Tennessee football vs. Indiana: Vols Gator Bowl live stream, time, TV, radio
In Jacksonville, Tennessee football closes out 2019 at the Gator Bowl. Here is our preview for the Volunteers and Indiana Hoosiers.
The last game of the season is finally here. After a tumultuous start, Tennessee football has a chance at a very strong finish to the 2019 season in its Gator Bowl matchup with the Indiana Hoosiers Thursday night.
Both teams are in their first bowl game since 2016. Indiana head coach Tom Allen took over for Kevin Wilson in the bowl game that year, and Jeremy Pruitt took over for Butch Jones a year later. Neither team had a winning record in 2017 or 2018.
Now, in 2019, it’s a classic SEC vs. Big Ten bowl game in Florida. There’s a lot of pride on the line as each program is trying to sell a future. Here is all the information you need for Tennessee football’s matchup with Indiana.
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: Indiana Hoosiers vs. Tennessee Volunteers
When: Thursday, Jan 2 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: TIAA Bank Field; Jacksonville, Fla.
TV: ESPN
Live stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Vol Network; IU Radio Network
Listen online: UTSports.com; IUHoosiers.com
Line: Tennessee -3.5
Over/Under: 55.5
UT and Indiana have only met once before, in the Peach Bowl to close out the 1987 season. That year, the Vols were 9-2-1, and Indiana was 8-3. Rocky Top won that game under head coach Johnny Majors 27-22, scoring a late touchdown after blowing a 21-3 lead, to finish 10-2-1 and in the top 15 of both polls.
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Of course, Tennessee football and Indiana have numerous connections. A current Hoosiers quarterback, Michael Penix Jr., is out of this game due to injury, but he was committed to the Vols before Jeremy Pruitt took over. That’s when he decommitted. Also, Allen hired UT offensive coordinator Mike DeBord away in 2017, which undid Butch Jones later that year.
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For a few more interesting connections, it’s worth noting that two of UT’s greatest legends in their respective sports, Peyton Manning in football and Tamika Catchings in women’s basketball, had legendary pro careers for professional teams in Indiana. Catchings starred for the Indiana Fever, and Manning became a legend with the Indianapolis Colts.
When it comes to this game specifically, the Vols only have two wins over teams that finished the season with winning records, the UAB Blazers and Kentucky Wildcats, although they did beat two other teams that went 6-6 in the regular season in the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Missouri Tigers. Anyway, Indiana would give them another quality win.
That would be a great finish for a team that started the season 0-2 with two home losses to Group of Five schools and then fell to 1-4 and 2-5 at different points. Jeremy Pruitt getting this team to 8-5 would be an insane accomplishment.
On the other side, the Hoosiers are 8-4 but haven’t beaten anybody with a winning record this season. As a result, they also have a lot to prove in this game. Beating an SEC team in Florida that is on a five-game winning streak would make just the statement this team needs to make, with so much talent going into next year.
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Regardless of how things play out, Tennessee football and Indiana both accomplished a lot just to get here. Their programs are clearly heading in the right direction. So this is an exciting Gator Bowl matchup that everybody should be paying attention to.