The Music City Bowl
is a post-season American college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played in Nashville, Tennessee, since 1998.
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TRANSPERFECT MUSIC CITY BOWL TICKETS
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History
Site
The first Music City Bowl was played at
Vanderbilt Stadium in 1998. Beginning in
1999, the game has been played at
LP Field, home of the
Tennessee Titans.
Sponsors
Beginning in
2002, 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
. Both sponsors are based in Nashville. Previous sponsors of the bowl game included American General Life & Accident (now a subsidiary of
AIG) in the inaugural 1998 game, and the now-defunct "homepoint.com" in the 1999 game. There was no sponsor in
2000 and
2001. Bridgestone dropped its presenting sponsorship following the 2007 game.
Conferences
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 Conference 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.
Frequent upsets
The Music City Bowl has a history of upsets. Underdogs have won the game six out of the nine times it has been played. The biggest underdog win was when Kentucky (+10) defeated
Clemson 28–20 in
2006. Other big upsets include
Minnesota (+7) defeating
Arkansas 29–14 in
2002 and Virginia (+6) defeating
Minnesota 34–31 in
2005. Boston College was a 4 point underdog when they defeated
Georgia 20–16 in
2001, West Virginia was a 3 point underdog when they beat Mississippi in
2000, Syracuse was a 3 point underdog when they defeated Kentucky in 1999 and
Minnesota was a 1 point underdog when they beat
Alabama in
2004.
Boston College also fell victim to an upset in the
Music City Bowl in 2008, when the
Vanderbilt Commodores (+4), making their first bowl appearance since
1982, defeated the 24th-ranked Eagles 16-14. The only favored teams to have won the Music City Bowl are Virginia Tech (-5) over
Alabama in the first Music City Bowl in
1998,
Auburn (-3) over Wisconsin in
2003, and Kentucky (-7) over Florida State.
Game records
The most lopsided loss was Virginia Tech's 38–7 win over Alabama in 1998. Alabama's 7 points in that game is a low for the Music City Bowl. The closest game was Vanderbilt's 16-14 win over Boston College in 2008. This also marked the lowest point total in the bowl's history. The highest point total was West Virginia's 49 against Ole Miss in 2000; Ole Miss scored 38 in that game and the 87 point total in that game is a high for the Music City Bowl. The attendance record was set in the 2007 Music City Bowl between Kentucky vs. Florida St.
Previous results
| Date Played
| Winning Team
| Losing Team
| Notes
|
| December 29, 1998 [1]
|
| 38
| Alabama
| 7
| notes
|
| December 29, 1999
|
| 20
|
| 13
| notes
|
| December 28, 2000
|
| 49
|
| 38
| notes
|
| December 28, 2001
|
| 20
| Georgia
| 16
| notes
|
| December 30, 2002
| Minnesota
| 29
| Arkansas
| 14
| notes
|
| December 31, 2003
| Auburn
| 28
|
| 14
| notes
|
| December 31, 2004
| Minnesota
| 20
| Alabama
| 16
| notes
|
| December 30, 2005 [2]
|
| 34
| Minnesota
| 31
| notes
|
| December 29, 2006
|
| 28
| Clemson
| 20
| notes
|
| December 31, 2007
| Kentucky
| 35
| Florida State
| 28
| notes
|
| December 31, 2008
| Vanderbilt
| 16
| Boston College
| 14
| notes
|
Most Valuable Players
| Date played
| MVP
| Team
| Position
|
| December 29, 1998
| Corey Moore
| Virginia Tech
| DE
|
| December 29, 1999
| James Mungro
| Syracuse
| RB
|
| December 29, 2000
| Brad Lewis
| West Virginia
| QB
|
| December 28, 2001
| William Green
| Boston College
| RB
|
| December 30, 2002
| Dan Nystrom
| Minnesota
| K
|
| December 31, 2003
| Jason Campbell
| Auburn
| QB
|
| December 31, 2004
| Marion Barber
| Minnesota
| RB
|
| December 30, 2005
| Marques Hagans
| Virginia
| QB
|
| December 29, 2006
| André Woodson
| Kentucky
| QB
|
| December 31, 2007
| André Woodson
| Kentucky
| QB
|
| December 31, 2008
| Brett Upson
| Vanderbilt
| P
|
Most appearances
| Rank
| Team
| Appearances
| Record
|
| T1
| Kentucky
| 3
| 2-1
|
| T1
| Minnesota
| 3
| 2-1
|
| T3
| Boston College
| 2
| 1–1
|
| T3
| Alabama
| 2
| 0–2
|
| T5
| Auburn
| 1
| 1-0
|
| T5
| Syracuse
| 1
| 1-0
|
| T5
| Vanderbilt
| 1
| 1-0
|
| T5
| Virginia
| 1
| 1-0
|
| T5
| Virginia Tech
| 1
| 1-0
|
| T5
| West Virginia
| 1
| 1-0
|
| T5
| Arkansas
| 1
| 0–1
|
| T5
| Clemson
| 1
| 0–1
|
| T5
| Florida State
| 1
| 0–1
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| T5
| Georgia
| 1
| 0–1
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| T5
| Mississippi
| 1
| 0–1
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| T5
| Wisconsin
| 1
| 0–1
|
See also
- List of college bowl games