Kentucky's Bowl Projections after the Georgia loss

After the Florida win, Kentucky’s bowl projections trended up, with the Cotton Bowl even being mentioned as a potential postseason destination. A humbling loss to No. 1 Georgia later and Kentucky is back down a rung in most bowl projections. The Duke’s Mayo Bowl is now the popular choice among the talking heads, with the Liberty Bowl and TaxAct Texas Bowl not far behind. The Cats need just one more win to become bowl-eligible for the eighth straight season.

Kentucky Football Bowl Projections After Week 6

• ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura: Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Miami (Dec. 27, 5:30 PM, ESPN, Charlotte, NC)
• ESPN’s Mark Schlabach: Liberty Bowl vs. Kansas State (Dec. 29, 3:30 PM, ESPN, Memphis, TN)
• Brett McMurphy: TaxAct Texas Bowl vs. Oklahoma State (Dec. 27, 9:00 PM, ESPN, Houston, TX)
• CBS Sports: Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Duke (Dec. 27, 5:30 PM, ESPN, Charlotte, NC)
• College Football News: TaxAct Texas Bowl vs. Kansas (Dec. 27, 9:00 PM, ESPN, Houston, TX)
• Athlon Sports: Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Duke (Dec. 27, 5:30 PM, ESPN, Charlotte, NC)
• 247 Sports’ Brad Crawford: Liberty Bowl vs. UCF (Dec. 29, 3:30 PM, ESPN, Memphis, TN)

As Brad Crawford writes, Kentucky’s fate is truly in its own hands entering the second half of the season. He was the one to project the Cats to the Cotton Bowl last week; now, he has them facing Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl on Friday, December 29.

“Will the Wildcats fade after Saturday’s humbling loss to Georgia or can the season still be salvaged with a potential nine-win (or more) finish? That’s going to be up to the Wildcats, who still have to play Missouri, Alabama and Louisville, among other quality opponents, down the stretch. UCF is now 0-3 in the Big 12 and is open next week before going to unbeaten Oklahoma.”

How appropriate is it that the Cats play a team from the Show Me state on Saturday?

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Kentucky still Top 25 in the National Rankings

Saturday’s 51-13 loss to Georgia didn’t hurt Kentucky as much as I thought it would in the AP and Coaches Polls. The Cats are still ranked, moving down four spots to No. 24 in the AP Poll and three spots to No. 23 in the Coaches Poll. Missouri, which lost to LSU on Saturday, is No. 26 in the AP Poll and No. 25 in the Coaches Polls. Kentucky is down five spots to No. 23 in CBS Sports’ ranking of all 133 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and four spots to No. 25 in The Athletic’s version.

Here’s a rundown of where the Cats and their opponents stand in all the national rankings. Each of the remaining foes is in the Top 50 in all but one (CBS Sports has Mississippi State No. 59). Louisville is way up after the big win over Notre Dame.

Team	AP	Coaches	ESPN FPI	CBS Sports	The Athletic
Kentucky	24	23	38	23	25
Ball State	NR	NR	125	128	131
EKU	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Akron	NR	NR	133	130	130
Vanderbilt	NR	NR	103	91	101
Florida	NR	RV	34	34	29
Georgia	1	1	4	2	1
Missouri	26	25	37	25	23
Tennessee	19	17	17	21	30
Mississippi State	NR	NR	50	59	48
Alabama	11	10	3	12	10
South Carolina	NR	NR	36	48	46
Louisville	14	15	21	13	13

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