The Music City Bowl, officially the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl for sponsorship purposes, is a post-season American college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played in Nashville, Tennessee, since 1998.
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. Beginning in 2014, the Music City Bowl shares its tie in with the TaxSlayer Bowl; the Music City Bowl receives second choice of either an ACC or Big Ten team.
History
Downtown Nashville Prepares for Music City Bowl, New Years Eve Events - Erika Kurre - Stream Fox 17 newscasts LIVE starting with TN Mornings at 5 am and News at 9 pm. NASHVILLE, TN - The landscape is changing and the streets are filling with people. Downtown Nashville...
The first Music City Bowl was played at Vanderbilt Stadium in 1998. Beginning in 1999, the game was moved to the just completed home stadium of the Tennessee Titans, now known as Nissan Stadium. 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. Beginning with the 2010 game, Franklin American Mortgage served as title sponsor, though Gaylord still served as a major sponsor of the event.
The Music City Bowl has a history of upsets. The biggest underdog win was when Kentucky (+10) defeated Clemson 28â€"20 in 2006. Other big upsets include Minnesota (+7) defeating Arkansas 29â€"14 in 2002 and Virginia (+6) defeating Minnesota 34â€"31 in 2005. Boston College was a 4-point underdog when they defeated Georgia 20â€"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 16â€"14. The only favored teams to have won the Music City Bowl are Virginia Tech (âˆ'5) over Alabama in the first Music City Bowl in 1998, Auburn (âˆ'3) over Wisconsin in 2003, Kentucky (âˆ'7) over Florida State in 2007, Mississippi State (-6.5) over Wake Forest in 2011, Vanderbilt (-7.5) over NC State in the 2012 Music City Bowl, and Tennessee (-3) over Nebraska in the 2016 Music City Bowl.
Game records
The most lopsided loss was Virginia Tech's 38â€"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 16â€"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 at the 2007 Music City Bowl in Kentucky's win over Florida State.
Game results
All rankings are taken from the AP Poll prior to the game being played.
Most Valuable Players
Most appearances
- Teams with multiple appearances
- Teams with a single appearance
Won: Auburn, Louisville, Mississippi State, 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
Through the December 2017 playing, there have been 20 games (40 total appearances).
See also
- List of college bowl games
- List of Music City Bowl broadcasters
References
External links
- Official website
