The giant-slayer of Purdue meets the offensive powerhouse that is Tennessee in the Music City Bowl. Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday is going to showcase these two great teams with some insanely talented players. 

How We Got Here:

Both teams were surprising in one way or another. For the Volunteers, they were projected before the season to barely be a bowl team, and the Boilermakers weren’t even projected to hit six wins.

The Purdue Boilermakers, who are under Jeff Brohm for the fifth year, finished 8-4, which is the best record in the Brohm era. As opposed to other teams with a similar record, they never really had a bad loss. The only loss Purdue suffered as true favorites was against Minnesota in a torrential downpour. Led by superstar wide receiver David Bell, the Boilermakers found themselves with multiple wins over top-five teams in Iowa and Michigan State. Aidan O’Connell found himself having a very solid year, throwing for over 3,100 yards with a TD-to-INT ratio of 23-to-8. But when you talk about Purdue, you have to mention the game-wreaking defensive lineman George Karlaftis. Neither Bell nor Karlaftis will be playing in this game, so it is going to be very interesting to see who steps up in their absence. Purdue has shown it can beat teams with great defenses like Iowa, but how will it fare against the great offense of Tennessee?

The Tennessee Volunteers, who are in their first year with Josh Heupel, finished 7-5. You may see five losses and think “well how is this team great?” When your losses were all ranked at some point (Florida, Pitt, Georgia, Alabama, and Ole Miss), it is more understandable. Tennessee’s only ranked win came against Kentucky late in the season. One big show-out was Virginia Tech transfer quarterback Hendon Hooker, who threw at a 69% completion rate and accounted for over 3,000 all-purpose yards. One of Hooker’s favorite targets was Cedric Tillman, a redshirt junior who is likely to hit the 1,000-yard mark in this game. I feel like I should say something about Tennessee’s biggest storyline this year, but I don’t want golf balls or bottles of mustard thrown at me.

Players to Watch: 

Purdue:

QB Aidan O’Connell – O’Connell is going to be without his Biletnikoff finalist teammate in David Bell, so he is going to need to find someone else to be his “safety blanket.” Against a Tennessee defense that hasn’t been stellar to say the least, it should give some guys lower on the depth chart a chance to shine.

DL Kydran Jenkins – With no Karlaftis, Kydran Jenkins has a chance to show that this is his time. The freshman was actually the leading sacker for the Boilermakers this year with 5.0, and a statement game against the Volunteers could put him on the map as a player to watch in 2022.

LB Jaylan Alexander – Senior linebacker Jaylan Alexander, the leading tackler for Purdue (by a large margin), is going to be tasked with not only stopping the run but making sure Hendon Hooker doesn’t explode with his legs. Hooker is the Vols second-leading rusher, and his legs are going to be a big key in winning this game.

Tennessee:

RB Jabari Small – With Hendon Hooker’s ability to throw the ball quite consistently, the Vols will probably want to set up the run game as well to have a balanced attack. Small is the leading rusher, averaging 5.4 yards per carry with eight touchdowns on the season.

WR Cedric Tillman – I talked about Tillman earlier, but his impact on this game is going to be critical to the outcome of this game. The main unit vs. unit matchup that we should be watching is the Purdue defense vs. the Tennessee offense, and Tillman having a good day would make life a lot harder on those Boilermakers.

DB Theo Jackson – Senior defensive back Theo Jackson has the most PDs on Tennessee, racking up 10 of them throughout his senior season. This Tennessee secondary needs to make life hard on Aidan O’Connell by covering the receivers he will have available who may not usually get as many targets. Forcing an interception would be massive to give Tennessee another opportunity to go get six and try to put the game away.

Score Prediction: 

Tennessee 30, Purdue 24

I think the loss of David Bell is going to be too big for Purdue to overcome, especially against an offense like Tennessee’s. The biggest chance Purdue has is if it can take an early lead, force a turnover, and try to melt the clock. The main problem with that is that the Boilermakers don’t have a really consistent ground game that can chew up seven minutes on one drive. I think Tennessee and Josh Heupel finish the year strong and find a way to take down the giant-slaying Boilermakers.