Kentucky Football Bowl Projections after the win over LSU

After Saturday’s win over LSU, Kentucky is officially bowl eligible for the sixth straight season; however, as Mark Stoops said in his postgame remarks, the Cats have much bigger dreams in mind. If Kentucky knocks off No. 1 Georgia this weekend in Athens, things really get crazy. Like College Football Playoff crazy. Even if the Cats lose, they have a good chance of making 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 Kyle Bonagura: Fiesta Bowl vs. Coastal Carolina (Jan. 1, 1 p.m., ESPN, Glendale, AZ)
• ESPN’s Mark Schlabach: Citrus Bowl vs. Penn State (Jan. 1, 1 p.m., ABC, Orlando, FL)
• CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm: Citrus Bowl vs. Michigan State (Jan. 1, 1 p.m., ABC, Orlando, FL)
• Saturday Down South’s Jim Tomlin: Peach Bowl vs. NC State (Dec. 30, 7 p.m., ESPN, Atlanta, FL)
• Stewart Mandel: Fiesta Bowl vs. Penn State (Jan. 1, 1 p.m., ESPN, Glendale, AZ)
• 247 Sports’ Brad Crawford: Outback Bowl vs. Nebraska (Jan. 1, Noon, ESPN2, Tampa, FL)
• College Football News: Sugar Bowl vs. Texas (Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m., ESPN, New Orleans, LA)
• Brett McMurphy: Sugar Bowl vs. Oklahoma State (Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m., ESPN, New Orleans, LA)

Last week, Kentucky to the Sugar Bowl was the trendy pick. College Football News and Brett McMurphy still have the Cats ringing in New Year’s in Nola, but most other experts have Alabama in the Sugar Bowl following their loss to Texas A&M. McMurphy still has Alabama in the College Football Playoff, projecting the Crimson Tide to beat Georgia in the SEC Championship to make the top four.

There’s still half a football season to play, but as Stewart Mandel writes, Kentucky will be a very appealing bowl pick thanks to the Big Blue Nation.

Kentucky is going to be the belle of the ball come bowl-selection time because the Wildcats are going to send 40,000 fans wherever they go. That’s why I shipped them to Arizona rather than Atlanta, so the Fiesta Bowl didn’t get stuck with Wake Forest, which might sell 37 tickets. Ohio State (or Penn State) will help compensate in Atlanta.

Stewart Mandel

The College Football Playoff is the obvious dream, but of the New Year’s Six bowls, which would you pick?