JEFF DRUMMOND:

You won't be seeing this one replayed as an ESPN "Instant Classic" any time soon, but the Cats the job done for their third consecutive bowl victory under Mark Stoops. As we expected here at Cats Illustrated, Kentucky leaned on its veteran offensive line and powerful rushing game to dominate most of the day in Jacksonville. It was a fitting send-off for the O-Line, who lost beloved coach John Schlarman to cancer in November. He would have loved the way his guys dominated the line of scrimmage today. The Cats rushed for 281 yards (including a terrific 148-yard effort by AJ Rose) while holding NC State to just 50. Unfortunately, a slew of penalties and lack of discipline on UK's part made this game much closer than it should have been, but the defense bowed its back -- as former UK head coach Jerry Claiborne was prone to say -- and came up with three huge interceptions to help seal the victory. Punter Max Duffy also worked his magic one final time with a handful of punts that really kept the Wolfpack in bad field position. In the end, it's nice momentum for the program, which continues to build on a winning culture under Stoops & Co.

JUSTIN ROWLAND:

That game was about as ugly as it gets, especially in the second half. There was a lot of foot-shooting going on. Mental miscues were in abundance and the refs were having to struggle to keep things under control. The offensive issues that we've seen from Kentucky are the same as they have been all year and it would have been unrealistic to expect much to change in that regard. NC State was missing four defensive starters but that doesn't explain the 'Cats really shutting down that Wolfpack offense. For guys like Drake Jackson, Landon Young, AJ Rose, Quinton Bohanna and a special senior class, you have to feel good for them, going out with a third consecutive bowl win. It's fair to say this team probably would have finished 9-4 had they played a normal regular season.