Music City Bowl


The Music City Bowl is a college football post-season bowl game contested by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams, which has been played in Nashville, Tennessee, since 1998. Since 2025, it has been sponsored by Liberty Mutual and is officially known as the Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl. The bowl has had tie-ins with several different athletic conferences, most recently the Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conference.

History

The first Music City Bowl was played at Vanderbilt Stadium in 1998. Beginning in 1999, the game was moved to the recently completed Adelphia Coliseum in Nashville, Tennessee, the home stadium of the newly-renamed Tennessee Titans. American General Life & Accident sponsored the inaugural 1998 game, and the now-defunct "homepoint.com" sponsored the 1999 game. There was no sponsor in 2000 or 2001. In 2002, with title sponsorship from Nashville-based Gaylord Hotels, the game became known as the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. In 2003, Bridgestone became the presenting sponsor of the game, and its full title became the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone. Bridgestone dropped its presenting sponsorship following the 2007 game. Beginning with the 2010 game, Franklin American Mortgage served as title sponsor, with Gaylord continuing as a major sponsor of the event. In December 2019, it was announced that TransPerfect, a New York City-based translation services company, would take over title sponsorship of the bowl for the 2020 through 2025 playings.
The 2020 edition, slated for December 30 between Missouri and Iowa, was cancelled on December 27 due to COVID-19 issues within Missouri's program.

Conference tie-ins

The game initially featured a matchup between representatives of the Southeastern Conference and the Big East Conference. The Big East was replaced by the Big Ten Conference in 2002. Beginning with the 2006 game, the Big Ten was replaced by the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC also took part in the 2005 game, when Virginia appeared because the SEC did not have enough bowl-eligible teams. For six seasons beginning in 2014, the Music City Bowl shared its tie in with the Gator Bowl, to match an SEC team with either an ACC or Big Ten team. In June 2019, the Music City Bowl announced an extension to their agreement with the SEC, and an agreement for the Big Ten to provide teams for the 2020 through 2025 seasons.

Game results

The Music City Bowl has a history of upsets. The biggest underdog win was when Kentucky defeated Clemson 28–20 in 2006. Other big upsets include Minnesota defeating Arkansas 29–14 in 2002, and Virginia defeating Minnesota 34–31 in 2005. Boston College was a four-point underdog when they defeated Georgia 20–16 in 2001, West Virginia was a three-point underdog when they beat Ole Miss in 2000, Syracuse was a three-point underdog when they defeated Kentucky in 1999, and Minnesota was a one-point underdog when they beat Alabama in 2004. In 2008, four-point underdog Vanderbilt, making their first bowl appearance since 1982, upset Boston College, 24th in the BCS rankings, 16–14.
All rankings are taken from the AP poll prior to the game being played.
Source:

Most Valuable Players

Date playedMVPTeamPosition
December 29, 1998Corey MooreVirginia TechDE
December 29, 1999James MungroSyracuseRB
December 29, 2000Brad LewisWest VirginiaQB
December 28, 2001William GreenBoston CollegeRB
December 30, 2002Dan NystromMinnesotaK
December 31, 2003Jason CampbellAuburnQB
December 31, 2004Marion BarberMinnesotaRB
December 30, 2005Marques HagansVirginiaQB
December 29, 2006Andre' WoodsonKentuckyQB
December 31, 2007Andre' WoodsonKentuckyQB
December 31, 2008Brett UpsonVanderbiltP
December 27, 2009C. J. SpillerClemsonRB
December 30, 2010Shaun DraughnNorth CarolinaRB
December 30, 2011Vick BallardMississippi StateRB
December 31, 2012Zac StacyVanderbiltRB
December 30, 2013Bo WallaceOle MissQB
December 30, 2014Malik ZaireNotre DameQB
December 30, 2015Lamar JacksonLouisvilleQB
December 30, 2016Joshua DobbsTennesseeQB
December 29, 2017Justin JacksonNorthwesternRB
December 28, 2018Jarrett StidhamAuburnQB
December 30, 2019Malik CunninghamLouisvilleQB
December 30, 2021Broc ThompsonPurdueWR
December 31, 2022Cooper DeJeanIowaDB
December 30, 2023Billy Edwards Jr.MarylandQB
December 30, 2024Brady CookMissouriQB
December 30, 2025Luke AltmyerIllinoisQB

Most appearances

Updated through the December 2025 edition.
;Teams with multiple appearances
;Teams with a single appearance
Won : Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
Lost : Arkansas, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, NC State, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Wake Forest, Wisconsin

Appearances by conference

Updated through the December 2025 edition.
The most lopsided game was Auburn's 63–14 win over Purdue in the 2018 edition. Auburn's 63 points is the bowl's high score, while Kentucky's 0 points in 2022 is the low score. The closest game was Northwestern's 24–23 win over Kentucky in 2017. The lowest point total in the bowl's history is 21, which occurred in 2022 when Iowa shut out Kentucky. The 87 point total in the 2000 edition, when West Virginia defeated Ole Miss, 49–38, is a high for the bowl. A new attendance record for the bowl of 69,489 was set by the 2021 game, surpassing the prior record of 69,143 that had been set by the 2010 game.
TeamRecord, Team vs. OpponentYear
Most points scored 63, Auburn vs. Purdue2018
Most points scored 45, Tennessee vs. Purdue2021
Most points scored 93, Purdue vs. Tennessee 2021
Fewest points allowed0, Iowa v. Kentucky 2022
Largest margin of victory49, Auburn vs. Purdue 2018
Total yards666, Tennessee vs. Purdue2021
Rushing yards333, Northwestern vs. Kentucky2017
Passing yards534, Purdue vs. Tennessee2021
First downs31, Tennessee vs. Purdue2021
Fewest yards185, Kentucky vs. Iowa2022
Fewest rushing yards21, Alabama vs. Minnesota2004
Fewest passing yards71, Virginia Tech vs. Alabama1998
IndividualRecord, Player, Team vs. OpponentYear
All-purpose yards284, Tobias Palmer 2012
Touchdowns 3, shared by:
Joshua Dobbs
Darius Slayton
Cedric Tillman
2016
2018
2021
Rushing yards226, Lamar Jackson 2015
Rushing touchdowns3, Joshua Dobbs 2016
Passing yards534, Aidan O'Connell 2021
Passing touchdowns5, shared by:
Brad Lewis
Jarrett Stidham
Hendon Hooker
Aidan O'Connell
2000
2018
2021
2021
Receptions11, shared by:
Josh Reynolds
Rondale Moore
2015
2018
Receiving yards217, Broc Thompson 2021
Receiving touchdowns3, shared by:
Darius Slayton
Cedric Tillman
2018
2021
Tackles20, Jeremy Banks 2021
Sacks3.0, Devonte Fields 2015
Interceptions2, Michael Lehan 2002
Long PlaysRecord, Team vs. OpponentYear
Touchdown run89 yds., Leonard Fournette 2014
Touchdown pass75 yds., shared by:
Anthony Jennings to John Diarse
Aidan O'Connell to Broc Thompson
2014
2021
Kickoff return100 yds., Leonard Fournette 2014
Punt return47 yds., Rafael Little 2006
Interception return65 yds., Trey Wilson 2012
Fumble return31 yds., Khane Pass 2019
Punt68 yds., Tyler Campbell 2013
Field goal49 yds., Jack Howes 2023
MiscellaneousRecord, Team vs. OpponentYear
Bowl Attendance69,489, Purdue vs. Tennessee2021