Tennessee football vs Illinois in Music City Bowl: Prediction, matchup
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Tennessee football will play Illinois in the Music City Bowl in a matchup of prolific passers, Joey Aguilar and Luke Altmyer.
It will be a 5:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Dec. 30 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
No. 23 Tennessee (8-4) and Illinois (8-4) were once College Football Playoff contenders. But after drifting out of the mix, they’ll face off in a bowl game.
Here are three takeaways about the Vols’ opponent and a Music City Bowl prediction.
Illinois, like Tennessee, was once considered a CFP contender
Illinois started the season as a popular pick to make the College Football Playoff, and it climbed to No. 8 in the coaches poll through the first month of the season.
But that fell apart when Illinois suffered an embarrassing 63-10 loss to Indiana. It then lost to Ohio State (34-16), Washington (42-25) and Wisconsin (27-10) to drop out of the Top 25. Its best wins were over USC and Duke, the ACC champion.
Tennessee had a similar rise and fall. It climbed to No. 11 in the polls by midseason.
But the Vols dropped out of CFP contention with losses to playoff teams Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma and playoff contender Vanderbilt. They remain No. 23 in the coaches poll but unranked in the AP Top 25 and CFP rankings.
Joey Aguilar vs. Luke Altmyer could be a shootout
It was widely reported that Altmyer could’ve been Tennessee’s starting quarterback after Nico Iamaleava transferred to UCLA following spring practice. But he decided to stay at Illinois rather than jump into the transfer portal.
Tennessee instead got Aguilar, who led the SEC with 3,444 yards passing along with 24 TD passes. And he has passed for 10,204 yards in his Division I career, including two seasons at Appalachian State and one season at Tennessee.
Altmyer passed for 2,811 yards, 21 TDs and five interceptions for Illinois this season. He has passed for 7,728 yards in his career, including two seasons at Ole Miss and three seasons at Illinois.
Both quarterbacks could light it up in the Music City Bowl.
Tennessee ranks 15th among 16 SEC teams in pass defense, allowing 248.8 yards per game. Illinois ranks 15th among 18 teams in the Big Ten in pass defense, allowing 226.5 yards per game.
Disruptive NFL-bound edge rushers will be on display
Assuming they don’t opt out of the game, the Music City Bowl will feature two playmaking edge rushers eyeing the 2026 NFL Draft.
Joshua Josephs has helped Tennessee rack up 36 sacks, tied for eighth-most in the nation, and lead the SEC with 20 forced fumbles. He has forced three fumbles and applied pressure to opposing passers all season.
Illinois edge rusher Gabe Jacas leads the Big Ten with 11 sacks, along with 13.5 tackles-for-loss and three forced fumbles. The Fighting Illini lead the Big Ten with 16 forced fumbles.
Prediction
Tennessee 45, Illinois 42
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Music City Bowl: Tennessee vs Illinois score prediction, matchup
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