Kentucky football bowl projections show two trending destinations for the Cats

Kentucky football is officially bowl eligible, but the results of the final three games will say much about where the Wildcats play their postseason showcase.

Upsetting No. 8 Alabama would allow Mark Stoops’ team to dream of a New Year’s Day bowl, likely in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Florida or the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. On the opposite end of the spectrum, losing the final three games might put UK at risk of falling to the SEC’s lowest tier of bowl games to play in the Birmingham Bowl or Gasparilla Bowl.

Finishing the regular season with seven or eight wins would almost certainly place Kentucky in the SEC’s “Pool of Six” bowl tier. Since the league office makes the final decision on those bowls (ReliaQuest, Gator, Texas, Music City, Duke’s Mayo and Liberty), it makes it more difficult to project which bowl Kentucky would play in in that scenario. We can eliminate the Music City Bowl from the list of possible destinations since Kentucky played there last season and the SEC works to avoid repeat trips in its “Pool of Six” assignments, but the other bowls could all be options.

With three games left in the season, national bowl projections have coalesced around a couple of options for Kentucky: the Duke’s Mayo Bowl (Dec. 27; Charlotte, North Carolina) and the Liberty Bowl (Dec. 29; Memphis, Tennessee).

Kentucky has played in both games before. The Wildcats played in Charlotte when the game was still known as the Belk Bowl in 2019. Kentucky played in the Liberty Bowl after the 2008 season.

In the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, UK would face an ACC team. In the Liberty Bowl, it would face a Big 12 squad.

It should be noted that in years where not enough SEC teams have reached bowl eligibility to fill all the “Pool of Six” games, the Liberty Bowl has been the game that replaces its SEC bid with a team from another conference. It appears likely the SEC will have enough eligible teams to fill all six games though.

Tuesday’s College Football Playoff committee rankings have three SEC teams in position for the playoff or other New Year’s Six games (No. 2 Georgia, No. 8 Alabama and No. 9 Ole Miss). In that scenario, the Citrus Bowl, which has first pick of SEC teams after the committee fills the New Year’s Six games, would take No. 13 Tennessee or No. 14 Missouri.

Whichever of those teams the Citrus Bowl did not take would join LSU and Kentucky in the “Pool of Six” tier. Texas A&M, Auburn and Florida could join that group with one more win. Mississippi State needs two more wins for bowl eligibility. Arkansas and South Carolina have to win out to reach the six-win threshold.

Here is a look at where some of those projections see Kentucky playing.

Action Network (Brett McMurphy): Liberty Bowl vs. Kansas State

The Athletic (Scott Dochterman): Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Clemson

Athlon (Steve Lassan): Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Duke

CBS Sports (Jerry Palm): Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Duke

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach): Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. N.C. State or Georgia Tech

FoxSports (Bryan Fischer): Birmingham Bowl vs. Georgia Tech

Sporting News (Bill Bender): Liberty Bowl vs. Kansas State

Next game

No. 8 Alabama at Kentucky

When: Noon Saturday

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Alabama 8-1 (6-0 SEC), Kentucky 6-3 (3-3)

Series: Alabama leads 38-2-1

Last meeting: Alabama won 63-3 on Nov. 21, 2020, in Tuscaloosa

This story was originally published November 8, 2023 at 7:58 AM.

Jon Hale

Lexington Herald-Leader

(859) 414-6776

Jon Hale is the University of Kentucky football beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the Herald-Leader in 2022 but has covered UK athletics for more than 10 years. Hale was named the 2021 Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year. Support my work with a digital subscription