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2025 Music City Bowl Preview
Publish Date: December 19, 2025
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The 2025 Music City Bowl features the 8-4 Tennessee Volunteers and the 8-4 Illinois Fighting Illini. Here is the 2025 Music City Bowl Preview.
Tennessee won eight games this season to qualify for their fifth-straight bowl game. They did not defeat a bowl-eligible team this season. All four of their losses were to teams that made bowl games: Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.
The Volunteers score 40.8 points per game, ranking sixth in the country. They pass for 307.2 yards (ranked fifth) and rush for 174.8 yards (ranked 50th) per game.
Joey Aguilar transferred in from UCLA to play quarterback for Tennessee this season. He has passed for 3,444 yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on 66.8 percent completion. Five players had at least 250 receiving yards on the season. Chris Brazzell leads the team in receiving, but he is opting out of this game. Braylon Staley is the best remaining receiver after catching 64 passes for 806 yards and six touchdowns.
Mike Matthews has also been a threat with 50 catches for 770 yards and four touchdowns.
Three running backs have carried the load for the Volunteers. DaSean Bishop has led the way with 983 yards and 14 touchdowns. Star Thomas and Peyton Lewis have chipped in behind him with 529 and 290 rushing yards, respectively.
Defensively, they allow 28.75 points per game, ranking 91st in the country. They give up 146.7 rushing yards (ranked 64th) and 248.8 passing yards (ranked 115th) per game. Leading tackler Arion Carter has entered the NFL Draft, so the best tackler is now Edwin Spillman with 74. Dominic Bailey paces the team with 5.5 sacks. Ty Redmond has made plays on the ball with nine passes defended and three interceptions.
The Fighting Illini won eight games to make their second-straight bowl game. They defeated four bowl-eligible teams this season: Duke, Western Michigan, USC and Northwestern. Their only loss to a team that didn’t make a bowl game was to Wisconsin.