Clemson beat Kentucky 38–35 in the Gator Bowl. Phil Mafah’s touchdown drive made the score even better.
Mafah had a day that broke all records. He ran on eleven occasions for 71 yards and four touchdowns.
The game surpassed two records: known as Clemson Bowl game standard and the power supply Gator Bowl standard for scores.
The Gator Bowl was an ideal opportunity for Tigers star Mafah to run home to say goodbye before the 2023 season.
If you play like Mafah did in the Gator Bowl, people will be talking about you. Check out what people on the social media had to say about Mafah’s record-breaking day.
Phil Mafah scored on a 3-yard run with seventeen seconds of play left to help the Tigers beat Kentucky 38–35 in the biggest and the biggest and most thrilling Gator Bowls in history.
At the end of the year, they won five straight games. In the concluding quarter, there were five turnovers, four scores, or five lead changes. Mafah hit three times during that time.
Each team scored 14 points in the closing 15 minutes. Clemson (9-4) earned 28 points. They heard the coach, Dabo Swinney, say, “You saw who we were tonight. Those guys, you killed.”
The best play of the game was when Cade Klubnik struck Troy Stellato over 16 yards on third-and-18.
Mafah’s fourth-down run moved the ball forward. Mafah scored after three plays to make it 2-0 Tigers.
UK (7-6) had a final chance to win, but Devin Leary’s pass was picked off by Justin Mascoll on the first down.
“A very difficult loss,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “What a great football game! We had a lot about trouble but got through it. You’re not proud of many things, such as the mistakes, turnovers, or fouls you made.
In the end, Mafah ran a total of 11 times to 71 yards. The Gator Bowl record for most running scores was broken by him.
The game went 30 out of 41 times for 264 yards and no touchdowns. There was one interception. Eight of the nine passes he made during the final drive were perfect.
British player Barion Brown returned the kickoff 100 yards as well as scored three times in three distinct formats in the second half. They were now down 21–10.
ESPN Stats as well as Information says that he is the inaugural player with SEC history who scored a touchdown while running, grabbing, and returning a kickoff all in the same game.
Deuce McAllister for Ole Miss did that in the 1998 Independent Bowl towards Texas Tech. He was the last person to do.
When Brown returned the punt, the Wildcats thought they would prevail. But in the fourth place, they missed the ball twice in a row.
With Mafah’s third victory run, Clemson took the lead and went up 27–21.
That’s when Brown caught a pass from sixty meters out that put UK back ahead 28–27. The lead wasn’t for long because the next kickoff was returned 60 yards by Will Beasley.
This set up Johnathan Weitz’s 52-landscape field goal, but it hit the post or bounced over. We stated, “He got it 52 meters with an inch.”
He did get an answer from the Wildcats. For another play, Leary threw a pass that went 72 yards to Jordan Ingram. It set subject Ray Davis’s 1-backyard score run.
Davis still played that game after he turned pro. “I’m proud of my involvement in that game,” he stated. “I will always remember that.”
We stepped up to the plate wherever trouble came up, and I will know that I’m a part of a very important game that went between teams and had highs and lows.
They came back to win again, and the players celebrated on the field afterward. Trevor Lawrence along with Travis Etienne Jr., a pair previous Tigers players who now play for the Savannah Jaguars, came onto the benches in the third quarter.
This gave Clemson fans something to cheer about. During a break alongside 6:31 left for the third, video monitors showed Lawrence along with Etienne interacting with the gamers and coaches. Two of the loudest cheers came from Clemson fans.
They won the national title with the Tigers in 2018 and went to the NCAA Football Playoffs twice more.
Late Friday night, it was said that Lawrence would not play in the inaugural game because the throwing arm was hurt.