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Tennessee football: Music City Bowl vs. Purdue perfect way for Vols to cap off wild year

By Caleb Calhoun

Nov 14, 2021; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; View of flags and signs of military service personnel outside Nissan Stadium as a part of salute to service week before the game between the Tennessee Titans and the New Orleans Saints. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 14, 2021; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; View of flags and signs of military service personnel outside Nissan Stadium as a part of salute to service week before the game between the Tennessee Titans and the New Orleans Saints. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /
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In the first month of the year, Tennessee football fired Jeremy Pruitt due to an NCAA investigation on the heels of a 3-7 season. They then lost 30 players to the transfer portal as they changed athletic directors, going from Phillip Fulmer to Danny White, and as Josh Heupel was hired.

Well, things are much different the final month of the year. The Vols not only avoided a bowl ban, but they surprised everybody by reaching bowl eligibility Heupel’s first year. Now they get to celebrate with a game in front of their own fans.

UT will be heading to the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn. to take on the Purdue Boilermakers to end the 2021 season. It’s the second time over the past six seasons Tennessee football will be playing at Nissan Stadium.

Ironically, Purdue is led by Jeff Brohm, one of the many people John Currie reportedly almost hired at the end of the 2017 season before he was canned and Fulmer came in to hire Pruitt. At 8-4, they are coming in with the best season they have had in five years under Brojm.

Included in that season are two top five wins, one over the Iowa Hawkeyes when they were ranked No. 2 and another over the Michigan State Spartans when they were ranked No. 3. Taking that into account, they’ll be a tough out for Tennessee football.

Still, the story of the appearance is the Vols. That they could guarantee themselves a winning season, coming in with a 7-5 record, given everything they went through this past offseason, is beyond impressive. Getting to 6-6 was the goal at the start of the year, and that seemed to be a bit of an uphill climb.

Add in what their schedule turned out to be, and it’s even more impressive. Four of UT’s five losses are to teams that are playing in New Years Six games, three of them are to teams that won their conference and two are to teams that will be in the College Football Playoff.

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Taking all that into account, Tennessee football deserves to end what was a tumultuous year in front of its fans in Nashville. The excitement will be through the roof for everybody. Also, they’ve won their last five games against Big Ten opponents in bowls, including the last four appearances they made in one.

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