On3's Brett McMurphy updates Tennessee Football's bowl projection

Brett McMurphy believes Tennessee Football will be staying in state for its bowl game. The On3 college football insider on Saturday night updated his bowl projections, predicting the Vols to face Illinois in the Music City Bowl in Nashville.

The College Football Playoff field will be set on Sunday afternoon, followed by bowl announcements later in the day. The Music City Bowl will be played on December 30, with kickoff set for 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN at Nissan Stadium.

McMurphy reported Illinois as confirmed to the Music City Bowl. He also reported Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl and Michigan in the Citrus Bowl as confirmed while projecting Iowa to face Vanderbilt in Jacksonville and Michigan to play Texas in Orlando.

Tennessee and Illinois have never met in football, but the Vols have made three appearances in the Music City Bowl. Tennessee lost to North Carolina 30-27 in the Music City Bowl in December 2010, beat Nebraska 38-25 in December 2016 and lost to Purdue 48-45 in December 2021 to cap the first season under head coach Josh Heupel.

Illinois went 8-4 during the regular season, losing 63-10 at Illinois, 34-16 at home against Ohio State, 42-25 at Washington and 27-10 at Wisconsin. The Illini beat Western Illinois, Duke, Western Michigan, USC, Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland and Northwestern.

SEC bowl games, dates

The SEC has affiliations with up to nine bowl games, depending on the number of league teams that reach bowl eligibility each season. 

The Citrus Bowl gets the first pick of available SEC teams. The league has other tie-ins with the Liberty Bowl (vs. Big 12), the Mayo Bowl (vs. ACC), the ReliaQuest Bowl (vs. Big 10 or ACC), Texas Bowl (vs. Big 12), Gator Bowl (vs. ACC) and Music City Bowl (vs. Big Ten). If needed, the SEC also has tie-ins with the Birmingham Bowl (vs. AAC) and the Gasparilla Bowl (vs. AAC or ACC). 

Ten SEC teams won six or more games this season: Georgia (12-1), Ole Miss (11-1), Texas A&M (11-1), Oklahoma (10-2), Alabama (10-3), Vanderbilt (10-2), Texas (9-3), Tennessee (8-4), Missouri (8-4) and LSU (7-5). 

Kentucky, Auburn and Mississippi State all went 5-7, while Florida and South Carolina both went 4-8. Arkansas finished 2-10.

The SEC Bowl Season Schedule

The Gator Bowl is set for Saturday, December 27. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville. The Texas Bowl is also December 27, kicking off at 9:15 p.m. ET at NRG Stadium in Houston.

The Music City Bowl is Tuesday, December 30 and is a 5:30 p.m. ET start at Nissan Stadium.

The Citrus Bowl and ReliaQuest Bowl are both set for New Year’s Eve. The ReliaQuest Bowl is a Noon ET start at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Wednesday, December 31, while the Citrus Bowl is a 3 p.m. ET start at Camping World Stadium in Tampa.

The Liberty Bowl will be played Friday, January 2 and is a 4:30 p.m. ET start at Liberty Stadium in Memphis. The Mayo Bowl is also set for January 2 in an 8 p.m. ET kickoff at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. 

The Gasparilla Bowl will be played on December 19 in Tampa, scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. ET kickoff. The Birmingham Bowl is Monday, December 29, a 2 p.m. ET start at Protective Stadium.