Five things you need to know from UK football’s 21-0 Music City Bowl loss to Iowa

Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 21-0 loss to Iowa in the Music City Bowl:

1. Iowa wins battle of untested QBs. In what had to be a bowl game rarity, both Kentucky and Iowa started quarterbacks who had never thrown a college pass.

Though there were extenuating circumstances, the Hawkeyes had the clear upper hand in the matchup of untested signal callers.

Iowa redshirt freshman Joey Labas went 14-of-22 passing for 139 yards and a touchdown. More importantly, he played clean football, made no mistakes.

Meanwhile, Kentucky true freshman Destin Wade struggled. Playing 37.1 miles from his hometown, Spring Hills, Tenn., the 6-foot-3, 222-pound Wade threw two interceptions that Iowa returned for first-half touchdowns. Wade was also sacked four times, three in the first half .

Wade finished 16-of-30 passing for 98 yards. He also showed some scrambling ability, running for 29 yards on 16 carries.

Iowa was using its third-string quarterback because regular starter Spencer Petras was injured and No. 2 QB Alex Padilla is in the transfer portal.

UK was forced to go with a backup because starting QB Will Levis opted out of the game to prepare for the NFL Draft.

Both teams have commitments from high-profile transfers who figure to be their QB starters in 2023, with Devin Leary coming from North Carolina State to Kentucky and Cade McNamara from Michigan to Iowa.

With the Cats losing, Wade became the fourth UK QB out of the last six to lose his first career start.

Before the 2-4 streak began, 10 of 11 Kentucky quarterbacks had won their first career starts.

2. Special teams hurt UK — again. Iowa dominated “the third phase.”

On UK’s second offensive possession of the game, Wilson Berry punted from the Iowa 46-yard line on fourth-and-2. In what was expected to be a low-scoring, defensive-dominated matchup, trying to pin Iowa deep made sense.

Instead, Cooper DeJean returned the punt 34 yards to the Iowa 40. That mattered because the play flipped field position and allowed Iowa punter Tory Taylor to take over the game.

Taylor was spectacular in the decisive first half. The 6-4, 230-pound junior punted four times for an average of 46.3 yards. More importantly, Taylor three times pinned Kentucky in the shadows of its own goal posts. UK started drives at its own 2, 7 and 7.

Meanwhile, of seven first-half Iowa drives, four started at the Iowa 40, the Kentucky 48, the Kentucky 42 and the Iowa 42.

In the battle of untested QBs, that is why Iowa’s Labas had things far easier than UK’s Wade.

3. Opt-ins vs. opt-outs. A big part of handicapping bowl games used to be trying to figure out which team is more motivated to play.

Now, bowl games often come down to which team’s star players show up.

Kentucky played without its two offensive stars, quarterback Will Levis and running back Christopher Rodriguez, each of whom were physically banged up over the course of a difficult season and opted to heal up in preparation for the NFL Draft.

Iowa had more of its stars playing. Tight end Sam LaPorta set up the game’s first (and only offensive) touchdown on a 28-yard reception in which he ran through six would-be tacklers.

Hawkeyes head man Kirk Ferentz even had LaPorta playing quarterback from the Wildcat formation as Iowa attempted to run clock with the lead in the fourth quarter.

All-America middle linebacker Jack Campbell led the Hawkeyes defense with nine tackles, including a sack and two tackles for loss.

It shouldn’t be much of a shock that the team that got the most of its star players to the game also won it.

4. UK sees bowl streak end. Kentucky’s loss snapped a four-game bowl winning streak for the Cats.

Over the past four seasons, Kentucky had won:

▪ The Citrus Bowl, 27-24, over No. 12 Penn State after the 2018 season;

▪ The Belk Bowl, 37-30, over Virginia Tech after the 2019 season;

▪ The Gator Bowl, 23-21, over No. 23 North Carolina State after the 2020 season;

▪ The Citrus Bowl, 20-17, over No. 15 Iowa after the 2021 season.

5. Cats lose non-conference win streak, too. With its loss, Kentucky saw its nation’s best 20-game, non-league win streak end. Until Saturday, UK had not dropped a non-SEC game since falling to Northwestern, 24-23, in the 2017 Music City Bowl.

During its non-league win streak, Kentucky beat:

2018: Central Michigan (MAC), Murray State (OVC), Middle Tennessee State (C-USA), Louisville (ACC), No. 12 Penn State (Big Ten);

2019: Toledo (MAC), Eastern Michigan (MAC), Tennessee Martin (OVC), Louisville (ACC), Virginia Tech (ACC);

2020: No. 23 North Carolina State (ACC);

2021: Louisiana Monroe (Sun Belt), Chattanooga (Southern Conference), New Mexico State (independent), Louisville (ACC), No. 15 Iowa (Big Ten);

2022: Miami (Ohio) (MAC); Youngstown State (Missouri Valley); Northern Illinois (MAC); Louisville (ACC).

Fashion police

For its seventh-straight bowl appearance, Kentucky wore blue helmets, blue jerseys with white letters and numbers and blue pants.

UK went 2-1 in 2022 in all blue, beating Mississippi State and Louisville before falling to Iowa.