Clemson Tigers vs. Kentucky Wildcats

December bowl games can be a reward for some smaller programs or rebuilding programs, but a bit of a disappointment for teams that had higher expectations on the season. This may be the case when the Kentucky Wildcats and the Clemson Tigers play in the Music City Bowl in Nashville for the second time in four years on Sunday, December 27.

The teams do not have anyone to blame but themselves as each stumbled in their last games which cost them a game closer to, or perhaps in, January.

For Clemson (8-5), however this season has to be seen as an overall success. They had a season of turmoil last year in which they started slowly and it cost long-time coach Tommy Bowden his job. Dabo Swinney took over midway through the season last year and led the team to a 4-2 record.

This year they made it all the way to the ACC championship game before falling to the 10th-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on December 5, 39-34. The game was in doubt until Techs Jonathan Dwyer ran for a 15-yard score with just over a minute remaining.

The Kentucky Wildcats (7-5) fell in their final game of the season in overtime, 30-24 against the sporadic Tennessee Volunteers. The loss dropped them into this bowl game for the third time in four years, having won two of the three trips and three straight bowl games overall, including last years Liberty Bowl, 25-19 over East Carolina.

One of those wins in the winning streak was over Clemson, 28-20, in the 2006 Music City Bowl. Kentucky is 8-5 all-time in bowl games.

Meanwhile Clemson is trying to snap a three-game bowl losing streak, having lost won in the Champs Sports Bowl over Colorado in 2005. The Clemson Tigers boast a 15-16 all-time bowl record.

Still Kentucky has shown that they are not an SEC afterthought anymore after heading to a bowl game four straight seasons for the first time ever, and winning road games at Auburn for the first time since 1961 and between the hedges in Georgia for the first time since 1977.

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