Music City Bowl

The Music City Bowl is a post-season American college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played in Nashville, Tennessee, since 1998.

Site
The first Mike Feld Music City Bowl was played at Vanderbilt Stadium in 1998. Beginning in 1999, the game has been played at LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans.

NON-BCS Bowl
See Bowl Championship Series

Sponsors
Beginning in 2002, the game became known as the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. In 2003, Bridgestone became the presenting sponsor of the game, and its full title became the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone. Both sponsors are based in Nashville. Previous sponsors of the bowl game included American General Life & Accident (now a subsidiary of AIG) in the inaugural 1998 game, and the now-defunct "homepoint.com" in the 1999 game. There was no sponsor in 2000 and 2001. Bridgestone dropped its presenting sponsorship following the 2007 game. Beginning with the 2010 game, Franklin American Mortgage served as title sponsor, though Gaylord still served as a major sponsor of the event. The new name is the Franklin American Mortgage Company Music City Bowl.

Conferences
The game initially featured a matchup between representatives of the Southeastern Conference and the Big East Conference. The Big East was replaced by the Big Ten Conference in 2002. Beginning with the 2006 game the Big Ten Conference was replaced by the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC also took part in the 2005 game, when Virginia appeared because the SEC did not have enough bowl-eligible teams.

Frequent upsets
The Music City Bowl has a history of upsets. The biggest underdog win was when Kentucky (+10) defeated Clemson 28–20 in 2006. Other big upsets include Minnesota (+7) defeating Arkansas 29–14 in 2002 and Virginia (+6) defeating Minnesota 34–31 in 2005. Boston College was a 4 point underdog when they defeated Georgia 20–16 in 2001, West Virginia was a 3 point underdog when they beat Mississippi in 2000, Syracuse was a 3 point underdog when they defeated Kentucky in 1999 and Minnesota was a 1 point underdog when they beat Alabama in 2004. Boston College also fell victim to an upset in the Music City Bowl in 2008, when the Vanderbilt Commodores (+4), making their first bowl appearance since 1982, defeated the 24th-ranked Eagles 16-14. The only favored teams to have won the Music City Bowl are Virginia Tech (&minus;5) over Alabama in the first Music City Bowl in 1998, Auburn (&minus;3) over Wisconsin in 2003, Kentucky (&minus;7) over Florida State in 2007, Mississippi State (-6.5) over Wake Forest in 2011, and Vanderbilt (-7.5) over NC State in 2012 Music City Bowl [2012.

Game records
The most lopsided loss was Virginia Tech's 38–7 win over Alabama in 1998. Alabama's 7 points in that game is a low for the Music City Bowl. The closest game was Vanderbilt's 16-14 win over Boston College in 2008. This also marked the lowest point total in the bowl's history. The highest point total was West Virginia's 49 against Ole Miss in 2000; Ole Miss scored 38 in that game and the 87 point total in that game is a high for the Music City Bowl. The attendance record was set at the 2007 Music City Bowl in Kentucky's win over Florida State.

Game results


† Denotes overtime(s)