Clemson history for a single season ... His 216 yards against Georgia Tech was the most by an ACC player this season.
Roman Fry, senior, offensive lineman: Fry has started every game the last two years, and played more snaps than any other Clemson player on offense or defense this season ... He has 68.5 knockdown blocks for the season and has been a major reason the Tigers rank fifth in the nation in rushing offense with an ACC best 225 yards per game.
C.J. Spiller, freshman, running back: He has established Clemson freshman records for touchdowns, 100-yard rushing games and all-purpose running yards ... He needs 86 yards in the Music City Bowl to reach 1,000 yards ... He averaged 7.3 yards per attempt, the most by an ACC running back since Warrick Dunn averaged 7.48 in 1995 ... He set a Clemson record for touchdown plays of 50 or more yards in a season with six.
Last Meeting
Kentucky holds a 7-4 advantage in the series with Clemson, but the Tigers won the last meeting when they beat Kentucky 14-13 in the 1993 Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
Kentucky failed to score after reaching the one-yard line in the first half when it trailed 7-0 but did cut the halftime deficit to 7-3 on a 34-yard field goal by Nicky Nickles. Kentucky took a 10-7 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard scoring pass by Pookie Jones and made it 13-7 when Nickles hit a 26-yard field goal with 7:28 to play.
Kentucky linebacker Marty Moore intercepted a pass with less than a minute to play, but fumbled the ball back to Clemson on the return. With 20 seconds to play, Clemson backup quarterback Patrick Sapp threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to win the game.
