Music City Bowl

Music City Bowl
Franklin American Mortgage Music City bowl
Stadium	LP Field
Location	Nashville, Tennessee
Previous stadiums	Vanderbilt Stadium (1998)
Operated	1998–present
Conference tie-ins	ACC, SEC
Previous conference tie-ins	Big East (1998–2001) Big Ten (2002–2005)
Payout	US$3,500,000 (Template:As of 2009)[1]
Sponsors
American General Life & Accident (1998) homepoint.com (1999) Bridgestone (2003–2007) Gaylord Hotels (2002–2009) Franklin American Mortgage (2010–present)
Former names
Music City Bowl (1998–2001) Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl (2002, 2008–2009) Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone (2003–2007)
2009 matchup
Clemson vs. Kentucky (Clemson 21–13)
2010 matchup
North Carolina vs. Tennessee (December 30, 2010)

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.

History

Site

The first 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.

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.^[2] 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. Underdogs have won the game six out of the nine times it has been played. 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 (−5) over Alabama in the first Music City Bowl in 1998, Auburn (−3) over Wisconsin in 2003, and Kentucky (−7) over Florida State in 2007.

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

Date Played	Winning Team	Losing Team	Notes
December 29, 1998[3]	Virginia Tech	38	Alabama	7	notes
December 29, 1999	Syracuse	20	Kentucky	13	notes
December 28, 2000	West Virginia	49	Mississippi	38	notes
December 28, 2001	Boston College	20	Georgia	16	notes
December 30, 2002	Minnesota	29	Arkansas	14	notes
December 31, 2003	Auburn	28	Wisconsin	14	notes
December 31, 2004	Minnesota	20	Alabama	16	notes
December 30, 2005[4]	Virginia	34	Minnesota	31	notes
December 29, 2006	Kentucky	28	Clemson	20	notes
December 31, 2007	Kentucky	35	Florida State	28	notes
December 31, 2008	Vanderbilt	16	Boston College	14	notes
December 27, 2009	Clemson	21	Kentucky	13	notes
December 30, 2010 ††	North Carolina	30	Tennessee	27	notes

† Denotes overtime(s)

Most Valuable Players

Date played	MVP	Team	Position
December 29, 1998	Corey Moore	Virginia Tech	DE
December 29, 1999	James Mungro	Syracuse	RB
December 29, 2000	Brad Lewis	West Virginia	QB
December 28, 2001	William Green	Boston College	RB
December 30, 2002	Dan Nystrom	Minnesota	K
December 31, 2003	Jason Campbell	Auburn	QB
December 31, 2004	Marion Barber	Minnesota	RB
December 30, 2005	Marques Hagans	Virginia	QB
December 29, 2006	André Woodson	Kentucky	QB
December 31, 2007	André Woodson	Kentucky	QB
December 31, 2008	Brett Upson	Vanderbilt	P
December 27, 2009	Zach Flener	Clemson	RB
December 30, 2010	Shaun Draughn	North Carolina	RB

Appearances by Team

Rank	Team	Appearances	Record
1	Kentucky	4	2–2
2	Minnesota	3	2–1
T3	Boston College	2	1–1
T3	Clemson	2	1–1
T3	Alabama	2	0–2
T6	Auburn	1	1–0
T6	North Carolina	1	1–0
T6	Syracuse	1	1–0
T6	Vanderbilt	1	1–0
T6	Virginia	1	1–0
T6	Virginia Tech	1	1–0
T6	West Virginia	1	1–0
T6	Arkansas	1	0–1
T6	Florida State	1	0–1
T6	Georgia	1	0–1
T6	Mississippi	1	0–1
T6	Tennessee	1	0–1
T6	Wisconsin	1	0–1

Wins by conference

Conference	Wins	Losses
Big East	4	0
Big Ten	2	2
Atlantic Coast	3	3
Southeastern	4	8

See also

• List of college bowl games

References

External links

• Official website