The Kentucky Wildcats are heading to the TaxSlayer Bowl, where they will face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
This bowl will take place on Dec. 31st at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. The Cats earned a berth in the game thanks to a 7-5 record this season, highlighted by their upset win of then-No. 11 Louisville in the regular-season finale. That win was what propelled UK from a lower-tier bowl like the Independence or Liberty Bowl all the way to Jacksonville for a rare New Year’s Eve bowl for the program.
The Jackets also got here thanks in large part to a big upset in their regular-season finale. They went into Athens and beat Georgia to not only earn their spot in this bowl, but also knock the Dawgs back enough that UK got a better bowl selection out of the SEC.
This bowl features the SEC taking on either a Big Ten or ACC team. Heading into the final week of the regular season, Georgia vs Miami was a popular pick for this bowl, but the Cats and Jackets pulled off big wins that helped lead to the matchup we see now.
This will actually be the second TaxSlayer Bowl that takes place in 2016. The 2015-16 edition of the bowl took place on Jan. 2nd between Georgia and Penn State, a game the Bulldogs escaped with a 24-17 win in.
The 2014-15 matchup of Tennessee and Iowa saw the Vols come away with a 45-28 win. The previous year saw Georgia fall to Nebraska, 19-14.
Historically, this has been a very prestigious bowl with many of college football’s perennial programs taking part in. But what makes this bowl even more prestigious this year is it takes place on the same day as the College Football Playoff.
The Cats and Jackets kickoff at 11 a.m. before the CFP begins at 3 p.m. With so much of the sports world focused on college football that day, UK being part of it is a major plus for the program.
Game Date: December 31, 2016
Game Time: 11:00 a.m. EST
Television Network: ESPN
Stadium: EverBank Field
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Title Sponsor: TaxSlayer.com
Tickets: The UK Ticket Office is now accepting requests for bowl games. All orders should be completed online through your My UK Account. Requests are due by Monday, December 5 at 4 PM ET.
Or, you can get tickets at Ticketmaster.com.
#TaxSlayerBowl
— TaxSlayer Bowl (@taxslayerbowl) December 4, 2016
Tix: https://t.co/GdKkCdJS68
Hotels: https://t.co/EBUmhhaWsn
Events: https://t.co/3JkDHzXs9i
Area: https://t.co/SdgKpYJSp1 pic.twitter.com/JzFhar2qGO