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UPDATE
It’s official. The No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats will face the No. 25 Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2022 VRBO Citrus Bowl. Read more about the game here.
After a 9-3 regular season finish, the Kentucky Wildcats have learned their bowl destination.
According to college football insider Brett McMurphy, Kentucky will play in the Citrus Bowl vs. the Iowa Hawkeyes. It will be the first time these programs have faced each other.
This bowl kicks off at 1 pm ET on Jan 1st, 2022. It takes place at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. ABC will have TV coverage. You can read more about the bowl at its official website. You can read more about Camping World Stadium here.
This will be the first time Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops faces his alma mater. He was a defensive back for the Hawkeyes from 1986-88, then began his coaching career as a grad assistant for the program from 1990-91.
Kentucky enters the game following the program’s second nine-win regular season in the last four seasons after not reaching that mark since 1977. It was capped off by a 52-21 win over the Louisville Cardinals in the Governor’s Cup in the regular season finale.
The Wildcats also finished in sole possession of second place in the SEC East for the first time ever since the divisions were implemented in 1992.
Iowa enters the game at 10-3 following a 42-3 loss to the Michigan Wolverines in the Big Ten Championship. It’s the seventh time the Hawkeyes won 10+ games since Kirk Ferentz became the school’s head coach in 1999.
Both Kentucky and Iowa enter the game riding three-game winning streaks in bowl games, though the Hawkeyes’ Music City Bowl berth last season was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.
See you in Orlando, #BBN!
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) December 5, 2021
We are @CitrusBowl bound where we will play @HawkeyeFootball on New Year's Day. https://t.co/RyZuK0tVt9 pic.twitter.com/Mko1lLvgHU
Interestingly, neither program has ever won four straight bowl games, so history will be made for whoever wins the Citrus Bowl.
One of Kentucky’s bowl wins came in the 2018 Citrus Bowl vs. Penn State. The Wildcats also beat Virginia Tech in the 2019 Belk Bowl and No. 23 NC State in last season’s Gator Bowl.
As far as tickets go, here is where you can get them:
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