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Woodson leads Kentucky to first bowl win since 1984

Dec 29, 2006 - 11:14 PM NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Andre' Woodson and Kentucky capped off a fantastic finish to the season with a rare accomplishment - the school's first bowl win in over two decades.

Woodson passed for 299 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a 28-20 triumph over Clemson in the Music City Bowl.

It was Kentucky's first victory in a bowl game since a 20-19 win over Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Bowl on December 29, 1984. The Wildcats were winless in their last three bowl appearances.

"This was a hard-fought football game," Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said. "To me, it is a very significant win."

"We are a program heading in the right direction," Woodson added. "We have a lot of playmakers coming back next year.

A redshirt junior in his second full season as a starter, Woodson finished the campaign with a flourish, passing for 1,579 yards and 13 touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a 4-1 record over their final five regular-season contests.

"(Woodson) has made amazing strides," Brooks said. "If he keeps doing what he is doing, he is going to play at the next level and play it very well."

On Friday, Woodson picked up where he left off, completing 20-of-28 passes and helping Kentucky (8-5) convert 7-of-14 third downs.

"(Woodson) was very successful in a very good conference," Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said. "He's a pretty good player."

The Wildcats owned a 7-6 lead late in the first half when Woodson hit DeMoreo Ford on a post route for a 70-yard TD to make it 14-6. Woodson pushed the advantage to 21-6 with 8:09 to go in the third quarter when he hooked up with Dicky Lyons Jr. for a 24-yard scoring strike.

Third on Kentucky's all-time list for passing yards, Woodson completed his stellar season finale with a 13-yard TD pass to Jacob Tamme with 11:29 remaining.

"I do a good job of getting us into plays, but the other guys on offense are the ones who really make things happen," Woodson said.

Woodson finished the season with 3,515 passing yards and 31 TDs, joining Tim Couch as the only players in school history to throw for at least 30 TDs in a single campaign. He ended the season with a school-record 162 pass attempts without an interception.

"This win is an exclamation mark on our season," Woodson said. "The offense got it going, and the defense really stepped up."

Tamme had four receptions for 59 yards while Rafael Little ran for 54 yards on 17 carries for Kentucky, which improved to 6-5 all-time in bowl games.

Clemson (8-5) rallied from a three-touchdown deficit to make it 28-20 with 44 seconds remaining when Will Proctor fired a 17-yard TD pass to Aaron Kelly.

"The score was not indicative of how the game really was," Bowden said. "Kentucky was a much better team today."

But the Tigers failed to recover the ensuing onside kick, sealing the Wildcats' long-awaited win.

Proctor completed 23-of-39 passes for 272 yards, three TDs and one interception while Chansi Stuckey had five catches for 93 yards for Clemson, which fell to 15-14 in bowl games.

"We didn't play very smart today," Bowden said. "We had some turnovers and some penalties in the red zone. We didn't tackle very well today."