2022 Music City Bowl


The 2022 Music City Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on December 31, 2022, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. The 24th annual Music City Bowl, featured Iowa from the
Big Ten Conference and Kentucky from the Southeastern Conference. The game began at 11:10 a.m. CST and aired on ABC. It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by translation and language services company TransPerfect, the game was officially known as the TransPerfect Music City Bowl.

Teams

The game features Iowa of the Big Ten and Kentucky of the Southeastern Conference. Both teams received and accepted invitations on December 4, 2022. This is their second-ever meeting—they previously met in a bowl game following the 2021 season, the 2022 Citrus Bowl, won by Kentucky.

Iowa Hawkeyes

The Hawkeyes played in the Music City Bowl for the first time, and entered the game with a 7–5 record, 5–4 in conference play. They faced two ranked FBS opponents during the season, losing to No. 4 Michigan and No. 2 Ohio State. The Hawkeyes were led by quarterback Joe Labas, who was making his collegiate debut.

Kentucky Wildcats

The Wildcats enter the Music City Bowl with a 7–5 record, 3–5 in conference play. Kentucky will be making its sixth appearance in the Music City Bowl. The Wildcats opened their season with four consecutive wins and were ranked as high as No. 7 before losing three of their next four games. They faced six ranked opponents, defeating No. 12 Florida, No. 16 Mississippi State, and No. 25 Louisville while losing to No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 3 Tennessee, and No. 1 Georgia.

Statistics

StatisticIowaKentucky
First downs1010
First downs rushing34
First downs passing76
First downs penalty00
Third down efficiency0–112–18
Fourth down efficiency0–23–5
Total plays–net yards48–20669–185
Rushing attempts–net yards24–6732–68
Yards per rush2.82.1
Yards passing139117
Pass completions–attempts14–2422–37
Interceptions thrown02
Punt returns–total yards3–423–25
Kickoff returns–total yards0–01–16
Punts–average yardage8–48.310–40.9
Fumbles–lost0–03–0
Penalties–yards2–103–35
Time of possession25:4334:17