Bowl Projections: Kentucky takes on national runner-up
Kentucky is becoming a trendy pick to play in Memphis for some postseason football. After Jerry Palm of CBS Sports projected the Wildcats to make the AutoZone Liberty Bowl earlier this month, another popular outlet is now doing the same.
On Monday morning, Action Network’s Brett McMurphy unveiled his first weekly bowl projections for the upcoming 2023 season, which begins with Week 0 this Saturday. In it, McMurphy predicts the matchups for all 41 bowl games this winter, where he pits Kentucky against last season’s national runner-up TCU in the Liberty Bowl scheduled for Dec. 29 in Memphis, TN. McMurphy also has odds for this matchup — UK is a 7-point favorite to beat the Horned Frogs.
The last time Kentucky played in the Liberty Bowl was back in the 2008 season when head coach Rich Brooks led the Wildcats to a 26-19 victory over East Carolina — the program’s third consecutive bowl game win at the time.
Throughout the lengthy history of college football, Kentucky and TCU have only faced off once before — also in the postseason. The 1952 Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas, TX featured the Wildcats and Horned Frogs, both top 15 teams in the country entering the game. Coached by Bear Bryant with Babe Parilli at quarterback, UK won 20-7 with roughly 75,000 people in attendance. That would be the last time that Kentucky made a bowl game until the 1976 Peach Bowl.
If Kentucky were to play in a bowl game again in 2023, it would be the eighth consecutive year the program has reached the postseason — extending the current school record. The Wildcats are 4-3 in bowl games under head coach Mark Stoops, including two Citrus Bowl victories in 2018 and 2021.
Looking at the rest of the SEC, McMurphy has 12 total teams from the conference making bowl games, including Georgia in the semifinal and national title game for the third year in a row. Only Vanderbilt and Missouri failed to receive bowl game bids.
- Gasparilla Bowl (Dec. 22): South Carolina vs. BYU (-1)
- Birmingham Bowl (Dec. 23): Kansas vs. Florida (-2.5)
- Duke’s Mayo Bowl (Dec. 27): Ole Miss (-11.5) vs. Miami [FL]
- TaxAct Texas Bowl (Dec. 27): Mississippi State vs. Oklahoma (-6)
- TaxSlayer Gator Bowl (Dec. 29): Auburn (PK) vs. Louisville
- AutoZone Liberty Bowl (Dec. 29): Kentucky (-7) vs. TCU
- Music City Bowl (Dec. 30): Arkansas (-3) vs. Illinois
- ReliaQuest Bowl (Jan. 1): Notre Dame (-1.5) vs. Texas A&M
- Cheez-It Citrus Bowl (Jan. 1): Tennessee vs. Wisconsin (-6)
- Goodyear Cotton Bowl (Dec. 29): Texas Tech vs. LSU (-4.5)
- VRBO Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 1): Washington (-0.5) vs. Alabama
- Allstate Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1): Georgia (-5.5) vs. Ohio State
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