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The Kentucky Wildcats are 7-5 heading into the bowl season, and they’ve been projected to several potential destinations.
Among them are the Belk Bowl, Music City Bowl, Texas Bowl and TaxSlayer Bowl. However, KSR’s Matt Jones is reporting that it looks like only two options remain if everything goes according to play in Championship Week.
After the games today, I am told that now the two most likely Bowls for Kentucky are:
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) December 1, 2019
TaxSlayer in Jacksonville (Iowa or Indiana)
Music City (Va Tech or Pitt)
Belk is now 3rd most likely...probably only happens if Wisconsin upsets Ohio State (dropping Florida from Big 6 Bowls)
The Music City Bowl would be nice, but the TaxSlayer Bowl is viewed as the better bowl game to make (typically bowls in Florida are really nice options). Kentucky has actually appeared in both bowls over the last decade, and the fan turnout was great at both locations.
While the Music City is closer to Lexington, a trip to Florida is something much of the Big Blue Nation would love to have. And it would present much more interesting opponents based on what Jones is reporting.
Indiana is a long-time rival of Kentucky, though the two schools canceled their series in the mid-2000s and haven’t resumed it. They’re also heated rivals on the basketball court.
Iowa, on the other hand, is the alma mater of Mark Stoops, and he was a graduate assistant there in the early 90s. Both Iowa and Kentucky have also typically played similar styles of offense: Ball control that relies heavily on strong defensive play to grind out wins, though the Wildcats’ have been more dynamic with Lynn Bowden at quarterback.