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Watch: Tennessee takes to practice field on Friday ahead of Music City Bowl

4A3DA472-0F39-4C89-9987-5851509375C0by: Matt Ray12/26/25matt_ray_

Tennessee and Illinois will square off on Tuesday in the Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl at 5:30 pm eastern time. The Vols arrived in Nashville on Thursday night, and they returned to the practice field on Friday.

The Athletics Communication department provided b-roll footage from the outing as practice was closed to the media. You can watch the highlights below.

Tennessee will practice again on Saturday before an OFF day on Sunday. The Vols and Illini will hold the Music City Bowl presser on Monday before one final practice for the two programs ahead of Tuesday’s 4:30 p.m. local time kick.

Illinois began the season 5-1 with the lone loss coming at No. 19 (at the time) Indiana, 63-10. The Fighting Illini defeated No. 21 USC 34-32 during the stretch with other wins over Western Illinois, Duke, Western Michigan and Purdue.

The second-half of the season saw Illinois go 3-3 with wins over Rutgers, Maryland and Northwestern and losses to No. 1 Ohio State, Washington and Wisconsin. The Fighting Illini were 1-2 against ranked opponents this season but finished the regular season winning three of their last four ballgames.  

Bret Bielema’s squad was 10-3 last year with a 21-17 win over South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl. The coach also led the Fighting Illini to the RealiQuest Bowl in 2022, coming up short to Mississippi State in the 19-10 final.