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2008 Liberty Bowl - Unpredictable Play Gives Kentucky Late-Scoring Win Over East Carolina, 25-19

By Ed Bagley

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 24Jan2009 Word count: 619 Viewed: 161 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Imagine yourself as Ventrell Jenkins, a 6-foot-2, 285-pound defensive tackle for Kentucky who has been working all afternoon to help his Wildcat teammates upset East Carolina in the 2008 Liberty Bowl. The score is tied 19-19 and there is exactly 3:02 left in the 4th quarter.

Suddenly, East Carolina running back Norman Whitley fumbles in the backfield and the ball ends up in your hands with daylight in front of you. You take off for dear life, hoping you are faster than you think you are. A player in pursuit has an angle on you and, in a desperate attempt to avoid being stopped, you stiff arm him (knocking out his mouthpiece) and high step your way the rest of the way to score on a 56-yard return.

The next thing you know, your teammates are piling on you in the end zone. Kentucky now leads 25-19 and your Wildcats are on their way to winning their 3rd straight bowl-game victory with coach Rich Brooks looking happier than a skunk eating cabbage. Not even the late, great Paul "Bear" Bryant won 3 consecutive bowl games when he coached the Kentucky Wildcats.

Kentucky held on with 2:56 left, stopping East Carolina and running out the clock to make their 25-19 lead stick. Jenkins wound up being the Most Valuable Player by using an offensive move on his historic 56-yard touchdown return by a defensive tackle not known as a speedster. This is why we love college football and why we watch bowl games. You could not write a more unlikely script and have it come true.

Skip Holtz and his East Carolina Pirates had just won their first ever Conference USA championship title and knocked off Virginia Tech and West Virginia, two BCS conference teams, coming into the Liberty Bowl Friday (1-2-09). The Pirates finished the year at 9-5.

Kentucky was only a 6-6 team coming into the Liberty Bowl, but was not exactly a total pushover, having lost to Alabama by 3 points on the road and to South Carolina by 7 at home. Florida then crushed the Wildcats 63-5 and Kentucky would go on to lose its last 3 games to Georgia, Vanderbilt and Tennessee. But in football, you cannot predict how the ball will bounce; sometimes lady luck comes calling, even for a Wildcat.

After being down 16-3 at the half, senior wide receiver Dave Jones took the ensuing kickoff back for a Liberty Bowl-record 99-yard touchdown return, and the Pirates came to life. Two possessions later back-up quarterback Mike Hartline found sophomore wide receiver Kyrus Lanxter for a 19-yard scoring toss.

The Pirates would manage a field goal in the 3rd quarter but that was it. Kentucky outscored East Carolina 22-3 in the 2nd half. The Wildcat defense held East Carolina to only 3-of-19 third-down conversions.

Neither team had a running game. Hartline, a sophomore who was filling in for injured freshman starter Randall Cobb, completed 19-of-31 for 204 yards. If you are a Kentucky Wildcat fan, the stats meant little and the victory meant everything.

"We still aren't where we want to be," said coach Rich Brooks, "but the last 30 minutes was about as beautiful football that I have ever seen." Go ahead and gush a little bit, Rich, your guys made it happen. Every now and then, the ball will bounce your way and when it does, you must make the most of it.

Be grateful for your good fortune, coach Brooks, and put an extra steak on Ventrell Jenkins' plate at the team's next meal together. And, oh ya, don't worry about Ventrell's time in the 40; he has a secret weapon, a vicious straight arm and high step that would match a running back during show time.

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