Date: Saturday, December 31 Sport Time: 12:00 ET Venue: Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN How To Watch: ABC Report: Kentucky (7-5), Iowa (7-5) – Join and dwell stream school soccer on ESPN+
Kentucky vs Iowa TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl 5 Issues To Know
TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Occur, Historical past
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– Two groups with a bunch of gamers carrying Iowa and Kentucky uniforms will run onto the sphere, and a recreation of soccer will likely be performed. After that, good luck making an attempt to determine what that is going to be.
Kentucky gained’t have its prime guys within the backfield – QB Will Levis is on the point of presumably be the No. 1 total decide within the NFL Draft, and heart-and-soul RB Chris Rodriguez isn’t going to play, both. It goes on from there with the depth taking successful together with just a few elements on the defensive aspect.
Iowa is making an attempt to determine its offense, too, with out considered one of its regular quarterbacks anticipated to be round for an offense that wasn’t precisely rocking and rolling to start with.
There are sufficient common starters for each groups to make this fascinating, nevertheless it’s going to be a bit rocky, particularly as a result of …
– Iowa had the second-worst offense in school soccer. There wasn’t any passing recreation, scoring was like pulling tooth, and there’s a rumor the assault transformed on a 3rd down. Even so, the protection was incredible – a slew of the principle males are speculated to be round – and the O managed to not screw it up over a five-game profitable streak within the second half of the yr.
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Kentucky’s offense wasn’t an entire lot higher because of a ragged offensive line, the protection couldn’t generate a move rush, and but all of it labored in a Kentucky kind of technique to get right here. That’s not a knock as a result of …
– Kentucky has been nice in bowl video games below Mark Stoops. UK misplaced 4 straight bowls – with Stoops dropping his first two – after which got here the run of 4 nice performances in bowl wins over the past 4 years. That features final season’s 20-17 Citrus Bowl win over …
– Iowa was a catastrophe in bowls from 2011 to 2016, after which all of it turned with three good wins highlighted by a 49-24 whacking of USC within the 2019 Vacation Bowl. Final yr’s bowl loss to Kentucky was powerful, nevertheless it was an excellent battle.
– When the Music Metropolis Bowl hits, it’s cranks up a house run. Purdue’s 48-45 time beyond regulation win over Tennessee final yr might need been the perfect bowl of the season. Throwing out the canceled 2020 bowl, 13 of the final 17 Music Metropolis Bowls have been determined by eight factors or fewer. Contemplating how these two groups play, this needs to be low scoring, too.
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CFN Specialists CFP, NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2
Why Kentucky Will Win The TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl
Actually, this Iowa offense is simply that stagnant.
It was solely in a position to hit 200 yards passing twice, the general assault by no means got here up with 400 yards, and it solely bought to 300 3 times. It’s not a stretch to recommend it’ll solely take just a few scores for Kentucky to place this away.
As is there’s no Iowa passing recreation, at the least there’s nothing deep. Now it’s throwing out an untested choice in Joey Labas as he tries to do one thing to get the chains shifting.
However the Iowa O is the Iowa O. It’s the defensive aspect that has to personal this recreation, and it begins with needing to provide you with takeaways. Kentucky had points over the primary half of the season with giveaways, nevertheless it solely turned it over twice within the final 4 video games.
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And the Wildcats can play a bit protection, too. It hasn’t allowed 200 passing yards in any of the final 4 video games, and Iowa doesn’t have the working recreation to make up for it.
Nonetheless …
High 100 Bowl Gamers | Rating Bowl Video games So Far
Why Iowa Will Win The TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl
Actually, the Kentucky offense is simply that stagnant.
Will Levis is being panned as a doable prime decide within the NFL Draft, however that’s partly as a result of he didn’t get an opportunity to indicate what he may do behind an offensive line that was the worst within the SEC in sacks allowed.
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That’s the place the Iowa protection is available in. If all goes in accordance with plan, a slew of key stars from the nation’s fourth-best D and sixth-best scoring protection. As is UK couldn’t get the assault shifting. It’s speculated to rock with out Levis and Rodriguez? Probably not.
And no, the Iowa offense isn’t going to return out and hold 50 on the board. Nonetheless, there gained’t be something massive coming from the Kentucky move rush and defensive entrance.
UK is 7-0 when permitting fewer than 165 speeding yards, and 0-5 when permitting that many or extra. Nonetheless …
TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Occur, Historical past
NEXT: What’s Going To Occur, Kentucky vs Iowa Prediction, TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl Historical past
Kentucky vs Iowa TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl, What’s Going To Occur
Iowa had the worst speeding offense within the Massive Ten and managed greater than 165 yards simply twice. The workforce was 4-0 when it ran for 125 yards or extra – it’ll get there.
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The Hawkeye protection will likely be robust sufficient to maintain this shut all through, and that will likely be simply sufficient.
Towards a slew of comparatively mediocre groups, Kentucky went 5-0 when rolling for at the least 345 yards of whole offense. Ohio State, Minnesota, and Rutgers – that final one was in a blowout with a number of the yards coming late – have been the one groups to get to that mark towards Iowa.
It’ll be a low scoring battle with the Hawkeye D doing just a bit bit extra.
Kentucky vs Iowa TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl, Prediction, Line
CFN Prediction: Iowa 19, Kentucky 16 Line: Iowa -2.5, o/u: 31 ATS Confidence out of 5: 1.5 TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl Should See Ranking (out of 5): 3 CFN Specialists CFP NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2
TransPerfect Music Metropolis Bowl Historical past
Kentucky football lost a 2025 wide receiver when recruit Ja’kayden Ferguson re-opened his recruitment in mid-November. Now, they have gained a commitment from top 500 receiver Dejerrian Miller to take the open spot.
Miller is a 6’3″, 195 lb receiver out of Missouri. He is rated four stars, and is ranked as the number 379 overall player in the 2025 class in the 247sports composite rankings. He is the 53rd ranked receiver in the class.
Eight options to replace coach Mark Stoops
Coach Mark Stoops and his staff have put together a solid recruiting class for 2025 so far. It’s currently ranked 25th in the country, though it is the 13th best class of the 16 teams of the SEC.
Miller joins Quintin Simmons Jr., Preston Bowman, and Montavin Quisenberry as wide receivers who are committed to Kentucky for 2025. Miller’s size should be an advantage for him as he looks to find playing time. It’s good get for the Wildcats and Stoops, who continues to bring in quality players at the receiver position.
EASTERN KENTUCKY (WYMT) – On Wednesday, President Joe Biden declared that a major disaster exists in Kentucky.
As a result, President Biden ordered federal assistance to supplement recovery efforts. This is locally as well as statewide following the damage left behind by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
In a news release, federal funding will be available to eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations. This will be on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the remnants of the hurricane.
This includes many counties in our area: Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Elliott, Estill, Harlan, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Lee, Letcher, Magoffin, Menifee, Morgan, Owsley, Powell, Rockcastle, Rowan, and Wolfe.
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In the announcement, it said federal funding will also be available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for the entire state of Kentucky.
Now that the ink has dried and his signing with Kentucky has been made official, Jasper Johnson was finally able to be formally introduced to the Rupp Arena crowd during the Wildcats’ 87-68 win over Western Kentucky on Tuesday night.
Johnson, a class of 2025 five-star point guard born and raised in Lexington, sat courtside with his family to check out his future team in action against the Hilltoppers. During the second half, former Kentucky player Ravi Moss brought out the future Wildcat to midcourt where he was met with a chorus of cheers from the packed crowd of Big Blue Nationites.
After initially committing to Kentucky back in September, Johnson signed the necessary papers to play his college basketball at UK earlier this month. He’s been inside Rupp Arena plenty of times before over the years (and even played here with Woodford County as a sophomore), but never while wearing street clothes as the center of attention in front of over 20,000 screaming fans.
The smile says all you need to know.
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Johnson is one of three signees from Mark Pope‘s first recruiting class as Kentucky’s head coach, joining four-star center Malachi Moreno and four-star point guard Acaden Lewis. The 6-foot-4 guard is ranked No. 14 overall in the nation by the On3 Industry Ranking. He’s currently finishing up his high school career at Overtime Elite as a member of Rod Wave Elite (RWE).
Alongside Tay Kinney, a talented class of 2026 guard who is also from Kentucky and is being recruited by Pope, the two Bluegrass natives form arguably the deadliest backcourt duo in all of OTE. Through five games played this season, Johnson is averaging 19.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per outing while shooting 47.9 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from deep.
This time next year, we’ll hopefully see him do the same thing in Kentucky blue and white.
Johnson family – Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio
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