When is kentuckys bowl game

A pair of top-25 programs will get together for the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day when the No. 15 Iowa Hawkeyes take on the No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats from Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET and the game will air on ABC.

Índice Show

Citrus Bowl info: Iowa vs. Kentucky
How to watch Citrus Bowl
Latest Kentucky football bowl projections

Iowa (10-3, 7-2 Big Ten) is as one-sided of a team as you’ll find in college football with a very good defense and an offense that can be incredibly difficult to watch. The Hawkeyes rank among the best in the country defensively in yards per play against FBS opponents, while their offense ranks as one of the worst. Iowa won an underwhelming Big Ten West, but the Hawkeyes were dominated by the Michigan Wolverines 42-3 in the conference title game.

Kentucky (9-3, 5-3 SEC) claimed the No. 2 spot in the SEC East, and the floor continues to rise for this program under Mark Stoops. The Wildcats’ strengths came on offense this season especially with their running game that was among the best nationally in yards per rush attempt. Kentucky has a significant offensive advantage in this matchup with a full regular season sample size.

Citrus Bowl info: Iowa vs. Kentucky

Date: Saturday, January 1st
Kick off time: 1:00 p.m. ET
TV channel: ABC
Current line on DraftKings Sportsbook: Kentucky -3

16. Mark Stoops, Kentucky: $5,263,600 Syndication The Courier Journal

Mark Stoops will face his alma mater in the Citrus Bowl, according to a report from Brett McMurphy of The Action Network, as the Wildcats look to finish off this strong season against Iowa. This will be the first meeting b

etween the programs.

Iowa is the alma matter of Stoops, where he played safety from 1986-1988. He got his first coaching gig at Iowa as a graduate assistant in 1990.

This will be the second time in the last 4 seasons the Wildcats will play in the Citrus Bowl. They defeated Penn State 27-24 to cap off the 2

018 season.

The Citrus Bowl has had its eye on Kentucky for a while, as Steve Hogan, the CEO of the bowl game, has said that UK, Arkansas and Texas A&M were among the SEC teams in the mix. Iowa lost to Michigan in the Big Ten Championship game on Saturday, to fall to 10-3 on the season. The Hawkeyes w

ere ranked as high as No. 2 in the country in October, and then won 4 straight, but its offense has sputtered for most of the season.

Kentucky was ranked No. 22 and Iowa No. 15 in the final CFP rankings.

Mark Stoops: SEC gauntlet has forged Kentucky football's physical style

Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops credited the rigors of playing in the SEC for the physical style that has led his team to dominate Louisville.

LEXINGTON - Mark Stoops will face a familiar foe in Kentucky football's bowl game.

The No. 22 Wildcats will return to the Citrus Bowl for the second time in four years for a matchup with No. 15 Iowa football, the program where Stoops played from 1986 to 1989. The Citrus Bowl, which has first pick of SEC and Big Ten teams after the playoff committee fills the New Year's Six bowls, took Kentucky over Arkansas and Texas A&M.

Kentucky will play in its sixth consecutive bowl game. The Wildcats have won their last three bowl games, including last season's victory over NC State in the Gator Bowl to cap a 5-6 season. The streak started with a win over Penn State in the Citrus Bowl following the 2018 season.

"Mark has done just a phenomenal job with the program there," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "Little personal aspect to it, but it’s going to be a great thrill for us to compete against their football team. We’ll have our hands full, I’m sure of that.”

With a win in the bowl, UK would secure just the third-double digit win season in program history.

"Obviously like most people, naturally I want 10, 11," Stoops said after UK's regular season finale. "That’s human nature. We all want more, but we’re just going to keep on working. We’re going to keep on growing the program, we’re going to keep on recruiting.

"I told you in the summer we were on the right track and I felt good about this team."

A New Year's Day bowl game would represent a successful end to a season had fans dreaming of a possible berth in the playoff after a 6-0 start but had lost almost all its momentum after three consecutive losses to Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee.

Kentucky football recruiting: Syracuse wide receiver transfer Taj Harris decommits from UK

Kentucky bounced back with wins over overmatched foes Vanderbilt and New Mexico State in November then closed the regular season on a high note with a 52-21 blowout of Louisville in the Governor's Cup rivalry game.

The bowl game should give Kentucky an opportunity to rewrite the narrative of its season.

October wins over Florida and LSU were thought to be marquee victories at the time, but both of those teams have struggled down the stretch and ended up firing their coaches. Kentucky did not beat an FBS team in the regular season with a winning record, but it did beat five teams eligible for a bowl game at 6-6.

A berth in a high-profile New Year's Day bowl, which will be televised on ABC, could help provide momentum in advance of signing day later this month. Kentucky's 2022 recruiting class is currently ranked 16th nationally by the 247Sports Composite and the Wildcats are still pursuing several high-profile transfers.

Kentucky football: Mark Stoops agrees to contract extension through 2027 season

But most of the attention leading up to the game is like to center around Stoops, who earlier this week agreed in principle to a contract extension with Kentucky.

Stoops agreed to his extension amid reports listing him as a possible candidate for the open jobs at LSU, Florida and Oklahoma, but he has also been mentioned as a logical candidate to replace Ferentz whenever college football's longest-tenured coach decides to retire.

Stoops was a three-year letterman at Iowa (1987-89) and started his coaching career as a graduate assistant for legendary Iowa coach Hayden Fry (1990-91). Ferentz was an offensive line coach for the Hawkeyes while Stoops was a player.

In an interview with The Courier Journal earlier this week, Citrus Bowl CEO Steve Hogan denied setting up the Stoops-vs.-Iowa matchup was a consideration in the bowl's selections, but he acknowledged the bowl would promote that storyline if the two teams were picked.

"His connection in that case would be fun, for sure, but that’s not one that goes, ‘OK, here it is, that’s the reason to do this,'" Hogan said. "It’s just one you’d have fun with once you actually put that matchup together."

How to watch Citrus Bowl

Date: Jan. 1 (Orlando, Florida)

Time: 1 p.m.

TV: ABC

Streaming: WatchESPN

This story will be updated.

Email Jon Hale at ; Follow him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.

Mark Stoops: SEC gauntlet has forged Kentucky football's physical style

Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops credited the rigors of playing in the SEC for the physical style that has led his team to dominate Louisville.

NOTE: The Citrus Bowl confirmed Sunday afternoon it had selected Kentucky to face Iowa in its game. For more about the matchup, read here.

LEXINGTON - Big Blue Nation will learn where Kentucky football is bowling Sunday afternoon.

Alabama, Michigan, Georgia and Cincinnati were revealed as the four College Football Playoff teams shortly after noon on ESPN. The network will reveal the rest of the playoff committee's final top 25 ranking and the New Year's Six bowl assignments at 2:30 p.m.

From there, the rest of the bowl games will be free to announce their selections.

Kentucky should not have to wait long to learn where it is bowling after the top 25 is announced. With Alabama and Georgia both in the playoff, Ole Miss will be the SEC's representative in the Sugar Bowl. The Citrus Bowl, which has first pick of SEC teams after the New Year's Six games are filled, is expected to pick between Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas A&M.

"We feel like we can’t lose, honestly,” Citrus Bowl CEO Steve Hogan told the Courier Journal earlier this week. “I know you hear that a lot, but you feel like you can’t lose with any one of those three.”

Kentucky football bowl projections: How the Citrus Bowl will pick between Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas A&M

Arkansas (8-4, 4-4) was ranked highest of the three teams in last week's CFP ranking at No. 22, but Kentucky (9-3, 5-3) checked in just one spot below at No. 23 and has one more win than the Razorbacks. Thanks to Arkansas's September win over No. 25 Texas A&M (8-4, 4-4), the Aggies are a long shot for the Citrus Bowl.

If the Citrus Bowl, scheduled for New Year's Day in Orlando, Florida, picks Arkansas over Kentucky, the Wildcats will almost certainly play in the Outback Bowl, scheduled for New Year's Day in Tampa, Florida.

The Outback Bowl is part of the SEC's "Pool of Six" games (Outback, Gator, Texas, Music City, Duke's Mayo and Liberty). The league assigns teams to games in the pool, but takes into account the preferences of both schools and the bowls while working to avoid repeat matchups and trips.

As the SEC's only 9-win and highest-ranked team available at that point, Kentucky should have first pick of its destination. UK coach Mark Stoops has been clear since the blowout of rival Louisville to close the regular season that his program was aiming for a New Year's Day bowl in Florida. The Outback Bowl would be the last option to fulfill that goal.

Both the Citrus Bowl and Outback Bowl would match Kentucky against a Big Ten team.

Kentucky football bowl projections: Will the Citrus Bowl pick UK? Comparing resumes with Arkansas, Texas A&M

Kentucky will play in its sixth consecutive bowl game. The Wildcats have won their last three bowl games, including last season's win over NC State in the Gator Bowl to cap a 5-6 season.

With a win in the bowl, UK would secure just the third-double digit win season in program history.

Kentucky bounced back with wins over overmatched foes Vanderbilt and New Mexico State then closed the regular season on a high note with a 52-21 blowout of Louisville in the Governor's Cup rivalry game.

The bowl game should give Kentucky an important opportunity to rewrite the narrative of its season.