Kentucky draws the Northwestern Wildcats (9-3) in the Music City Bowl, which is set for 4:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 29 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

About the Northwestern Wildcats’ season:

Best regular-season win: triple-overtime thriller over No. 16 Michigan State, 39-31 on Oct. 28

Worst regular-season loss: 41-17 thumping at Duke on Sept. 9

Here are five things to know about the matchup:

1. Northwestern has less bowl success than UK

Given Kentucky’s relatively minimal historical success, it’s rare for the Wildcats to find a bowl matchup in which they have greater success and accolades.

Northwestern is 3-10 in bowl games, compared to UK’s 8-8 mark. Granted, the Big Ten Wildcats have wins to their credit in 2012 (over Mississippi State in the Gator — now Taxslayer — Bowl) and 2016 (over Pittsburgh in the Pinstripe Bowl). But before those games, Northwestern hadn’t won a bowl since 1948.

One sign of the program’s historic struggles is that NU has an all-time winning record against only one Big Ten foe — Indiana.

2. Game features long-tenured head coaches

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald played for the school in the late ’90s, when it won its first conference championship in 60 years.

He took over at NU at the ripe old age of 31, and this is his 12th season there (his record is 86-65), which makes him the second longest serving coach in the conference behind only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz. Mark Stoops, given the SEC’s recent coaching moves, trails only Nick Saban for longest coaching duration in his league.

3. Both teams give up some passing yards …

Oddly, Northwestern and Kentucky each finished at the bottom of their leagues in passing yardage allowed. Kentucky allowed 263.5 passing yards per game, and Northwestern gave up 247.6. Both teams did finish in the top half of their leagues in interceptions as well, so the big plays could go for or against either pass defense.

4. … But game may end up featuring top rusher in each team’s history

Northwestern senior Justin Jackson is already the top rusher in NU history. Jackson finished third in the Big Ten with 1,154 yards and scored nine touchdowns. He has career totals of 5,283 yards and 39 touchdowns and topped 1,000 yards in each of his four seasons.

Kentucky, of course, is led by Benny Snell, whose 1,318 rushing yards leaves him 2 yards behind Kerryon Johnson for the SEC lead. Snell has topped 1,000 yards in both of his seasons so far, and his 2,409 rushing yards places him 8th all-time at UK and 1,426 yards off the school record.

It is entirely possible that the Music City Bowl becomes a battle between backs who end up leading their schools in several career stats.

5. The teams have met before

Well, once. In 1928. Kentucky traveled to Evanston, Ill., and took a 7-0 loss in UK’s third game of a 4-3-1 season. Northwestern finished 5-3.

Given the information pointed out above, it’s safe to bet that it won’t be 7-0 this time around.