Kentucky bowl projection roundup

With a win over Louisville to end the season, Kentucky will now shift their focus to their bowl game.

All of the bowl games will be announced a week from today and the Wildcats will then have some time off to prepare for their opponent. With just about everyone’s season wrapped up, the projections are starting to become clear of who will be where during bowl season.

The Liberty Bowl has been a popular pick for Kentucky over the last few weeks. Both Jerry Palm’s Playoff Projections at CBS Sports and Brad Crawford at 247 Sports both have the Wildcats playing in Memphis on December 30th. Both projections have the same opponent as well as they think UK will be facing off against #23 Iowa State. The Cyclones finished 7-5 and 6th in the BIG 12. The Liberty Bowl would kickoff at 3:45 p.m. and would be shown on ESPN.

ESPN’s bowl projections have a little more variety to them. Mark Schlabach has Kentucky playing the Miami Hurricanes in the Music City Bowl. The game would kickoff at 4 p.m. on ESPN on December 30th. Nashville has been a familiar place for Big Blue Nation in the postseason over the last few years and it’s an easy trip for the fanbase. The Hurricanes were a .500 team on the season and finished tied for third in the Coastal Division in the ACC.

The Belk Bowl has come up often for Kentucky as well, including with ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura. The game would kickoff on ESPN at noon from Charlotte on New Year’s Eve. Bonagura has the Wildcats playing Pittsburgh, who finished the year 7-5 and tied with Miami for third in the ACC’s Coastal Division.

With their fourth straight postseason appearance ahead, Lynn Bowden Jr. and Kentucky’s historic rushing attack will be ready to travel anywhere to play anyone. Even with almost a month to prepare, it will still take a lot out of any team to slow the Wildcat’s run game at this point.