The University of Kentucky football team has returned to post-season play for the first time in seven years by accepting an invitation to the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, Presented by Bridgestone.
The game will be Friday, Dec. 29, at 1 p.m. EST (noon CST in Nashville) at LP Field, home of the NFL?s Tennessee Titans, and the game will be televised live by ESPN. The Wildcats will take on the Clemson Tigers of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“Our players, coaches, and fans are thrilled to be going to the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl,” said Mitch Barnhart, UK Director of Athletics. “Nashville is such a great city, and our fans have shown time and time again how much they enjoy visiting there. I’m so happy that the hard work and effort put forth by our football team is being rewarded appropriately. It is going to be a great matchup and I’m sure the Big Blue Nation will descend upon Nashville in force to support the Wildcats.”
Kentucky went 7-5 during the 2006 regular season, tying for third place in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division with a 4-4 league mark. The Wildcats finished the season by winning four of their last five games, with victories over Mississippi State, Georgia, Vanderbilt, and Louisiana-Monroe, plus a narrow loss at Tennessee in the finale.
In returning to the bowl picture, UK also will be returning to the site of its last post-season game as the Wildcats played in the 1999 Music City Bowl. UK’s last appearance in Nashville generated a then-record crowd of 59,221 – almost all of them clad in blue and white as the Wildcat fans dominated the ranks.
This will be the 11th post-season appearance in school history, with the Wildcats carrying a 5-5 record in bowl games. Kentucky leads the all-time series vs. Clemson, 7-4, but the Tigers prevailed in the most recent meeting, a 14-13 Clemson win in the 1993 Peach Bowl.
Kentucky fans already have indicated their eagerness to go to Nashville. A pre-sale of tickets for UK, season-ticket holders, and K-Fund members generated more than 20,000 ticket purchases last week. Additional ticket information will be released as soon as it is available.
