Clemson Tigers Top Kentucky Wildcats In Music City Bowl

Sports News - December 28th, 2009 - Written by John

It may be sionara for the core of Clemson's offense, so they took one glorious encore together on Sunday night.

Senior C.J. Spiller ran for 67 yards and a touchdown on a team-high 15 carries, and added 58 yards receiving for his sixth game with 100 total yards from scrimmage this year.

Freshman quarterback Kyle Parker, who may be leaving for the MLB next June completed 8-of-14 passes for 141 yards and threw a 32-yard touchdown to Jacoby Ford, who, like Spiller will also be bolting for the NFL. The trio made most of the noise in a 21-13 win over Kentucky in Nashville's Music City Bowl, with Spiller's eight-yard touchdown run the fourth quarter being the icing.

Coming back for his senior season to try and help Clemson win an ACC title, Spiller certainly didn't envision himself playing in Nashville in late December. But he did content for the Heisman trophy with a dazzling season, and did what he could in his finale.

"I'm kind of speechless right now," Spiller said. "I'm very happy we've won the bowl game...I just wanted to see what it was like to be in a locker room after winning a championship game, and that's what this was -- a championship game."

Clemson won it's first bowl game since 2005, and head coach Dabo Swinney became only the second coach in team history to win a bowl game in his first full season.

"It's a great win," Swinney said. "This is a great way to finish a very good year. I couldn't be more proud of these guys, especially the way we won the game. We felt we could rush the ball more than those guys."

For Kentucky, it was a sour note after reaching a bowl game for the fourth-straight year for the first time in school history. Head coach Rich Brooks, who was on the sidelines each game during that run, told his team that he is "80-percent" sure he will not return next season, and offensive coordinator Joker Phillips will take over.

"I think it may be time for a change and time for Joker to take over," Brooks said.

But it was the defense that certainly deserved most of the credit after a dominating attack that harassed Kentucky quarterback Morgon Newton most of the night. The freshman only had 98 yards passing and averaged 4.3 yards per attempt to carry Kentucky to only 277 total yards.

Parker was effective in what may have been his final collegiate game. He is considered to be a prized outfielder in baseball and may bolt for the MLB if he is selected high enough with the right contract offering. But Sunday, it was all NCAA Football, and his 32-yard strike to Ford set the tone of the game.

Kentucky responded with a Lones Seiber field goal early in the second quarter to give Kentucky a 10-7 lead, but that lead was soon gone and then taken over altogether before the half.

Jamie Harper, who actually led the team with 79 yards on the ground with a 9.9-yard average, pounced into the end zone for a one-yard score to make it 14-10.

In the second half, Kentucky could only manage another field goal to get within one, but a fourth-quarter turnover spelled doom for the Wildcats. With the ball deep in their own territory, linebacker Kavell Conner ripped the ball away from receiver Gene McCaskill, giving the Tigers the ball at Kentucky's 19. That set up Spiller's eight-yard scamper, which was his school-record 51st score, dashing to the right side of the end zone and gliding into the end zone his fans held up "Our Heisman Winner" sign.