The Athletic projects Kentucky football to the Music City Bowl

The Kentucky football program is no stranger to the Music City Bowl over the last two-plus decades. Could the Wildcats make another trip to Nashville this winter?

The Athletic sure thinks so. On Tuesday, staff writers Stewart Mandel and Scott Dochterman unveiled their college football bowl projections for the 2022 season ahead of a loaded Week 1 schedule this weekend. They rattled through all 40-plus postseason bowl games, picking Kentucky to make the Music City Bowl for the sixth time since 1999. The Wildcats are expected to play Penn State on Dec. 31.

The only person I know who is a bigger bowl projections geek than me is ⁦@ScottDochterman⁩. So this year we are teaming up.

Preseason edition is here. https://t.co/jimK05MeIx

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) August 30, 2022

The Athletic has two fellow Southeastern Conference teams in Alabama and Georgia making the College Football Playoff, with Texas A&M sneaking into a New Year’s Six matchup against Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl. But it’s Tennessee, not Kentucky, coming in as The Athletic’s SEC representative in the Citrus Bowl, which UK has won twice over the last four years.

Kentucky has played in the Music City Bowl five times since the postseason event was established in 1998. The ‘Cats lost in 1999 to Syracuse before winning back-to-back Music City Bowls under head coach Rich Brooks in 2006 and 2007. Two years later, UK would fall in the 2009 Music City Bowl to Clemson. It wasn’t until 2017 that Kentucky returned to the game, falling to No. 20 Northwestern 24-23 in what was Mark Stoops’ second bowl game appearance.

Earlier this month, two ESPN writers provided a different opinion, with both of them predicting another Citrus Bowl opportunity for Kentucky.

You can see all of The Atheltic’s postseason bowl game predictions by clicking the link here.

Kentucky Football’s Bowl History in the Stoops Era

Kentucky’s streak of six straight bowls under Stoops is the longest in school history. The ‘Cats have won four straight bowl games, which ties them with Texas for the longest active bowl-winning streak.

• Dec. 31, 2016: Tax Slayer Bowl – Georgia Tech 33, Kentucky 18
• Dec. 29, 2017: Music City Bowl – Northwestern 24, Kentucky 23
• Jan. 1, 2019: Citrus Bowl – Kentucky 27, Penn State 24
• Dec. 31, 2019: Belk Bowl – Kentucky 37, Virginia Tech 30
• Jan. 2, 2021: Gator Bowl – Kentucky 23, NC State 21
• Jan. 1, 2022: Citrus Bowl – Kentucky 20, Iowa 17