Author
Christopher Boan is a staff writer for BetKentucky.com. He has covered sports and sports betting for more than seven years and has worked for publications such as ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
Kentucky Football Bowl Projections: Odds For Wildcats’ 2024-25 Bowl Game
The Kentucky Wildcats enter the stretch run with their backs against the wall, as Mark Stoops’ squad stands at 3-6 for the year and in need of finishing the year with three straight wins to extend the program’s bowl game streak to nine years in Lexington.
Fresh off the team’s bye week and amid a four-game losing streak that’s seen UK fall to the likes of Vanderbilt, Florida, Auburn and Tennessee by a combined total of 59 points, the Wildcats host FCS foe Murray State this weekend before finishing the year against No. 5 Texas (in Austin on Nov. 23) and No. 22 Louisville (at home on Nov. 30).
At BetKentucky.com, your trusted source for Kentucky sports betting coverage, we developed exclusive odds on which bowl game the Kentucky Wildcats could play in based on the team’s latest performance.
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Where Will Kentucky Play This Bowl Season?
Bowl | Location | Conference Opponent | Odds | Percentage Chance |
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl | Tampa, FL | Vs. AAC | +1750 | 5.4% |
Birmingham Bowl | Birmingham, AL | Vs. ACC | +1850 | 5.1% |
The Field/No Bowl |
|
| -850 | 89.5% |
Odds provided by BetKentucky and not available at Kentucky betting apps.
While it looks more and more likely that Kentucky will not reach the six wins needed to qualify for a bowl game in 2024, there are two options for UK to play in should the Wildcats win out and finish the season with a 6-6 record by knocking off the Racers, Longhorns and Cardinals in succession.
That’s why we give UK -850 odds of finishing 5-7 or worse and missing out entirely this bowl season, with +1750 odds that the Wildcats head to Tampa to play against a team from the American Athletic Conference in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl.
Throw in +1850 odds of having the Wildcats play an ACC foe in the Birmingham Bowl and you have the full rundown of where we see UK this bowl season, illustrating how far the Wildcats have fallen this year in the school’s first season competing in the expanded, 16-team Southeastern Conference.
Kentucky last played a bowl game in Tampa in 1998, when Hal Mumme led UK to the Outback Bowl, only to fall to Penn State (26-14) to cap off a 7-5 campaign in Lexington, while UK’s last trip to Birmingham for a bowl game was the 2010 BBVA Compass Bowl under head coach Joker Phillips, which the Wildcats lost to Pitt, 27-10.
Kentucky Bowl Game History
Year | Bowl | Result |
2023 | Gator Bowl | Loss, 38-35 against Clemson |
2022 | Music City Bowl | Loss, 21-0 against Iowa |
2021 | Citrus Bowl | Win, 20-17 against Iowa |
2020 | Gator Bowl | Win, 23-21 against NC State |
2019 | Belk Bowl | Win, 37-30 against Virginia Tech |
As stated earlier, Kentucky’s recent bowl game track record is pretty hit-or-miss, with wins in four straight postseason contests from 2018 to 2021, followed by a pair of losses in 2022 and 2023 in Nashville and Jacksonville.
In total, Stoops has gone 4-4 in bowl games as the head coach of the Wildcats, with the longtime CFB leader hoping to add a fifth this winter, as UK tries to improve upon their 7-6 record in each of the last two seasons in Lexington.
Also of interest: Kentucky 2024 Win Total: Trends of 6.5 Win Total Teams.
USA Today photo by Jeff Faughender.
Kentucky Bowl Odds FAQs
Kentucky is currently projected to miss out on bowl eligibility as reaching 6 wins seems unlikely.
The Wildcats do not yet have enough wins to be bowl eligible. Their most recent bowl game was in the 2023 Gator Bowl loss against Clemson.
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