Bowl Projections: ESPN puts Kentucky in Charlotte or Houston

As the slow, painful march to actual football continues, we have more bowl projections to discuss. This morning, ESPN’s dynamic duo of Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach shared their guesses on who will be bowling this postseason, and where; Kentucky drew a marquee opponent from both.

Schlabach has the Cats playing the Miami Hurricanes in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, while Schlabach likes the Cats vs. the Oklahoma Sooners in the TaxAct Texas Bowl in Houston. Both games take place on Wednesday, December 27, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl kicking off at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN, followed by the Texas Bowl at 9 p.m.

Miami may not be the program it once was but it would still be cool to play “The U,” and the Duke’s Mayo Bowl is one of the most fun on the scene in recent years — who doesn’t want to see Mark Stoops doused in mayonnaise? Kentucky has had good luck in Bank of America Stadium, beating Virginia Tech 37-30 in the final Belk Bowl in 2019. The next season, Duke’s Mayo took over the bowl’s sponsorship.

Playing Oklahoma in the Texas Bowl would give us our first “Stoops Bowl” and all the fun bets on whether Bob Stoops will don Kentucky Blue for his little brother or Oklahoma Crimson for the Sooners, whom he coached from 1999-2016 (and again for a bowl game in 2021). It would be Kentucky’s first appearance in the Texas Bowl and fourth game vs. Oklahoma. The Cats are 1-2 vs. the Sooners, the lone win coming in the 1951 Sugar Bowl.

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Kentucky Football Preseason Bowl Projections

These are just the latest bowl projections to come out in recent weeks. Yesterday, 247 Sports’ Brad Crawford also sent the Cats to Charlotte to play Duke in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and Brett McMurphy projected Kentucky to play TCU in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 29. CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm also has the Cats walking in Memphis.

• CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm: Liberty Bowl vs. Texas Tech (Dec. 29, Memphis)
• Brett McMurphy: Liberty Bowl vs. TCU (Dec. 29, Memphis)
• ESPN’s Mark Schlabach: Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Miami (Dec. 27, Charlotte)
• ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura: TaxAct Texas Bowl vs. Oklahoma (Dec. 27, Houston)
• 247 Sports’ Brad Crawford: Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Duke (Dec. 27, Charlotte)

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