By Mike Bonts, Florida Sports Wire
JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Gator Bowl Chairman Alan Worley and the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Board of Trustees announced that Clemson will play Kentucky in the 79th TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Friday, Dec. 29.
On behalf of our team and all of us at the University of Kentucky, we are excited to accept the invitation to the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl,” Coach Mark Stoops said. “The Big Blue Nation always represents at our bowl destination, and we are excited to spend time in Jacksonville. We look forward to a great week and our team can’t wait to play one more time this season.”
Kentucky will make its third TaxSlayer Gator Bowl appearance, all since 2016. The Wildcats won their last Gator Bowl appearance, 23-21 over No. 24 NC State on Jan. 2, 2021.
The teams have met 14 previous times with the last meeting in 2009 in the Music City Bowl where Clemson won 21-13.
“We are excited to welcome Clemson and Kentucky to Jacksonville for the 79th Annual TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. It will be a tremendous matchup and we are honored to host these two top-notch teams and their players, coaches and fans to our city for a great week of activities celebrating both programs’ successful seasons,” said Alan Worley, Chairman of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.
Kentucky enters the game with a 7-5 record, the seventh time in the last eight years that the Wildcats have won at least seven games, with only the Covid-shortened 2020 season interrupting the trend. The Wildcats enter the game following their fifth straight Governor’s Cup win, a 38-31 victory over then-top-10-ranked Louisville. It is the sixth straight year that the Wildcats completed the regular season with a win, the first time in school history that has been accomplished.
Clemson will make its 10th all-time Gator Bowl appearance, its most of any bowl in school history. Clemson’s Gator Bowl tradition dates to the Tigers’ perfect 11-0 season in 1948, as Southern Conference champion Clemson completed its undefeated season with a 24-23 win against Missouri in a matchup of College Football Hall of Fame coaches Frank Howard and Don Faurot.
A win in the contest would even Clemson’s all-time Gator Bowl record at 5-5, including victories to conclude the 1948, 1978, 1986 and 1989 seasons. This year’s game will represent Clemson’s first appearance in the annual postseason contest in Jacksonville since New Year’s Day in 2009 in what Dabo Swinney’s first bowl game as head coach after was being elevated to the head coaching position earlier that season.
Clemson enters the Bowl 8-4 overall, 4-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“This is the 13th time that we’ve been the title sponsor of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl,” said Jamie Saxe, CEO of TaxSlayer. “We’re proud of this long-standing partnership and excited to connect with the Clemson and Kentucky fans through this historic tradition.”
