How Kentucky football players are drowning out negativity about Music City Bowl
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Music City Bowl preview: Kentucky vs. Iowa
The University of Kentucky football team concludes its 2022 season Saturday against Big Ten rival Iowa in the Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. Click below to view all the stories previewing the game that have been published on Kentucky.com.
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Kentucky football players have clearly heard the complaints.
Among the greatest hits: The Music City Bowl is a letdown in a season that began with dreams of contending in the SEC East, a trip to Nashville is boring considering how often the Wildcats have played there in football or basketball, the game kicking off at the same time as the Kentucky-Louisville men’s basketball rivalry game makes it an afterthought, playing Iowa for a second consecutive season is disappointing and a host of opt outs and transfers send the message that fans should not care about what many view as a glorified exhibition.
To those complaints, senior left tackle and team captain Kenneth Horsey has a passionate response.
“I feel that there’s a lot of taking this bowl game for granted,” he said. “No matter if it’s the fans, the players, everybody has to realize all of this is a blessing. All of this is a gift. If somebody were to tell you you could only go see one more Kentucky game in your life, would you care who we play against? No, because the true fans, the true Kentucky fans love to see us go out there and give our hearts and souls no matter what.
“We could be playing outside in the parking lot at 8 o’clock in the morning. It doesn’t matter. Every time we get to do this is a gift, and we have to understand that.”
Horsey’s outlook on the game offers a stark reminder that while non-playoff bowls might seem like exhibitions to fans and reporters, they still hold significant weight to most of the players suiting up in the game.
But that passion does not mean there are no legitimate reasons for Big Blue Nation to approach the Music City Bowl with less than full enthusiasm.
The Southeastern Conference’s bowl selection process is designed to give schools with the most wins in the league’s mid-tier group of bowls significant say in where they play a bowl game. Kentucky likely could have pushed for the Las Vegas Bowl or Liberty Bowl if it wanted to avoid making fans choose between the Music City Bowl and the Louisville basketball game on New Year’s Eve or play in a game against an opponent it had not already faced in 2022.
Instead, coaches and administrators determined the Dec. 17 date for the Las Vegas Bowl was untenable since it was during an important recruiting weekend before signing day. A long relationship with the Music City Bowl, where Kentucky has played five times previously but only once since 2009, was seen as a selling point rather than a hindrance.
“I know there’s a lot going on that day,” UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said in an appearance on UK’s BBN Radio show this month. “We’ve got a basketball game with Louisville that is obviously pinnacle on the schedule for our men’s basketball program. That’s important to us. We’ve got fans that have bought tickets for that game. We’ve got folks that live down in that region that it’s easy to get to Nashville on the day. I’d really be appreciative (if they do) and I know our players would be, too.”
Since the matchup was announced on Dec. 4, the list of factors working against excitement for the game has only grown.
Quarterback Will Levis, running back Chris Rodriguez and cornerback Carrington Valentine all opted out of the game to begin preparing for the NFL Draft. While most of the 11 Wildcats to enter the transfer portal since the end of the regular season were backups, their departures mean a host of freshmen who barely played in the regular season will likely be needed to fill key roles in the game whether they are ready to play or not. The latest blow came Wednesday when super senior linebacker DeAndre Square confirmed he will not be playing in the game due to “a lingering injury and some personal reasons.”
Iowa’s depth has also been hurt by injuries, transfers and opt-outs. Now, the third-string quarterbacks for both teams are expected to see extensive snaps in a matchup that already pitted two top-20 defenses against two sub-100 offenses.
“We just let the blogs say what they say,” freshman wide receiver Barion Brown said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to go out there and play and we’ve got to go out there and put on a show. So, we’re just kind of blocking out the negativity or whatever it may be and just work hard.”
The logistical challenges presented by the basketball conflict are not limited to fans having to pick which game to attend.
Fans who stay home can double-screen the games with the Music City Bowl airing on ABC and the basketball game airing on CBS. Finding the UK radio broadcasts for each game will be a little more challenging.
In Lexington, UK play-by-play man Tom Leach will have the call of the Music City Bowl on WLAP-AM 630. Darren Headrick will have the call of the basketball game on WBUL-FM 98.1. In Louisville, the bowl will air on WKJK-AM 1080 and the basketball game on WHAS-AM 840. UK radio network affiliates across the state will air the football game broadcast. Both broadcasts are available to stream online at the UK Athletics website.
UK coaches and administrators have pointed to 2017 — when the football team also played in the Music City Bowl on the same day the men’s basketball team played Louisville — as proof fans can manage both games, but the games at least started at different times that year.
The Sugar Bowl, which also starts at noon on Dec. 31, adds further competition for viewers for the bowl.
“This year, I expect Rupp to be packed for the Louisville game and I expect us to sell our allotment of tickets and have a quality group of people there as well,” Stoops said. “There’s enough Kentucky fans to be able to spread it around and support both programs like you always do. Thank you to the BBN and look forward to it once again.”
How many Kentucky fans make the trip to Nashville could have an impact on the game. The Wildcats have a geographic advantage in fan support, but Iowa has never played in the game. A trip to Nashville on New Year’s Eve could be appealing to Hawkeyes fans, making a UK advantage in fan support no sure thing.
Of course, once the game starts, a month of grumbling about the matchup will matter little.
Then, it will be up to players like Horsey and super senior linebacker Jacquez Jones, who told reporters in Nashville this week he would play in the bowl despite missing most of the season with an injury, because he wanted to set an example for his younger teammates, to ensure Kentucky brings energy needed to secure the program’s fifth consecutive bowl win.
Predicting mid-tier bowl outcomes is never easy because so much depends on which team is most motivated once it gets to the bowl site rather than being simply satisfied with a celebratory trip and month of extra practices for development.
That’s where Horsey’s passion could prove essential.
“I think the biggest difference in practices now is that everybody who’s in that room, playing in that bowl game, wants to be there,” Horsey said. “There’s no guys thinking about leaving, there’s no more worrying about the future, there’s no more looking at the past. Everybody who is in there right now is 100% committed to making sure the University of Kentucky is ready to go and that we can win this bowl game.
“I feel like there’s a different type of energy that you can feed off of because everybody that’s there — there’s no vampires. There’s no guys taking the energy out of the room. I think that’s the best feeling about bowl practices because now everybody that’s there wants to be there. I only want to play with guys that want to be there.”
Music City Bowl
Kentucky vs. Iowa
When: Noon Saturday
Where: Nissan Stadium in Nashville
Records: Kentucky (7-5, 3-5 SEC), Iowa (7-5, 5-4 Big Ten)
TV: ABC-36
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WLXG-AM 1300, WLXG-FM 92.5
Series: Kentucky leads 1-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 20-17 on Jan. 1 in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
