Tennessee football has its official 2025 bowl designation. The Music City Bowl confirmed reports and announced it will be hosting the Vols and Illinois for this year’s edition of the matchup.
The game is scheduled for Dec. 30 at 5:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. CT from Nashville’s Nissan Stadium. It will air on ESPN and on the ESPN App. You can buy tickets to attend here.
“We appreciate the opportunity to send our seniors out with one final game in our home state in the Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl,” said Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel. “The opportunity to prepare and compete against an outstanding Big Ten opponent the caliber of Illinois is one we look forward to. Vol Nation has been unwavering in its loyalty and support of our players. It’s something we never take for granted. We are excited to go play in front of them one more time in 2025 in Nashville.”
orange you ready? 😮💨🍊
🔗don’t miss out— https://t.co/M41SSz36eF#vols #volsfootball #fightingillini #illinifootball #libertymutualmusiccitybowl #musiccitybowl #bowlseason pic.twitter.com/awCYROLJ5H
— Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl (@MusicCityBowl) December 7, 2025
More From RTI: Tennessee And Illinois Entering Unique Situation As Reported Bowl Game Opponents
This will be the first time Tennessee and Illinois will ever meet on the gridiron, according to Winsipedia. However, Vol fans are plenty familiar with the Illini, as UT just lost to them in Nashville for a neutral-site game in men’s basketball. Tennessee won both ends of a home-and-home with Illinois, as well, in men’s basketball over the past two seasons.
This will be the fourth time Tennessee has played in the Music City Bowl. The Vols lost to North Carolina in 2010 in double overtime due to a controversial ending that resulted in the NCAA adding the 10-second run-off rule going forward. The Vols returned in 2016 and defeated Nebraska by two touchdowns.
In 2021, Josh Heupel’s first season leading Tennessee, the Vols went back to the game. Another controversial ending, Jaylen Wright’s forward progress being ruled to have stopped, resulted in an overtime to Purdue.
