Kentucky Football Bowl Projections after the loss to Georgia
The College Football Playoff is likely out following the loss to Georgia, but Kentucky can still make a very good bowl game. In fact, several national writers still have the Cats in a New Year’s Six bowl. Before we hop into the latest bowl projections, a reminder of the postseason structure.
College Football Playoff
- College Football Playoff Semifinal: Cotton Bowl (Dec. 31, TBA, Arlington, TX)
- College Football Playoff Semifinal: Orange Bowl (Dec. 31, TBA, Miami, FL)
- College Football Playoff National Championship (Jan. 10, TBA, Indianapolis, IN)
Rest of the New Year’s Six Bowls
- Sugar Bowl: SEC vs. Big 12 (Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m., New Orleans, LA)
- Rose Bowl: Big 10 vs. Pac-12 (Jan. 1, 5 p.m., Pasadena, CA)
- Fiesta Bowl: At-large vs. at-large (Jan. 1, 1 p.m., Glendale, AZ)
- Peach Bowl: At-large vs. at-large (Dec. 30, 7 p.m., Atlanta, GA)
From here, teams are assigned to the rest of the bowls. The Citrus Bowl (Jan. 1), Outback Bowl (Jan. 1), and Texas Bowl (Jan. 4) are considered the best of that group.
Kentucky Football Bowl Projections
- ESPN’s Mark Schlabach: Peach Bowl vs. Iowa (Dec. 30, 7 p.m., ESPN, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA)
- ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura: Citrus Bowl vs. Iowa (Jan. 1, 1 p.m., ABC, Camping World Stadium, Orlando, FL)
- Saturday Down South’s Jim Tomlin: Peach Bowl vs. NC State (Dec. 30, 7 p.m., ESPN, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA)
- Brett McMurphy: Sugar Bowl vs. Oklahoma State (Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m., ESPN, Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, LA)
- CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm: Outback Bowl vs. Purdue (Jan. 1, Noon, ESPN2, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL)
- Stewart Mandel: Fiesta Bowl vs. Michigan (Jan. 1, 1 p.m., ESPN, State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ)
- 247 Sports’ Brad Crawford: Citrus Bowl vs. Michigan State (Jan. 1, 1 p.m., ABC, Camping World Stadium, Orlando, FL)
- College Football News: Peach Bowl vs. NC State (Dec. 30, 7 p.m., ESPN, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA)
As Mark Schlabach writes, Kentucky’s next two games (at Mississippi State, vs. Tennessee) will determine its postseason ceiling.
“Even though the Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season, 30-13 at No. 1 Georgia on Saturday, they’re still in great shape because every other team in the SEC East (besides Georgia and Kentucky) has lost at least two games in conference play. Florida already has lost three. So as long as the Wildcats handle business in their next two games, at Mississippi State on Oct. 30 and home against Tennessee the next week, they’ll be in great shape to possibly get to 11-1, which will be more than enough to play in potentially the Allstate Sugar Bowl or another New Year’s Six game.”
New Orleans, Atlanta, or Orlando? I’m going with Nola every time.
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