Tennessee vs. Illinois: Time, Date, TV Channel, 2025 Music City Bowl Preview
It’s bowl season, which means we have a lot of football to watch between Dec. 13 and Jan. 19! Ohio State, Utah, Georgia Southern, Army, Texas A&M — and just about everyone in between — will take part in a total of 47 games that will ultimately conclude with the 2026 CFP National Championship.
NESN has you covered with previews for each and every game — with our next contest bringing us to the music city:
2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl
Matchup: Tennessee Volunteers vs. Illinois Fighting Illini
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025
Kickoff: 5:30 p.m. ET
Stadium: Nissan Stadium — Nashville, Tenn.
TV: ESPN
Game Overview
The Music City Bowl always promises intrigue, as it routinely features incredibly interesting matchups between the Big Ten and SEC.
Missouri barely edged out Iowa, 27-24, in 2024. Purdue won an instant classic against Tennessee, 48-45, in 2021. Northwestern grabbed an insanely close victory against Kentucky, 24-23, in 2017.
Cooper DeJean (2022) and Lamar Jackson (2015) are some of the more interesting players to win the game’s MVP. The Volunteers and Fighting Illini are hoping to add one of their players to the mix.
Team Overviews
Tennessee Volunteers
Conference: SEC
Head Coach: Josh Huepel
Record: 6–6
Tennessee showed signs of decline this season, following up their first ever college football playoff appearance with an inconsistent season that saw them improve offensively (No. 13 in 2024, No. 6 in 2025) but sharply decline defensively (No. 7 in 2024, No. 92 in 2025).
The Volunteers responded to that change by firing defensive coordinator Tim Banks — but there hasn’t been much reason to believe that will fix everything.
Josh Huepel’s squad only lost to ranked opponents — No. 6 Alabama, No. 6 Georgia, No. 12 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Oklahoma — and finished with a plus-144 scoring differential, however…
Illinois Fighting Illini
Conference: Big Ten
Head Coach: Bret Bielema
Record: 8–4
Illinois can’t hang its hat on either side of the ball, but are remarkably consistent on both and actually has a ranked win under its belt — No. 21 USC.
The Fighting Illini finished the season strongly with victories over Rutgers, Maryland and Northwester, though they did slip up against Wisconsin.
Bret Bielema expects all of his healthy players and coaches to participate in the bowl game, so perhaps that gives them a slight advantage?
Players to Watch
Tennessee
QB Joey Aguilar
RB DeSean Bishop
WR Braylon Staley
DL Dominic Bailey
DL Tyre West
DB Ty Redmond
DB Edrees Farooq
Illinois
QB Luke Altmyer
RB Ca’Lil Valentine
RB Kaden Feagin
WR Hank Beatty
WR Collin Dixon
DL Tomiwa Durojaiye
DB Miles Scott
Key Notes
Tennessee wide receiver Chris Brazzell II already declared for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Betting Lines
DraftKings Sportsbook: Tennessee -2.5 | O/U 61.5
FanDuel Sportsbook: Tennessee -2.5 | O/U 61.5
BetMGM Sportsbook: Tennessee -2.5 | O/U 61.5
The Pick: Tennessee -2.5