Kentucky will play Iowa in the VRBO Citrus Bowl, per report

The Big Blue Nation will ring in the New Year by partying like it’s 2019. The VRBO Citrus Bowl will host Kentucky and Iowa on Jan. 1, 2022, in sunny Orlando, Florida. ABC will broadcast the game at 1 pm ET.

Brett McMurphy of The Action Network broke the news. We’ll have to wait until later this afternoon before an official confirmation is announced.

Kentucky finished the 2021 regular season 9-3 in sole possession of second place in the SEC East. They will take on Iowa, the winners of the Big Ten West that fell 42-3 to Michigan in Saturday’s Big Ten Championship Game.

Outside of the New Year’s Six, the VRBO Citrus Bowl gets the first pick of SEC teams. It is the most prestigious and most-watched non-New Year’s Six bowl game in America. The last time Stoops won nine games at Kentucky, the Wildcats ended the season by crowning Benny Snell as the school’s all-time leading rusher in a 27-24 victory over Penn State.

Mark Stoops’ Alma Mater

Like his older brothers, Mark Stoops attended the University of Iowa to play for legendary head coach Hayden Fry. The youngest Stoops was a Hawkeye from 1986-88. The defensive back picked off a pair of passes during his career. Hopefully ESPN can dig through the archives to find an old highlight or two from Stoops. Kinnick Stadium is also where his coaching career began as a graduate assistant in 1990.

The last time UK beat Florida (1986) Mark Stoops was a freshman at Iowa. pic.twitter.com/z66B4F6JAX

— Lee K. Howard (@HowardWKYT) September 19, 2015

Citrus Bowl Tickets

You can purchase your tickets to Camping World Stadium by visiting UKFootballTix.com to ensure you are with the rest of the Wildcat fans in the stands. Tickets are also available through the bowl game at Ticketmaster.com.

The seventh-oldest collegiate bowl game in America, you can learn more about the event by visiting CitrusBowlOrlando.com.