Usually, when the Music City Bowl hosts its pair of teams for the annual bowl game, the SEC team heads over to Vanderbilt’s facility to practice. Tennessee football apparently wasn’t on board with that idea, though.
According to Illinois head coach Bret Bielema, the Vols declined the option, giving the location to the Illini instead.
“The people here in Nashville have been absolutely awesome,” Bielema said. “To use Vanderbilt’s facility, an SEC team, we’re the first Big Ten team to be in this building. Usually, the SEC is always in here, but I know Tennessee really did not want to use Vandy’s facility, which I understand. I understand rivalries. But we’ve been a benefiter of that. It’s been an unbelievable facility. I talked to Coach Lea before we came down here and to have this facility has been absolutely awesome.”
Tennessee is instead practicing at Montgomery Bell Academy, a high school in Nashville. Josh Heupel has had no issue with the facilities there, either, as he complimented the practice location on Friday.
“Great to be here in Nashville,” Heupel said. “I want to thank Montgomery Bell for hosting us here. Great practice facility for us during the course of the week. Guys had a great couple days off for Christmas. That’s staff too. Get a chance to be a dad and be with their families and excited to get back here and start competing and get ready for kickoff against a really good Illinois team.”
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Tennessee is coming off a deflating loss to Vanderbilt to round out the season. The Vols and Commodores were trading blows in the first half before Vanderbilt ran away with things after halftime. This marked the first time that Clark Lea was able to beat his in-state rival as VU’s head coach.
That marked the 10th win of the season for Vanderbilt, as it finished 10-2 (6-2 SEC) on the year. That still wasn’t enough to get in the playoffs, though, as the Commodores are instead headed to the ReliaQuest Bowl to play Iowa.
Despite the recent loss, Tennessee has dominated the series historically. UT owns an 81-33-5 all-time record against the rival, including a 40-12-1 mark inside Neyland Stadium.
Kickoff for the Music City Bowl against Illinois is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET in Nashville. It will air on ESPN and be played at Nissan Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.
