Football

After rolling to a lengthy winning streak to close out the regular season, Northwestern is being rewarded with a first-ever trip to the Music City Bowl.

The No. 21 Wildcats (9-3, 7-2 Big Ten) will face off against Kentucky (7-5, 4-4 SEC) in Nashville, The Tennessean first reported Sunday. The game is scheduled for Dec. 29, with the opening kick set for 3:30 p.m.

NU closed the season with seven straight wins, the team’s longest streak since 1996. That stretch included three consecutive overtime victories, the longest such streak in FBS history, and powered the Cats to a second-place finish in the Big Ten West behind Wisconsin.

Now the team gets a chance to cap a successful year with a victory over the Wildcats from Lexington. Kentucky had a solid year to finish third in the SEC East, but will likely be the underdogs against an NU squad that has found its stride late in the season.

The Cats have gone bowling to end three straight seasons. Last year, they defeated Pittsburgh 31-24 in the Pinstripe Bowl, and the year before that they lost to Tennessee 45-6 in the Outback Bowl.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @maxschuman28