Kentucky and Iowa, both 7-5, brought a pair of highly-regarded defenses into Nissan Stadium for the Music City Bowl on Saturday. But Iowa’s defense made the biggest plays as Kentucky’s offense managed to sleepwalk through another disappointing loss, 21-0.

Kentucky’s defense played well, limiting Iowa to just 130 total yards in the game’s first 3 quarters. But a short field score off a shanked punt and a pair of pick-6s doomed the Wildcats.

In many ways, it was the story of UK’s 2022 season.

A year ago, Kentucky scored over 32 points per game and averaged 424 yards of total offense. In 2022, the Wildcats returned their starting quarterback and running back and most of their offensive line. And finished the season dead last in the SEC in scoring and total offense.

Saturday, Kentucky started true freshman Destin Wade at quarterback after Will Levis’ decision to opt out of the bowl game. Wade had never thrown a pass in college, and given the absence of running back Chris Rodriguez, who also opted out, he had little rushing support.

Iowa had its own QB issues, with starter Spencer Petras sidelined by a shoulder injury and backup Alex Padilla having entered the transfer portal. Redshirt freshman Joe Labas got the start, and he also had never tried a college pass. However, given the play of the Hawkeyes’ defense, the Iowa offense had very little work to do.

After a scoreless first quarter, Iowa broke through early in the second quarter. After a short punt from UK’s own end zone, Labas connected with tight end Sam LaPorta on a 27 yard connection that took the Hawkeyes into scoring position. On the next play, Labas found tight end Luke Lachey on the sideline. After a broken tackle, Lachey reached the end zone with a 14 yard scoring reception. The extra point made it 7-0 with 12:08 left in the first half.

On the following play, Iowa struck again. Wade overthrew a pass intended for Dane Key over the middle and Hawkeye safety Xavier Nwankpa grabbed the errant pass and returned it 52 yards for a pick-6. After the extra point, Iowa led 14-0 with 11:57 still to play in the half.

From there, Kentucky went from bad to worse. After the teams traded punts twice, Kentucky found itself in a 3rd-and-10 situation at its own 7-yard line. Wade misfired again, with Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean grabbing another bad pass, hauling it in at the Kentucky 14 and sprinting into the end zone for Iowa’s second pick-six of the half and a 21-0 halftime advantage. Not only did the Wildcats trail 21-0 at the half, they had never moved closer to scoring than the Iowa 46 yard line. The first half included 7 Kentucky punts and 5 first downs.

Kentucky threatened to score early in the 4th quarter, but a 4th-and-9 pass from the Iowa 35 fell incomplete. The Wildcats had failed to mount a drive longer than 36 yards into the game’s final minutes.

Kentucky finished 2022 with a 7-6 record. For a team that was in the top 10 with a 4-0 record a month into the season, it’s hard not to see the remainder of the year as a significant slide.

Losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt will not help Mark Stoops climb the rugged hillside that is the SEC. While new QB Devin Leary is ready to go (as is RB Ray Davis), even the expected return of offensive coordinator Liam Coen from the NFL will leave the Wildcats with plenty of question to answer on that side of the ball in 2023.