Amid an age where bowl games are seemingly created out of thin air, the Music City Bowl has been a model of consistency in Bowl Season. The first edition was played at Vanderbilt Stadium in 1998. It moved to its longtime home at Nissan Stadium the following season. Since then, it's become a holiday season standard. This year will mark the 24th iteration of the game (it was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
This year, it's a battle between the Big Ten's Maryland Terrapins and the SEC's Auburn Tigers. While this will be Maryland's first trip to Nashville for the game, Auburn will be making its third appearance. The Tigers have won their first two trips, beating Wisconsin 28-14 in 2003 and crushing Purdue 63-14 in 2018.
This will also mark the third meeting between Auburn and Maryland but the first since the 1983 season. That was an interesting year for both schools. At the time, Auburn was ranked No. 3 and beat No. 7 Maryland 35-23. It was part of a remarkable run of five straight wins over ranked teams (including four in the top 10) to finish the season 11-1. The Tigers finished the year No. 3 in the AP Poll behind an 11-1 Miami team that had just beaten No. 1 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl but only had two other wins against ranked teams. Nebraska finished No. 2 despite only one win against a ranked opponent.
Auburn probably would've liked to see a playoff in 1983.
How to watch Music City Bowl live
Date: Saturday, December 30 | Time: 2 p.m. ET
Location: Nissan Stadium -- Nashville, Tennessee
TV: ABC | Live stream: Fubo (Try for free)
For a limited time, new subscribers can save $20 on Fubo's Pro, Elite and Premier plans.
Auburn vs. Maryland: Need to know
Maryland won't have QB Taulia Tagovailoa: Having rewritten the Maryland record books during his career with the Terps, Tagovailoa became the Big Ten's all-time leader in passing yards during the regular season. But he won't be playing in this game. Tagovailoa has opted out and is reportedly looking into the possibility of petitioning for one more season (he played in five games in his first year at Alabama). Tagovailoa is far from the only player on either team to opt out of the game this year, but he's the biggest name by far.
Auburn has lost seven of its last nine bowl games: I mentioned earlier that Auburn won in its previous Music City Bowl appearances -- including in 2018 -- but that's proven to be an exception to the rule for the Tigers. That 2018 win over Purdue was Auburn's last bowl win. It has lost three straight since and seven of its last nine. The run started with the 2013 BCS National Championship loss to Florida State, but before that, the Tigers had won five straight bowls and eight of their previous nine. This program runs hot and cold in the postseason.
The Music City Bowl is close more often than not: Iowa's 21-0 win over Kentucky last year wasn't exciting, but by and large, this game has been entertaining. Of the last 18 games, 13 have finished as one-score affairs with two reaching overtime. Two years ago, we saw an incredible shootout between Purdue and Tennessee. Both teams traded offensive haymakers before the Boilermakers eventually won 48-45 in overtime.
Music City Bowl prediction, picks
Odds via SportsLine consensus
The spread was much smaller before news broke that Tagovailoa wouldn't be playing in the game. Still, even though it's grown to a touchdown, Auburn remains the right side. The Tigers may only be 6-6, but this is a team that was a miracle touchdown away from beating Alabama to finish the regular season. While a loss to New Mexico State was terrible (and came a week before the Iron Bowl), the Tigers' other five losses came to Texas A&M, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss and Alabama. Meanwhile, Maryland's best win this year was probably Rutgers. The Tigers are the better team at full strength, and they should be the much better team with Maryland missing its starting QB. Pick: Auburn -7
Which college football picks can you make with confidence during bowl season? Visit SportsLine to see which teams will win and cover the spread -- all from a proven computer model that has returned well over $2,000 in profit over the past seven-plus seasons -- and find out.
