Bowl Projections: Five possible destinations for Tennessee football
Bowl projections continue to vary for Tennessee football entering Saturday’s game at Missouri. After the 59-3 win over UConn last week, the Vols have projections for the Citrus Bowl, Gator Bowl, ReliaQuest Bowl, Music City Bowl and the Liberty Bowl.
The 14th-ranked Vols (7-2, 3-2 SEC) face No. 16 Mizzou (7-2, 3-2) on Saturday (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS) at Faurot Field in Columbia, with both teams tied for second in the SEC East. Next week Tennessee hosts No. 1 Georgia at Neyland Stadium.
In this week’s projections, the two most popular picks are the ReliaQuest Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, formerly known as the Outback Bowl, and the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
USA Today and The Athletic both have the Vols in the ReliaQuest Bowl matched up against Notre Dame, while College Football Network has Rutgers as the opponent.
Athlon, CBS Sports and ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura are all projecting the Vols to face Iowa in Orlando.
Two others have Tennessee in the Gator Bowl. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach has the Vols and North Carolina State in Jacksonville while The Action Network matched Tennessee up with Georgia Tech, with the Vols as a 17-point favorite.
The Sporting News has Tennessee and Minnesota in the Music City Bowl and Yahoo has the Vols facing Oklahoma in the Liberty Bowl.
Bowl Schedule
The Gator Bowl will be played on Friday, December 29, a 1 p.m. ET start … The Liberty Bowl is a 3:30 p.m. ET start on Friday, December 29 … The Music City Bowl is a 2 p.m. ET start on Saturday, December 30 … The Citrus Bowl is a 1 p.m. Eastern Time start on New Year’s Day … The ReliaQuest Bowl is a Noon ET start on New Year’s Day
Bowl History — Tennessee’s Projected Destinations
Tennessee has played in the Citrus Bowl five times, including three trips in four years between 1994 and 1997. The Vols beat Maryland 30-23 in the 1983 Citrus Bowl and lost to Penn State 31-13 in 1994. Tennessee won back-to-back Citrus Bowls on New Year’s Day 1996 and 1997, beating Ohio State 20-14 and Northwestern 48-28. The Vols beat Michigan 45-17 on January 1, 2002.
Tennessee has played in the Gator Bowl seven times. The Vols beat Texas A&M 3-0 in the 1957 Gator Bowl, beat Syracuse 18-12 in the 1966 Gator Bowl and lost 14-13 to Florida in the 1969 Gator Bowl. Texas Tech beat the Vols 28-19 in the 1973 Gator Bowl and Tennessee beat Virginia Tech 45-23 in the 1994 Gator Bowl, played at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.
Tennessee beat Iowa 45-28 in 2015, when the Gator Bowl was known as the TaxSlayer Bowl and the Vols beat Indiana 23-22 in the 2019 Gator Bowl. This year’s Gator Bowl will be played on Friday, December 29 and will be a Noon Eastern Time start at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville.
The ReliaQuest Bowl has hosted Tennessee four times. The Vols lost 20-10 to Penn State in 2007, beat Wisconsin 21-16 in 2008 and beat Northwestern 45-6 on New Year’s Day 2016.
The Vols are 3-0 in the Liberty Bowl, beating Arkansas in 1971, Maryland in 1974 and Minnesota in 1986.
