This bowl season just wouldn’t feel right if Kentucky was favored to win its bowl game, regardless of the opponent.

As it turns out, the Wildcats are once again the underdog despite the team’s second-place finish in the SEC East standings after going 9-3 on the season and 5-3 in league play. That historic season on the bluegrass was good enough to land an invitation to the Citrus Bowl against No. 12 Penn State. The game is set to be played on New Year’s Day.

No. 14 Kentucky currently stands as a 6.5-point underdog in the game.

Will that fact motivate Kentucky heading into the contest? Not really, according to Wildcat linebacker Kash Daniel.

“Not really, I don’t care. I know this team doesn’t care. We’ve been doubted the entire year, it’s nothing new to us. It’s — okay, cool,” Daniel said during his recent media availability.

He followed up those comments by noting Kentucky respects what Penn State has accomplished and is eagerly awaiting the challenge that awaits them in the Citrus Bowl.

“We embrace that we are going up against a historically great, powerhouse program with a lot of big victories in their past, year after year, dominate in the Big Ten,” Daniel added. “We are really looking forward to playing them and experiencing the bowl game.”

Winning this game would be huge for Kentucky and it has been shown by the fact players like Josh Allen and Benny Snell have not hesitated to participate in the game. While both players will be in the NFL this time next year, the immediate goal on hand is getting Kentucky to the 10-win mark for the first time since 1977.

If this team does indeed finish the season with a win over Penn State in the Citrus Bowl and get to 10-3, it will be only the third team in Kentucky’s 103-year history to win 10 games, the other time coming in 1950 when UK won 11 games.