FIRST GLANCE: Looking at Northwestern's season
Kentucky will take on Northwestern in the 2017 Music City Bowl on Dec. 29th at 4:30 p.m.
UK and Northwestern last played one another on October 20th, 1928. Northwestern defeated UK 7-0, but it's likely you'll see more scoring when these two teams meet in a few weeks.
Had Northwestern defeated Wisconsin earlier this season the purple Wildcats would have represented the Big Ten West in the Big Ten Championship game on Saturday. Instead, the Badgers defeated Northwestern 33-24, pushing Pat Fitzgerald to second in the division. Northwestern's 7-2 conference record tied for third in the entire league.
Here are some other quick-hitters about UK's Big Ten opponent.
Season Results: 9-3.
Quality Wins: Iowa (17-10 OT), Michigan State (39-31 3OT).
Bad Losses: Duke (41-17).
Close: Northwestern was down just seven points at Wisconsin with under three minutes to play with possession, but ended up losing 33-24.
Streak: After a 2-3 start, Northwestern has won seven straight games.
Pat Fitzgerald:
Fitzgerald has been Northwestern's head coach since 2006 and has been on the staff since 2001. Fitzgerald played for the purple Wildcats from 1993-1996.
He is 86-65 as a head coach but just 48-50 in the Big Ten. He has taken Northwestern to seven bowl games prior to the Music City Bowl and is 2-5 in those games.
Fitzgerald has had his teams finish the season ranked just twice.
Northwestern has been to back-to-back bowl games and won the Pinstripe Bowl last season after a 6-6 regular season.
Players to Watch:
Justin Jackson: The senior running back has rushed for 1154 yards on 255 carries and nine touchdowns. For comparison sake, star UK running back Benny Snell has 1,318 yards on 256 carries and 18 touchdowns.
Clayton Thorson: The junior quarterback has thrown for 2,809 yards and 15 touchdowns to go with 12 interceptions. He completed 60.6 percent of his passes. Thorson isn't much of a running threat and has just 29 yards on the season.
Paddy Fisher: The freshman linebacker led Northwestern with 108 tackles.
Northwestern NCAA Ranks:
Offense: 60th (UK 100th)
Passing: 54th (UK 101st)
Rushing: 71st (UK 54th)
Defense: 37th (UK 89th)