Music City Bowl looks at UNC

North Carolina's basketball tradition could land its football team in the Music City Bowl.

The bowl is lining up a potential hoops-themed matchup between the Tar Heels (8-4) and Kentucky (7-5) for the Dec. 27 football game (8:30 p.m., ESPN) in Nashville, Tenn.

The two winningest programs in college basketball history meet annually and will play Saturday in Lexington, Ky., but the football teams haven't met since 1990. Regardless of the outcome of Saturday's ACC football championship game, it's likely that UNC and Kentucky will meet in the 12th Music City Bowl on the Sunday after Christmas.

The trip to Nashville would be UNC's first and the Wildcats' fourth, including their third in the past four years. Nashville has been good to Kentucky. The Wildcats beat Florida State in 2007 and Clemson in 2006. They have won their past three bowls overall, topping East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl last season.

Vanderbilt beat Boston College in last year's Music City Bowl, and the SEC has gone 3-0 since the bowl went to an ACC-SEC matchup.