See you in the Lone Star State? Kentucky now projected to Texas Bowl

Everything is bigger in Texas — including Kentucky bowl games, apparently. Adding a fifth win on the year against Tennessee Tech on Saturday, the Wildcats are just one away from postseason eligibility, needing a single victory at Vanderbilt or Louisville to go bowling.

Several national outlets now believe Mark Stoops and the Wildcats will be able to get it done, including the biggest, with ESPN projecting UK to the Lone Star State. Last week, the worldwide leader had Kentucky going to Memphis for the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. This time around, it’s the Texas Bowl on Saturday, December 27.

Three weeks removed from the blowout loss to Tennessee with hot seat talk dominating all UK football conversations, we’re now shifting toward when and where territory, not if and why. Let’s take a look at the latest projections, shall we?

ESPN

By Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach

Kinder’s Texas Bowl
NRG Stadium (Houston)
9:15 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: Cincinnati vs. Kentucky
Schlabach: Cincinnati vs. Kentucky

The Bearcats are currently 7-3 on the year overall and 5-2 in the Big 12, but coming off back-to-back losses to Utah and Arizona. They’ll take on No. 11 BYU in Cincinnati on Saturday. Could that be the Wildcats’ opponent? That’s the plan for now.

Elsewhere, ESPN says Vanderbilt’s College Football Playoff hopes hinge on the Commodores’ performance against the Wildcats next weekend.

“What about Vanderbilt?” they wrote. “The Commodores can finish 10-2 if they beat Kentucky at home Saturday and Tennessee on the road Nov. 29.”

Athlon Sports

By Steven Lassan

It’s not the Texas Bowl, but Athlon likes ESPN’s projected location for Kentucky from last week and the outlet’s projected opponent this week. Who up, Memphis?

Liberty Bowl (Jan. 2)
Location: Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, Tenn.
Tie-In: Big 12 vs. SEC
Projection: Cincinnati vs. Kentucky

Pro Football Network

by Oliver Hodgkinson

Same bowl, different foe here.

Liberty Bowl
TCU vs. Kentucky

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Elsewhere, Kentucky is not projected to go bowling by CBS Sports and others have not yet released their latest updates. On3’s Brett McMurphy also had the Wildcats in the Texas Bowl in last week’s update, but against the Houston Cougars. We’ll see if that changes this week when his new projections go live.

It’s fun being included in these conversations again, that’s for sure.