Lynn Bowden breaks several records in likely his final game at Kroger Field

With his dominating performance against the Louisville Cardinals, Lynn Bowden has further cemented himself in the record books.

The Kentucky Wildcats crushed the Cards in Lexington for a 45-13 victory, and the Youngstown native had likely the best performance any player in college football had on the final day of the regular season (for most leagues, anyway).

With 284 rushing yards and a career-high four scores while Kentucky ran for over 500 yards as a team, Bowden became the ninth 1000-yard rusher in Kentucky history.

But that only begins to tell the story of what Bowden has accomplished.

In the first half, Bowden accounted for 92 rushing yards, which sent him over the 1,000-yard mark. He was able to do this while playing the first five games at wide receiver, but a host of QB injuries led to Bowden playing there for the final seven games, going 5-2 as a starter, including three-straight victories.

“What can you say about Lynn. He is truly remarkable in so many ways,” said head coach Mark Stoops after the game. “But you have to recognize his competitive nature, and just how tough and competitive and what a leader he is.

“In our business, if you are going to be an Alpha dog, then you be an Alpha dog and that’s him. When you do that time and time again and prove it and put the team on your back, and say, let’s ride, let’s do this, you know, it’s remarkable.”

The second half was even more magical, as Bowden erupted for nearly 200 more yards and put the Cardinals away for good. That included scoring runs of 60, 46 and 32. He alone outscored Louisville 24-13.

Record-wise, Bowden’s 284 rushing yards is tied for 11th in SEC single-game history and the most ever by an SEC quarterback. It’s also the third-most by an NCAA player this season. He averaged 12.9 yards per rushing attempt, the third-highest single-game average in SEC history (minimum 20 attempts).

Bowden’s 8.2 yards per rushing attempt this season puts him on track to break Stanley “Boom” Williams’ record of 7.1 per attempt in 2015. The four touchdowns vs. Louisville tied the school records for most rushing touchdowns in a game and most total touchdowns in a game.

Bowden now has 4,407 all-purpose yards in his career, moving up to fifth place in UK history.

To no surprise, Bowden earned the Howard Schnellenberger Award as Most Valuable Player of the Governor’s Cup.

It has been complete domination for Bowden since he took over at QB for this team, and it has been extremely fun to watch.

And it was likely the final time we’ll see Bowden in Kroger Field as a collegiate athlete, as he’ll likely enter the 2020 NFL Draft and hear his name called in the Round 2-4 range.

Seeing how emotional Bowden was after the game is all the confirmation you need to know he played his final game in Lexington.

Thankfully, we’ll get to see Bowden one final time in Kentucky’s bowl game. Wherever that may be, it should be painted blue as Bowden looks to lead the Wildcats to a second-straight bowl win in his final collegiate game.