The Jan. 2 Liberty Bowl matchup between Kentucky and E. Carolina drew a 2.7 rating on ESPN, representing an average of 2,630,000 homes.

Overall, the 23 bowl games broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 2,810,000 homes, (a 2.5 rating), which is an eight percent increase over last year.

The Champs Sports Bowl drew ESPN’s second-largest audience ever, as an average of 5,098,000 homes (a 5.2 rating) watch Florida State beat Wisconsin 42-13.

The Emerald Bowl (California 24, Miami 17), Alamo Bowl (Missouri 30, Northwestern 23 OT) and Holiday Bowl (Oregon 42, Oklahoma State 31) all drew a 4.6 rating.

University of Kentucky senior receiver Dicky Lyons Jr. can be the life of the party just by being himself. But Lyons showed at the AutoZone team welcoming party on Monday night that he can also get the party started by imitating someone else.

Lyons, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the South Carolina game, won the Elvis impersonator contest at Jillian’s, outdueling East Carolina’s Melvin Patterson.

“He had everything down, the moves, the gyrations and everything,” UK defensive end Jeremy Jarmon said. “He told me he got XM Radio this year and listens to Elvis all the time.”

Jarmon won the Xbox 360 competition by narrowly defeating East Carolina’s T.J. Lee 10-7 in College Football 2009.

The game was a barn-burner, as Jarmon won on a Lones Seiber field goal on the final play.

“I was able to just drive the ball and eat up clock, and I got to the 5-yard line and ran a lead off tackle to get the ball in the center of the field so Lones could kick the game-winner.”

The game-winning kick set off a celebration that included an exuberant Seiber cheering on.

The Wildcats did suffer its first loss in three years when they lost the bowling competition.

“Coach Brooks wasn’t too happy about that, either,” Jarmon said.

Coaches and parents might frown on student-athletes spending so much time on video games, but Jarmon said he believes it actually helps him on the football field.

“It gives you a wide variety of football knowledge,” Jarmon said. “There are things that I see in those games that I might only see one or two times a year, so I know what to expect, and when I get out there a lot of times you can tell I’m standing up and looking over the formations before I get my hand down because I’m going through my mind all the scenarios that come up. A lot of NASCAR drivers they’re known to use those games because they have the race tracks set up on those games exactly like they are in real life so they know exactly where they need to brake.”

Jarmon said he knew a lot about East Carolina from playing College Football 2009.

“The funny thing is, me and a few other players had an online dynasty set up (on College Football 2009), and we’re playing in Conference USA, so we knew who was good on East Carolina’s team just based on the game,” he said.

University of Kentucky fans headed to Memphis for Friday’s Liberty Bowl game against East Carolina shouldn’t have to worry about extremely cold temperatures according the Weather.com. The early game-day forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with a high of 46 degrees.

Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. CST at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.