Music City Bowl

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)

Ten years from now, Kentucky football coach Rich Brooks would rather be talking about winning the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, rather than just being one of the two participants. Brooks said staying on task in the weeks leading up to the team's first postseason appearance in seven years will be critical. "We just can't relax now and say that we've made it to the postseason and we've reached the goal," Brooks said. "We want to win this thing. "It makes the bowl reunions much better when you're Music City Bowl champions and you are 8-5 rather than 7-6. " Brooks added that the game will be a good measuring stick for his team playing against Clemson, a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

NASHVILLE --- Kentucky defensive coordinator Steve Brown issued a challenge to his defense prior to Kentucky's 35-28 triumph over Florida State in the Music City Bowl here Monday night at LP Field. "We had a chip on our shoulders because of some of the things that were being said," Kentucky junior defensive back Marcus McClinton said. "They weren't really mentioning the Kentucky defense. We felt like we needed to make a statement. Coach Brown told us during our pre-game meeting to play with a chip on our shoulder.

NASHVILLE - Rafael Little left it all on the field.The Kentucky senior went out in style, rushing for 152 yards on 28 carries and one touchdown, while hauling in nine catches for 58 yards in Kentucky's 35-28 win over Florida State in the Music City Bowl on Monday night at LP Field. Little, who has been hampered by injuries throughout his four-year career at Kentucky, went full speed with everything he had. Even though Little fumbled the ball twice, his contributions proved to be beneficial in the long run. "I just had to give it my all," Little said afterward.

For complete coverage of the Music City Bowl by sports editor Keith Taylor and Larry Vaught of the Danville-Advocate Messenger, see www.amnews.com. Also see Wednesday's edition for photo and complete game coverage.

Full coverage of today's Music City Bowl will be posted after the game at www.amnews.com, with stories by Advocate sports editor Larry Vaught and photographs by Clay Jackson, both of whom are on the scene. Also, readers interested in pregame coverage of Saturday's Kentucky-Eastern Kentucky basketball game can find it online today.

LEXINGTON - Music City Bowl officials confirmed tonight what has been suspected all week - Kentucky will play Clemson in the bowl Dec. 29th at 1 p.m. in Nashville. "Our players, coaches and fans are thrilled to be going to the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl," said Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart. "Nashville is such a great city, and our fans have shown time and time again how much they enjoy visiting there. "I'm so happy that all of the hard work and effort put forth by our football team is being rewarded appropriately.

There's still no official word, but bowl sources continued to confirm Tuesday that Kentucky would be playing in the Music City Bowl Dec. 27 in Nashville. It will be Kentucky's third trip to the Music City Bowl in four years following last year's berth in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Sources had expected the bowl bid to be official Tuesday, but several events fueled a day of unfounded speculation that had Kentucky playing anywhere from the Outback Bowl to the Independence Bowl.

Nothing will be official until Sunday about what bowl game Kentucky will be in, but if you are making travel plans start with Nashville and the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. That's the most likely - and logical - destination for the Wildcats provided that the Southeastern Conference has two teams receive BCS bids and it seems it would take an unbelievable set of circumstances to keep Florida, Arkansas and LSU from filling two BCS spots. After that, the scenario to put 7-5 Kentucky in Nashville Dec. 29 is not that hard to predict.

LEXINGTON¿ - Joker Phillips is excited about his football team. Before anyone could get the first question in during Kentucky's annual Media Day Friday at Commonwealth Stadium, Phillips took it upon himself to list the reasons why he can't wait to begin his third season as coach of the Wildcats. For starters, Phillips has a roster stocked with leaders - a list Phillips said has blossomed in the past eight months. “We have sat down and talked about who we thought were some of our leaders, and since January, that list has grown,” he said.

When Kentucky plays Saturday in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four, Jo Ann Rice of Danville will be there in her lucky blue fluffy scarf, even if the temperature in Houston is in the 80s. “I have to wear it for every ballgame we go to,” Rice said. “Any time we’re down in a game, I start getting texts and Facebook messages asking me if I have it on.” The true power of the scarf, which Rice bought many years ago at Dawahare’s in Danville, wasn’t evident until Jacob Tamme’s senior football season at Kentucky when the team scored some huge upsets and went to the Music City Bowl.

Give Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart credit for admitting the obvious — convincing Kentucky football fans to go to Birmingham, Ala., for a Jan. 8 bowl game against Pittsburgh is not an easy sell. Kentucky fans have flocked to Nashville, Tenn., for the Music City Bowl in three of the last four years and took a hefty crowd to Memphis, Tenn., for the 2008 Liberty Bowl. But Birmingham to see a 6-6 team play that lost again to Tennessee after schools are back in session and holiday breaks are over?

He went into preseason practice not even assured of being Kentucky's starting quarterback — a job he held as both a sophomore and junior. Senior Mike Hartline not only emerged as the Wildcats’ No. 1 quarterback, but he has played so well through the first eight games that he has been added to the watch list for the Manning Award, which is presented to the nation’s top quarterback. Hartline has completed 184 of 273 passes for 2,144 yards and 17 touchdowns with only four interceptions going into Saturday night’s game at Mississippi State.

NASHVILLE ? He was an all-Pacific 10 defensive back at Oregon when he played for Rich Brooks and later coached under Brooks with the St. Louis Rams after his eight-year career in the National Football League ended. When Brooks came to Kentucky seven years ago, Steve Brown came as his secondary coach and three years ago he was promoted to defensive coordinator and has improved the Cats from 118th in the nation in total defense to 59th this year. Brown was visibly shaken here Sunday night as he tried to talk about Brooks after the Kentucky coach announced he was "80 percent sure" he was going to retire following UK's 21-13 loss to Clemson in the Music City Bowl.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? C.J. Spiller scored a touchdown and had 172 all-purpose yards in his final college game, leading Clemson to a 21-13 victory over Kentucky on Sunday night in the Music City Bowl. The Tigers (9-5) hadn't won a bowl since the 2005 Champs Sports Bowl. Kentucky (7-6) was trying to make program history by winning a fourth straight bowl game. The Wildcats certainly had the home-field advantage with blue filling nearly two-thirds of the lower bowl at LP Field.

NASHVILLE ? For four years Kentucky coaches and players have praised the play of defensive tackle Corey Peters. "The thing about Corey is that he has always been a hard worker in practice and always a dependable, solid player who made plays. This year he started to make plays where you noticed him more," said Kentucky defensive coordinator Steve Brown. "He has always been that kind of player but started to do things to catch your attention even more. I am proud and happy for him. He has a great chance to play in the NFL. He has always been a phenomenal young man. He is a very thoughtful person.

While Kentucky coach Rich Brooks continues to remain mum with the media about his future plans, UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart also is not sure what Brooks' plans are. The Wildcats have had four straight winning seasons under Brooks and will be playing in their fourth straight bowl when they face Clemson in the Music City Bowl Sunday night in Nashville. However, Brooks has consistently refused to indicate if he will or will not be back next year since being asked before UK's final regular-season game against Tennessee.

Seeing the success that Myron Pryor and Corey Peters, two Louisville natives, had playing football at the University of Kentucky had an impact on Brandon Dunn's decision to commit to the Wildcats. Several sources have confirmed that Dunn, who is playing in a basketball tournament in London and has been unavailable for commet, made his commitment to Kentucky after watching the Wildcats practice last weekend. He was a two-way starter for Pleasure Ridge Park this year and coach Jason Hiser thinks his star linemen is only going to get better in the years ahead.

LEXINGTON ? Freshman linebacker Ridge Wilson knows this is his opportunity to shine. He came into this season hoping to break into Kentucky's playing rotation after his stellar prep career at Louisville Central. He was on the verge of doing that, too, before an off-field incident led to a one-week suspension and basically limited him to some special teams play. However, the injury to senior Sam Maxwell, who led UK in interceptions and was second in tackles, gave Wilson an opportunity to compete for that starting spot when the Wildcats play Clemson on Sunday night in the Music City Bowl in Nashville.