It's the time of year when every major media outlet is making its predictions for the upcoming bowl season. Tennessee football had a solid season but fell short of the ultimate goal of reaching the College Football Playoff again.
On Friday morning, The Athletic released a new bowl-season predictions article. This article featured the Tennessee Volunteers in the Music City Bowl versus the Big Ten's Illinois Fighting Illini.
Illinois would be a fun matchup for Tennessee. The Fighting Illini have been a solid program under Bret Bielema. The Volunteers would also have a home game, as Nashville would host the bowl. Ironically, Tennessee basketball will take on Illinois Saturday night in Nashville.
Plus, these two teams have never met in the history of college football. It would be fun to see a different opponent for Tennessee fans instead of a stale matchup we have seen a hundred times.
Other possible Tennessee bowl games
ESPN recently released a bowl game predictions article. They had Tennessee taking on Georgia Tech in the Taxslayer Gator Bowl. They also had Tennessee taking on Iowa in the Reliquest Bowl.
Georgia Tech would be a fun game in my opinion. Brent Key is a great coach, and they run a fun offense as Josh Heupel does. It would be a game where a million points are scored, and it would most likely feature a plethora of twists and turns.
Seeing Iowa again wouldn't be too fun. There are rumors that Kirk Ferentz could retire, so it could be cool to play against him in his final game, but we've seen this battle too recently.
There’s no question that Volunteers fans would like to be talking about college football playoff draws right now. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, but there is still plenty to look forward to, with a bowl game to cap off the year.