The Music City Bowl is a college football post-season bowl game contested by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) 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 (SEC).
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 (now known as Nissan Stadium) in Nashville, Tennessee, the home stadium of the newly renamed Tennessee Titans. American General Life & Accident (now a subsidiary of AIG) 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 (SEC) 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 (ACC). 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 (also known as the TaxSlayer Bowl for several playings), 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 (+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 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. Date PlayedWinning TeamLosing TeamAttendanceNotes December 29, 1998 Virginia Tech 38 Alabama 7 41,248 notes December 29, 1999 Syracuse 20 Kentucky 13 59,221 notes December 28, 2000 West Virginia 49 Ole Miss 38 47,119 notes December 28, 2001 Boston College 20 No. 16 Georgia 16 46,125 notes December 30, 2002 Minnesota 29 No. 25 Arkansas 14 39,183 notes December 31, 2003 Auburn 28 Wisconsin 14 55,109 notes December 31, 2004 Minnesota 20 Alabama 16 66,089 notes December 30, 2005 Virginia 34 Minnesota 31 40,519 notes December 29, 2006 Kentucky 28 Clemson 20 68,024 notes December 31, 2007 Kentucky 35 Florida State 28 68,661 notes December 31, 2008 Vanderbilt 16 Boston College 14 54,250 notes December 27, 2009 Clemson 21 Kentucky 13 57,280 notes December 30, 2010 North Carolina 30 Tennessee 27 69,143 notes December 30, 2011 Mississippi State 23 Wake Forest 17 55,208 notes December 31, 2012 Vanderbilt 38 NC State 24 55,801 notes December 30, 2013 Ole Miss 25 Georgia Tech 17 52,125 notes December 30, 2014 Notre Dame 31 No. 22 LSU 28 60,419 notes December 30, 2015 Louisville 27 Texas A&M 21 50,478 notes December 30, 2016 Tennessee 38 No. 24 Nebraska 24 68,496 notes December 29, 2017 No. 20 Northwestern 24 Kentucky 23 48,675 notes December 28, 2018 Auburn 63 Purdue 14 59,024 notes December 30, 2019 Louisville 38 Mississippi State 28 46,850 notes December 30, 2020 Canceled due to COVID-19 issues — December 30, 2021 Purdue 48 Tennessee 45 69,489 notes December 31, 2022 Iowa 21 Kentucky 0 42,312 notes December 30, 2023 Maryland 31 Auburn 13 50,088 notes December 30, 2024 No. 23 Missouri 27 Iowa 24 43,375 notesDecember 30, 2025 Illinois 30 Tennessee 28 52,815 notes Source:
Most Valuable Players
Date playedMVPTeamPositionDecember 29, 1998 Corey Moore Virginia Tech DEDecember 29, 1999 James Mungro Syracuse RBDecember 29, 2000 Brad Lewis West Virginia QBDecember 28, 2001 William Green Boston College RBDecember 30, 2002 Dan Nystrom Minnesota KDecember 31, 2003 Jason Campbell Auburn QBDecember 31, 2004 Marion Barber Minnesota RBDecember 30, 2005 Marques Hagans Virginia QBDecember 29, 2006 Andre' Woodson Kentucky QBDecember 31, 2007 Andre' Woodson Kentucky QBDecember 31, 2008 Brett Upson Vanderbilt PDecember 27, 2009 C. J. Spiller Clemson RBDecember 30, 2010 Shaun Draughn North Carolina RBDecember 30, 2011 Vick Ballard Mississippi State RBDecember 31, 2012 Zac Stacy Vanderbilt RBDecember 30, 2013 Bo Wallace Ole Miss QBDecember 30, 2014 Malik Zaire Notre Dame QBDecember 30, 2015 Lamar Jackson Louisville QBDecember 30, 2016 Joshua Dobbs Tennessee QBDecember 29, 2017 Justin Jackson Northwestern RBDecember 28, 2018 Jarrett Stidham Auburn QBDecember 30, 2019 Malik Cunningham Louisville QBDecember 30, 2021 Broc Thompson Purdue WRDecember 31, 2022 Cooper DeJean Iowa DBDecember 30, 2023 Billy Edwards Jr. Maryland QBDecember 30, 2024 Brady Cook Missouri QBDecember 30, 2025 Luke Altmyer Illinois QB
Most appearances Updated through the December 2025 edition (27 games, 54 total appearances).
Teams with multiple appearances RankTeamAppearancesRecord1 Kentucky 6 2–42 Tennessee 4 1–33 Auburn 3 2–1 Minnesota 3 2–15 Louisville 2 2–0 Vanderbilt 2 2–0 Boston College 2 1–1 Clemson 2 1–1 Iowa 2 1–1 Mississippi State 2 1–1 Ole Miss 2 1–1 Purdue 2 1–1 Alabama 2 0–2
Teams with a single appearance Won (10): Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
Lost (10): 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 (27 games, 54 total appearances).
ConferenceRecordAppearances by seasonGamesWLWin pct.WonLost SEC 26 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011,2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2024 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2010,2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 Big Ten 12 2002, 2004, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 2003, 2005, 2016, 2018, 2024 ACC 11 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2019 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 Big East 4 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Independents 1 2014
Independent appearances: Notre Dame (2014) The American Conference retains the conference charter of the Big East following the 2013 split of the original Big East along football lines.
Game records The most lopsided game was Auburn's 63–14 win over Purdue in the 2018 edition. Auburn's 63 points (56 in the first half alone, a record for a half in any bowl game) 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. OpponentYearMost points scored (one team) 63, Auburn vs. Purdue 2018Most points scored (losing team) 45, Tennessee vs. Purdue 2021Most points scored (both teams) 93, Purdue (48) vs. Tennessee (45) 2021Fewest points allowed 0, Iowa (21) v. Kentucky (0) 2022Largest margin of victory 49, Auburn (63) vs. Purdue (14) 2018Total yards 666, Tennessee vs. Purdue 2021Rushing yards 333, Northwestern vs. Kentucky 2017Passing yards 534, Purdue vs. Tennessee 2021First downs 31, Tennessee vs. Purdue 2021Fewest yards 185, Kentucky vs. Iowa 2022Fewest rushing yards 21, Alabama vs. Minnesota 2004Fewest passing yards 71, Virginia Tech vs. Alabama 1998IndividualRecord, Player, Team vs. OpponentYearAll-purpose yards 284, Tobias Palmer (NC State) 2012Touchdowns (all-purpose) 3, shared by:Joshua Dobbs (Tennessee)Darius Slayton (Auburn)Cedric Tillman (Tennessee) 201620182021Rushing yards 226, Lamar Jackson (Louisville) 2015Rushing touchdowns 3, Joshua Dobbs (Tennessee) 2016Passing yards 534, Aidan O'Connell (Purdue) 2021Passing touchdowns 5, shared by:Brad Lewis (West Virginia)Jarrett Stidham (Auburn)Hendon Hooker (Tennessee)Aidan O'Connell (Purdue) 2000201820212021Receptions 11, shared by:Josh Reynolds (Texas A&M)Rondale Moore (Purdue) 20152018Receiving yards 217, Broc Thompson (Purdue) 2021Receiving touchdowns 3, shared by:Darius Slayton (Auburn)Cedric Tillman (Tennessee) 20182021Tackles 20, Jeremy Banks (Tennessee) 2021Sacks 3.0, Devonte Fields (Louisville) 2015Interceptions 2, Michael Lehan (Minnesota) 2002 Long PlaysRecord, Team vs. OpponentYearTouchdown run 89 yds., Leonard Fournette (LSU) 2014Touchdown pass 75 yds., shared by:Anthony Jennings to John Diarse (LSU)Aidan O'Connell to Broc Thompson (Purdue) 20142021Kickoff return 100 yds., Leonard Fournette (LSU) 2014Punt return 47 yds., Rafael Little (Kentucky) 2006Interception return 65 yds., Trey Wilson (Vanderbilt) 2012Fumble return 31 yds., Khane Pass (Louisville) 2019Punt 68 yds., Tyler Campbell (Ole Miss) 2013Field goal 49 yds., Jack Howes (Maryland) 2023MiscellaneousRecord, Team vs. OpponentYearBowl Attendance 69,489, Purdue vs. Tennessee 2021
Media coverage The bowl has been televised by ESPN since its inception.
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