UK Fans of the Day Want Updated Kentucky Bowl Projections

Following the loss to South Carolina, some national media members took Kentucky out of their bowl projections. After seeing the Cats almost knock off No. 1 Georgia, all of the pundits now believe they’ll reach the six-win mark. That’s progress, right?

Kentucky is back in all of the major bowl projections this morning. Where the Cats will potentially spend the postseason is the biggest question. How do you feel about Houston on New Year’s Eve, which could potentially conflict with the men’s basketball game vs. Brown? What about a late-night kick vs. Arizona in Las Vegas? Or the always-reliable Music City Bowl?

• Brett McMurphy: Texas Bowl vs. Iowa State (Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m., ESPN, Houston)
• ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura: Birmingham Bowl vs. Rutgers (Dec. 27, Noon or 3:30 p.m., ESPN, Birmingham)
• ESPN’s Mark Schlabach: Music City Bowl vs. Iowa (Dec. 30, 2:30 p.m., ESPN, Nashville)
• Brad Crawford: Las Vegas Bowl vs. Arizona (Dec. 27, 10:30 p.m., ESPN, Las Vegas)
• CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm: Liberty Bowl vs. UCF (Dec. 27, 7 p.m., ESPN, Memphis)

Kentucky is currently 1-2. The Georgia game showed the Cats are better than the squad that lost to South Carolina. Beating Ohio and Murray State will get Kentucky halfway to six wins. From there, they’ll need to win at least two of three vs. Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Louisville at home and beat a struggling Florida team in the Swamp. Upsets on the road vs. Ole Miss, Tennessee, and/or Texas don’t seem completely unrealistic after the Cats went toe-to-toe with Georgia.

The path to six wins is there, but the margin for error is thin. Kentucky can’t afford another clunker.

• Aug. 31: Southern Miss – 7:45 PM, SEC Network – 31-0 W
• Sep. 7: South Carolina – 3:30 PM, ABC – 31-6 L
• Sep. 14: Georgia – 7:30 PM, ABC – 13-12 L
• Sep. 21: Ohio – 12:45 PM, SEC Network
• Sep. 28: at Ole Miss – 12:00 PM, ABC or ESPN
• Oct. 12: Vanderbilt – TBA
• Oct. 19: at Florida – TBA
• Oct. 26: Auburn – TBA
• Nov. 2: at Tennessee – TBA
• Nov. 16: Murray State – 1:30 PM, SEC Network+/ESPN+
• Nov. 23: at Texas – TBA
• Nov. 30: Louisville – TBA

2024 SEC Bowl Ties/Affiliations

If Kentucky does make it to six wins, what bowl will they draw? Let’s revisit the SEC’s bowl ties/affiliations for this season. This year, the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, including the top five conference champions and the next seven at-large teams. You can assume at least a few SEC teams will be among that group. The SEC and Big Ten alternate between the Las Vegas Bowl (2020, 2022, 2024) and Duke’s Mayo Bowl (2021, 2023, 2025); this is the SEC’s year to send a team to Sin City.

Here is the pecking order:

• College Football Playoff
• Cheez-It Citrus Bowl vs Big Ten
• Pool of 6:
  • AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs Big 12
  • Las Vegas Bowl vs Former Pac-12
  • ReliaQuest Bowl vs Big Ten or ACC
  • TaxAct Texas Bowl vs Big 12 
  • TaxSlayer Gator Bowl vs ACC
  • TransPerfect Music City Bowl vs Big Ten
• If needed:
  • Birmingham Bowl vs American Athletic
  • Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl vs AAC or ACC