When you think Kentucky vs. Arizona in college sports, you immediately think of men’s basketball.
The two schools met four times on the hardwood in the 90s, most notably in the 1997 NCAA men’s basketball championship game in Indianapolis when Arizona pulled an 84-79 upset in overtime for its only national title. It was Rick Pitino’s final game as Kentucky coach.
On the football field? The two schools have never met. According to veteran CBS Sports’ prognosticator Jerry Palm, that will change in 2024. Palm released his bowl predictions for the 2024 season on Thursday and projects Kentucky to face Arizona in this year’s Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 27 at Allegiant Stadium.
The Las Vegas Bowl announced last month that it would host an SEC team this year against a current or former Pac-12 school.
Mark Stoops is entering his 12th season as Kentucky’s head coach and has led the Wildcats to eight consecutive bowl games. Stoops’ teams won four straight bowls from 2018-2021, though Kentucky’s 20-17 victory over Iowa in the 2022 Citrus Bowl was recently vacated due to NCAA sanctions.
An appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl would mark the furthest distance from campus the Wildcats have ever traveled for a bowl game — 1,932 miles according to Google Maps. Currently, the furthest Kentucky has traveled for a bowl game is Miami (1,032 miles), where the Wildcats faced Santa Clara University in the 1950 Orange Bowl.
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Palm projected Georgia to make the inaugural 12-team playoff as the SEC champion and No. 1 overall seed. Ohio State was projected as the No. 2 seed with Utah the No. 3 seed and Florida State the No. 4 seed.