Kentucky’s football season is finished. Who and where do the Wildcats play in 2020?
READ MORE
Game day: Kentucky defeats Virginia Tech in Belk Bowl
Click below to read all of the coverage from the Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com after the University of Kentucky’s 37-30 victory over Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl at Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday.
Expand All
The University of Kentucky next year will travel to Auburn, one of three football opponents unique to the 2020 slate from the 2019 schedule.
The Southeastern Conference announced 2020 football schedules Wednesday for all 14 league teams.
UK also will host Eastern Illinois and Kent State in 2020. Kentucky is 7-0 all-time against Kent State, its last win (47-14) coming in 2012 (the Golden Flashes were one of two opponents UK beat that year). It will be the first meeting between UK and Eastern Illinois, an FCS program that plays in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Wildcats will open next season against Eastern Michigan, a Mid-American Conference team whom it will play in week two of this season. Next year’s meeting will be the third in four years between two programs that had never met before 2017 (UK won that year, 24-20).
Kentucky hasn’t played Auburn since 2015, a 30-27 loss in Lexington. The Tigers won the last two meetings between the teams by a combined six points and each of their last three games has been decided by a single-digit margin. UK’s last win in the series, 21-14, came at Auburn in 2009; it broke a 15-game losing streak to the Tigers that went back to 1967.
The SEC hasn’t set its rotation for non-division opponents beyond 2025, so UK after next year wouldn’t play Auburn again until at least 2026.
After opening against Eastern Michigan, UK will get its trip to Gainesville out of the way in week two. It will come back to Lexington for back-to-back home games against Kent State and South Carolina before making the Auburn trip. The Cats then host Eastern Illinois and Vanderbilt in consecutive weeks before traveling to Missouri.
Mississippi State, UK’s permanent opponent from the West Division, will come to Lexington next year. That game is the second of four straight games against FBS opponents to finish the 2020 season following an open date on Oct. 31. UK in the month of November goes to Tennessee, hosts Mississippi State and Georgia, and ends the year at Louisville.
Click here for a complete week-by-week 2020 schedule for the entire SEC.
2020 UK football schedule
Home games in all capital letters. Kickoff times to be announced later.
Sept. 5: EASTERN MICHIGAN
Sept. 12: at Florida
Sept. 19: KENT STATE
Sept. 26: SOUTH CAROLINA
Oct. 3: at Auburn
Oct. 10: EASTERN ILLINOIS
Oct. 17: VANDERBILT
Oct. 24: at Missouri
Oct. 31: Open
Nov. 7: at Tennessee
Nov. 14: MISSISSIPPI STATE
Nov. 21: GEORGIA
Nov. 28: at Louisville
This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 4:58 PM.
