While it appeared that Kentucky was bound for the Gator Bowl as it turns out the Wildcats will take on Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl.

Here's what CI staff writers think about that Sunday story, which we'll be covering for the next month.

Travis Graf: Earlier today, Kentucky was rumored to be a lock for the Gator Bowl versus former border rival Indiana. There was a change late in the process, however, and the ‘Cats ended up with a Belk Bowl bid against the Virginia Tech Hokies. After taking a step back and looking at the grand scheme of things, this matchup is much more appealing than playing the Hoosiers. Virginia Tech has a much more rich football history and their name brand means more than Indiana’s. Charlotte isn’t a shabby weekend getaway spot either.

At first glance, the Hokies are a solid team across the board, but not elite in one particular aspect. Virginia Tech likes to run the football (63% of the time, 11th nationally), but is only ranked 57th in the country in yards per game. On defense, the Hokies are 28th in rushing defense, only giving up 129 yards per game. It’ll be an interesting matchup and I’m interested to see what the spread opens up at. Both teams are pretty even on paper.

Jeff Drummond: Well, this proved to be just about the most bizarre day for bowl assignments I have ever seen in almost 20 years of covering the UK beat. I think there's going to be some initial disappointment across Big Blue Nation after being led to believe that the Cats were heading back to sunny Florida for an intriguing Gator Bowl matchup with border rival Indiana. That would have been fun on multiple levels. Instead of playing in one of the traditional bowl games with a good chance of sunshine and warm temperatures, UK will be playing in (an otherwise fine) city where it's quite possible that fans will be watching this one in the cold.

That being said, Virginia Tech likely moves the needle with a lot of fans more than Indiana would have. The Hokies appear to be a middle-of-the-pack team in a down ACC this season, so I'm not completely sure they're a stronger opponent than the Hoosiers, but I think the perception will be as such. There is probably more value in a potential win over VaTech than there is over IU.

Justin Rowland: I supposed I understand some fans being a little disappointed if they were excited about traveling to sunny Florida, if they liked the prestige of the "Gator Bowl" name, or if they wanted to watch the renewal of the old Cats-Hoosiers rivalry. But I don't see much difference. Virginia Tech has a bigger name than IU in the college football world and they might not be as good as Indiana this year. It should be a quality matchup and a nice atmosphere in Charlotte with lots of UK and VT fans attending.