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V S . K E N T U C K Y sacks with 14 and in tackles for loss with 18.5. Before facing Louisville in his team's season finale, interim Cardinals coach Lorenzo Ward compared Allen to former No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick Jadeveon Clowney. Said Ward, "He can destroy an offense. … He's as good against the run as he is against the pass. He's a complete player. I think this young man will defi- nitely be a potential high draft pick, and he's showing it." Allen, who earlier this month received the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Chuck Bednarik Award and also was named a first-team All-American, could well turn out to be a top-three pick if the latest batch of online mock drafts are any indi- cation. There was some talk that he might sit out the Citrus Bowl to avoid the risk of injury, but he ended that speculation on Dec. 7, announcing on Twitter that "we have unfinished business and my team- mates and I plan to bring the Citrus Bowl trophy back to Lexington." Stoops said he didn't want to influence Allen's decision whether to play, telling him that his legacy at Kentucky was se- cure no matter what he chose to do. Now that the decision has been made, Stoops said he expects Allen to play with his usual intensity against Penn State. "He's going to do things the way he al- ways does, and that's to put his head down and do things 100 miles per hour," Stoops said. "He wants to continue to im- prove his stock, and he wants to help us win the football game." Thanks largely to Allen, the Wildcats had been in the mix for a spot in the SEC Championship Game before a 34-17 loss to Georgia in November knocked them out of contention. They didn't respond well to that loss, falling to Tennessee, 24-7, the following week. But they enter the Citrus Bowl on a two-game winning streak, and the chance to go out with another victory is "definitely motivational," Stoops said. "We have a lot of respect for Penn State and their history," he said, "but it's also about us playing in this game – guys who want to play and want to win. We gave it a great effort a year ago and came up a play short. Our players are motivated to go try to get a victory." ■ KEY MATCHUPS PENN STATE RUN GAME 208.6 YPG, 5.2 YPC KENTUCKY RUN DEFENSE 150.8 YPG, 4.3 YPC THE LOWDOWN Penn State >nished the regular season with one of its two best rushing performances of the year, totaling 310 yards and four touchdowns against Maryland. On the heels of that showing, the Nittany Lions head into the post- season ranked sixth in the Big Ten in rushing o?ense, with a conference-leading 33 TDs on the ground. RB Miles Sanders is the Lions' leading rusher with 1,223 yards and nine TDs and is the fourth-leading rusher in the Big Ten with an aver- age of 101.9 yards per game. QB Trace McSorley is second behind Sanders with 723 yards and 11 rushing TDs. Backing up Sanders at the running back position is true freshman Ricky Slade. Slade missed four games in the middle of the year but still >nished the regular season as the Lions' third-leading rusher with 230 yards and six TDs on 41 carries. He is coming o? his best performance of the year, as he gained 64 yards on 11 carries and scored two TDs against Maryland. Ken- tucky is >elding one of the best defenses in the country, having allowed oppo- nents to average only 332.2 yards of total o?ense per game. A key part of that e?ort has been their performance against the run. The leader of the Kentucky de- fense is senior DE/OLB Josh Allen, a >rst-team All-American. Some analysts have the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Allen going in the top three picks of the 2019 NFL Dra@. His statistics this year would certainly back up those lo@y appraisals. He leads the Wildcats with 89 tackles, including 18.5 tackles for loss and 14 sacks. He's also posted six quarterback hurries and has forced >ve fumbles. FS Mike Ed- wards is the Wildcats' second-leading tackler with 77 stops, including nine tack- les for loss. SS Darius West and MLB Daniel Kash are next with 76 tackles apiece, and Kash also has 5.5 tackles for loss. WLB Jordon Jones has 68 tackles and 5.5 TFL. As a team, Kentucky is in the middle of the pack in the SEC with 78 TFL. Two other Kentucky starters with substantial TFL numbers are OLB Jamar Watson and DE Calvin Taylor with >ve apiece. // KEY MATCHUPS Allen, who recently was named the winner of the Nagurski Trophy and Bednarik Award, is one of the best defensive ends in the country, and Penn State offensive tackles Ryan Bates and Will Fries will have their hands full trying to control him. An- other key matchup will pit Penn State's center, either Michal Menet or Con- nor McGovern, against Kentucky's 340-pound NG Quinton Bohanna. Look for the Lions to double-team Bohanna to try to control him at the point of at- tack. // EDGE PENN STATE PENN STATE PASS GAME 215.8 YPG, 13.8 YPC KENTUCKY PASS DEFENSE 181.3 YPG, 11.0 YPC THE LOWDOWN Penn State's passing game has been up and down all year. A@er two successive seasons in which McSorley threw for more than 3,500 yards, the Nittany Lions struggled throughout the 2018 regular season. McSorley has completed 175 of 328 passes (53.4 percent) for 2,284 yards, with only 16 touchdowns and an average of 190.3 yards per game. Backup Tommy Stevens has seen limited action W H E N P E N N S T A T E H A S T H E B A L L PENN STATE RUN GAME vs. KENTUCKY RUN DEFENSE PENN STATE PASS GAME vs. KENTUCKY PASS DEFENSE |

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