2021 Music City Bowl

2021 TransPerfect Music City Bowl
23rd Music City Bowl
Purdue Boilermakers Tennessee Volunteers
(8–4) (7–5)
Big Ten SEC
48 45
Head coach: 
Jeff Brohm		 Head coach: 
Josh Heupel
1234OT Total
Purdue 7167153 48
Tennessee 21010140 45
DateDecember 30, 2021
Season2021
StadiumNissan Stadium
LocationNashville, Tennessee
MVPBroc Thompson (WR, Purdue)[1]
FavoriteTennessee by 3[2]
RefereeJerry Magallanes (ACC) [3]
Attendance69,489
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN
ESPN Radio
AnnouncersESPN: Tom Hart (play-by-play), Jordan Rodgers (color), and Cole Cubelic (sidelines)
ESPN Radio: Dave Neal (play-by-play), Deuce McAllister (analyst), and Andraya Carter (sideline)
International TV coverage
NetworkESPN Brazil
AnnouncersRenan do Couto (play-by-play) and Weinny Eirado (analyst)
Music City Bowl
 < 2019 2022 > 

The 2021 Music City Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 2021, with kickoff at 3:00 p.m. EST (2:00 p.m. local CST) and televised on ESPN.[4] It was the 23rd edition of the Music City Bowl (after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), and was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. Sponsored by translation and language services company TransPerfect, the game was officially known as the TransPerfect Music City Bowl.

Teams

The game was played between Tennessee from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Purdue from the Big Ten Conference.[5][6] The game was the second meeting between the schools; the first was the 1979 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, which Purdue won by a score of 27–22.[7]

Purdue Boilermakers

Main article: 2021 Purdue Boilermakers football team

The Boilermakers entered the bowl with an 8–4 record (6–3 in conference), including an away upset win against No. 2 Iowa by seventeen points on October 16, and a home upset win against No. 3 Michigan State by 11 points. The Boilermakers finished in a three-way tie for second place of the Big Ten's West Division. This was Purdue's second Music City Bowl; their 2018 team lost that season's Music City Bowl to Auburn, 63–14. The Boilermakers had not made a bowl appearance since, but this was Purdue's 20th overall bowl game in program history.

Tennessee Volunteers

Main article: 2021 Tennessee Volunteers football team

Tennessee entered the bowl with a 7–5 record (4–4 in conference), including an away upset win against No. 18 Kentucky by three points on November 6. The Volunteers finished in third place in the SEC's East Division. This was Tennessee's third Music City Bowl; they lost in 2010 to North Carolina, 27–30, but won in 2016 over Nebraska, 38–24. This was the 54th overall bowl game for the Volunteers program.

Game summary

2021 TransPerfect Music City Bowl
Quarter 1 2 34OTTotal
Tennessee 21 0 1014045
Purdue 7 16 715348

at Nissan Stadium • Nashville, Tennessee

  • Date: Thursday, December 30, 2021
  • Game time: 2:00 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: Cloudy • Temperature: 57 °F (14 °C) • Wind: 0 mph S
  • Game attendance: 69,489
  • TV announcers (ESPN): Tom Hart (play-by-play), Jordan Rodgers (color), and Cole Cubelic (sidelines)
Scoring summary
Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score
Plays Yards TOP Tennessee Purdue
1 10:28 4 56 0:44 Tennessee Cedric Tillman 41-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good 7 0
1 10:15 1 75 0:13 Purdue Broc Thompson 75-yard touchdown reception from Aidan O'Connell, Mitchell Fineran kick good 7 7
1 6:31 2 63 0:27 Tennessee Cedric Tillman 61-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good 14 7
1 3:29 8 80 2:14 Tennessee Jabari Small 2-yard touchdown run, Chase McGrath kick good 21 7
2 14:01 10 68 4:28 Purdue 24-yard field goal by Mitchell Fineran 21 10
2 9:42 9 69 2:59 Purdue 36-yard field goal by Mitchell Fineran 21 13
2 1:03 8 52 2:33 Purdue 29-yard field goal by Mitchell Fineran 21 16
2 0:19 2 28 0:10 Purdue Payne Durham 2-yard touchdown reception from Aidan O'Connell, Mitchell Fineran kick good 21 23
3 12:45 7 71 2:15 Tennessee Velus Jones Jr. 15-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good 28 23
3 9:04 9 75 3:41 Purdue TJ Sheffield 10-yard touchdown reception from Aidan O'Connell, Mitchell Fineran kick good 28 30
3 3:44 5 36 2:01 Tennessee 30-yard field goal by Chase McGrath 31 30
4 4:58 3 90 1:02 Purdue Payne Durham 62-yard touchdown reception from Aidan O'Connell, 2-point pass good 31 38
4 3:37 5 65 1:21 Tennessee Cedric Tillman 13-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good 38 38
4 2:57 3 75 0:40 Purdue Broc Thompson 70-yard touchdown reception from Aiden O'Connell, Mitchell Fineran kick good 38 45
4 1:35 4 72 1:22 Tennessee Jalin Hyatt 2-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good 45 45
OT 4 4 Purdue 39-yard field goal by Mitchell Fineran 45 48
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.

Statistics

Team statistics

Team statistical comparison
Statistic Tennessee Purdue
First downs 30 26
First downs rushing 16 4
First downs passing 11 15
First downs penalty 3 7
Third down efficiency 8–20 6–16
Fourth down efficiency 2–6 0–1
Total plays–net yards 103–663 81–627
Rushing attempts–net yards 62–285 33–93
Yards per rush 4.6 2.8
Yards passing 378 534
Pass completions–attempts 26–41 26–48
Interceptions thrown 0 3
Punt returns–total yards 2–(−6) 2–2
Kickoff returns–total yards 8–190 0–0
Punts–average yardage 6–43.3 5–41.0
Fumbles–lost 4–1 3–0
Penalties–yards 14–128 5–61
Time of possession 29:53 30:07

Individual statistics

Tennessee statistics
Volunteers passing
C–A Yds TD–INT
Hendon Hooker 26–41 378 5–0
Volunteers rushing
Car Yds TD
Jabari Small 26 180 1
Hendon Hooker 19 62 0
Jaylen Wright 17 54 0
TEAM 1 −8 0
Volunteers receiving
Rec Yds TD
Cedric Tillman 7 150 3
Velus Jones Jr. 10 85 1
Princeton Fant 3 71 0
Jalin Hyatt 3 35 1
JaVonta Payton 2 35 0
Jabari Small 1 2 0
Purdue statistics
Boilermakers passing
C–A Yds TD–INT
Aidan O'Connell 26–47 534 5–3
Jackson Anthrop 0–1 0 0–0
Boilermakers rushing
Car Yds TD
Zander Horvath 17 58 0
King Doerue 10 45 0
Jackson Anthrop 2 2 0
Deion Burks 1 −3 0
Aidan O'Connell 3 −9 0
Boilermakers receiving
Rec Yds TD
Broc Thompson 7 217 2
Payne Durham 5 85 2
Jackson Anthrop 5 74 0
T.J. Sheffield 3 61 1
Deion Burks 1 26 0
Garrett Miller 1 25 0
Dylan Downing 1 21 0
Zander Horvath 2 21 0
Collin Sullivan 1 4 0

References

  1. ^ @BenDavisFB (December 30, 2021). "ongrats to the Music City Bowl MVP @CantGuardBroc" (Tweet). Retrieved December 30, 2021 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Fawkes, Ben. "Odds for College Football Playoff, every bowl game". vsin.com. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  3. ^ "2021-22 bowl officiating assignments". footballzebras.com. December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  4. ^ "2021 College Football Bowl Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  5. ^ @MusicCityBowl (December 5, 2021). "@BoilerFootball will play @Vol_Football on Dec. 30 at @NissanStadium!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Organ, Mike (December 5, 2021). "Tennessee and Purdue to play in the Music City Bowl". The Tennessean. Nashville. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  7. ^ "Purdue to Pay Tennessee in the 2021 TransPerfect Music City Bowl". MusicCityBowl.com. Retrieved December 5, 2021.