This year’s Music City Bowl features a pair of teams that fell short of their preseason expectations. Tennessee came into the year hungry to get back to the CFP after its unceremonious ousting a year ago. Illinois was a popular pick to be an at-large big from the Big Ten. Now, as the calendar is about to switch to 2026, neither team is competing for a title. Both Josh Heupel and Bret Bielema are looking to end the 2025 season on a high note in the Music City Bowl with one last matchup.
2025 Music City Bowl: Tennessee And Illinois Have An Orange-Off
Tennessee comes into the Music City Bowl at 8-4 with a 4-4 mark in the SEC. It wasn’t the best season after making the CFP a year ago, but Tennessee beat every team it was supposed to. The Volunteers started the year with wins over Syracuse and East Tennessee State before falling to Georgia. Then, they rattled off three straight wins to get up to 11th in the AP Poll before losing to Alabama on the Third Saturday in October. After beating Kentucky, Tennessee fell to Oklahoma again. The season ended with two more wins before getting thrashed by Vanderbilt for the first loss in the rivalry since 2018.
Illinois is also 8-4 overall with a 5-4 mark in the Big Ten. After running through the non-conference slate, Illinois was shellacked by Indiana, 63-0. The Illini then took down a ranked USC team, followed by Purdue, before putting up a fight against Ohio State in a close loss. Another loss to Washington followed, but Illinois got back on track with back-to-back wins before falling to four-win Wisconsin and ending the year with a win over Northwestern.
Tracking Opt Outs and Transfers
Both teams will be without their standout players due to opt-outs and transfers. Illinois will be without nine players, three of whom were impact players and will be headed to the NFL. Gabe Jacas, the Illini star edge rusher, will sit this one out. He was the Illinois pass rush with 43 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, and 11 sacks. Another star sitting out is left tackle JC Davis. He held down the left tackle position for all 12 games, culminating in 776 snaps and only one sack allowed.
Meanwhile, the Volunteers will be without nine players. Five of those nine are sitting out to preserve themselves for the NFL Draft, led by Jermod McCoy, Colton Hood, and Chris Brazzell. McCoy has been out all year due to injury, so this isn’t as much of a loss as it could have been. Either way, he is expected to head to the NFL Draft after a standout season last year. Hood is also likely headed to the NFL after playing for his third team in three seasons. He gave Tennessee 50 tackles, five tackles for loss, eight pass breakups, a pick-six, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.
Finally, Brazzell broke out for the Volunteers in his second season with Tennessee. He led the SEC with 1,087 yards and nine touchdowns this year.
When Tennessee Has The Ball
Despite losing Brazzell, the Tennessee offense should be okay. Julian Aguilar was the return in the Nico Iamaleava trade to UCLA, and he put up about 500 more yards and five more touchdowns for the Volunteers (while Iamaleava’s number went down). The former Appalachian State star has a chance to set a new career best in this game as he’s sitting with 3,444 yards and 24 touchdowns on the year. Without Brazzell, there will be a hole to be filled, but Aguilar’s top target for the year has been Braylon Staley and his 64 receptions, 806 yards, and six touchdowns.
On the ground, the Volunteers still have DeShaun Bishop. In 12 games, Bishop ran for 983 yards and 14 touchdowns on 163 rushes. Tennessee also has two more backs with seven touchdowns, so it should be fine establishing the run in this game.
Tennessee comes into the Music City Bowl with the fourth-best total offense, fifth-best passing offense, sixth-best scoring offense, and the 50th-best rushing offense.
Illinois losing Jacas is going to open things up. Behind him, the most dominant defensive lineman has been Tomiwa Durojaiye, with his four-and-a-half tackles for loss and two sacks. It could make for a bigger day for the linebacker and leading tackler, Matthew Bailey. He heads into this game with 76 tackles, four tackles for loss, two pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. In the secondary, the Illini have been without star corner Xavier Scott for the majority of the way. Jaheim Clarke has stepped up in his absence. Clarke leads the team with eight pass breakups, a tackle for loss, and a recovered fumble.
The Illinois defense enters the Music City Bowl ranked 35th in rushing defense, 50th in scoring defense, 51st in total defense, and 80th in passing defense.
When Illinois Has The Ball
The Fighting Illini have struggled a bit on offense this year. Illinois has a run-first offense, led by Ca’Lil Valentine and Kaden Feagan. Valentine has carried the ball 123 times for 549 yards and four touchdowns. Feagan, meanwhile, has run it 119 times for 499 yards and seven scores. If it wants to throw the ball, Illinois has a veteran leader, Luke Altmyer. The one-time Ole Miss quarterback set a career-best in passing yards this year with 2,811. He added 21 touchdowns, one off from his best from last year. The key for him is that he takes care of the ball. Altmyer has only five interceptions this year on 332 attempts. He has a total of 11 interceptions over the last two seasons (679 passing attempts).
Illinois finished the regular season with the 53rd-ranked scoring offense, 57th-ranked passing offense, 83rd-ranked total offense, and the 100th-ranked rushing offense.
Replacing a first-round pick on the defensive line proved to be difficult for Tennessee. Its leading tackler up front is Dominic Bailey with seven-and-a-half tackles for loss and five-and-a-half sacks. Of course, the Volunteer defense gets after the ball. As a unit, it has forced 17 fumbles, led by Edrees Farooq’s four and Joshua Joseph’s three. Tennessee has recovered 10 of those fumbles and hauled in 10 interceptions, with three pick-sixes.
The Volunteer defense has the 66th-ranked rushing defense, 89th in total defense, 93rd-ranked scoring defense, and 117th-ranked in passing defense.
Last Word on The Music City Bowl
On paper, this matchup appears somewhat one-sided. Tennessee only lost to four teams: three CFP participants and Vanderbilt, who felt it had a case. Illinois struggled all year and even lost to a bad Wisconsin team. Now, without its best defender, it’s going to be hard for Illinois to keep Tennessee in check. The Big Ten heads into this matchup unbeaten in bowl games. This could be where that streak ends.
Bottom Line on the Music City Bowl
Where: Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee
History: No previous meetings
Date and Time: December 30, 5:30 p.m. EST
How to Watch: ESPN
Spread: Tennessee -2.5; O/U 61.5 (via FanDuel)
Main Photo: Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl