Kentucky is Headed to Music City Bowl to Play Northwestern
By Drew Koch
The Kentucky will face off against Northwestern in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl.
The Wildcats will head to Nashville to do battle with another group of Wildcats. Kentucky will go head-to-head against Northwestern in the Music City Bowl. This will be Kentucky’s fifth trip to the Music City Bowl, the most frequently played bowl game in the school’s history.
Kentucky last went to Nashville for a bowl game in 2009 when the Rich Brooks’ led squad fell to Clemson 21-13. Then-freshman quarterback Morgan Newton threw for Kentucky’s only touchdown in that game, a 17-yard strike to Chris Matthews.
Kentucky will enter the game on a bit of a late-season collapse. After beating Tennessee 29-26 and improving their record to 6-2, the Wildcats would lose 3 of their next 4 games. Losses to Mississippi, Georgia and Louisville put on damper on what could have been an opportunity to improve on last year’s regular season mark of 7-5. Kentucky’s only win in that stretch came against Vanderbilt.
The Wildcats will be looking for their first bowl game win since the 2008 Liberty Bowl. The Cats have lost 3 straight bowl games, including last season’s 33-18 loss in the TaxSlayer Bowl to Georgia Tech.
The Northwestern Wildcats are one of the hottest teams in college football. They have won seven straight games and are ranked No. 20 in the AP Top 25 and No. 21 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Northwestern is 9-3 on the season and have defeated No. 16 Michigan State and the Iowa Hawkeyes, who boat raced Ohio State earlier this season.
The Music City Bowl is Friday, December 29, 2017 at Nissan Field in Nashville, Tennessee. Kickoff is set for 4:30 PM.