Kentucky bowl projections after beating New Mexico State

The Kentucky football program is likely heading to Tampa for the Wildcats’ holiday season bowl.

With a convincing Week 12 victory over the New Mexico State Aggies, the Kentucky football team improves to 8-3 on the year, vying for a high-quality, mid-tier bowl game.

Kentucky has a good opportunity to get to 9-3 on the season if the Wildcats defeat the in-state rival Louisville Cardinals on Thanksgiving Weekend. For the better part of Mark Stoops’ run in Lexington, the Wildcats have been a perennial bowl team in the SEC East. If they win their next two games, Kentucky will finish the year with 10 wins. They will face a tough test in January.

Here are the latest bowl projections as to where Kentucky will be playing this holiday season.

Kentucky bowl projections have Wildcats playing Iowa in the Outback Bowl

The consensus has Kentucky facing the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Outback Bowl. This is the exact matchup USA TODAY Sports has for Kentucky. Sporting News has the same matchup as well. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach agrees with USA TODAY Sports and Sporting News.

While his colleague Kyle Bonagura has Kentucky playing NC State in the Gator Bowl, CBS Sports has the Wildcats in the Outback Bowl but playing Wisconsin from the Big Ten instead.

The 2022 Outback Bowl will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Jan. 1. Kickoff will be at 12:00 p.m. ET. It will air on ESPN2 and the ESPN app. As it is annually, the Outback Bowl has an SEC team going up against a Big Ten team. Though not a New Year’s Six bowl, this is one the better, more high-profile games played in the latter part of bowl season.

Though there is still another week left to play, Big Blue Nation is likely heading to Tampa, Florida.

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