Music City Bowl: Purdue vs Tennessee 12/30/21 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Purdue Boilermakers and Tennessee Volunteers clash Thursday in the college football Music City Bowl from Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

The Tennessee Volunteers come into this bowl game on behalf of the SEC after a 7-5 mark in the regular season. Hendon Hooker has thrown for 2,567 yards, 26 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on 69% passing while also rushing for 561 yards and 5 touchdowns. Jabari Small has a team-high 612 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns this season. Cedric Tillman has a team-high 931 receiving yards with 57 catches and 9 touchdowns white Velus Jones has 52 catches for 722 yards and 6 TDs. JaVonta Payton also has 378 receiving yards and 6 TDs this season. Jeremy Banks has a team-high 108 total tackles with 4.5 sacks while Matthew Butler has 5 sacks and Byron Young has a team-high 5.5 sacks and Tyler Baron has 4 sacks. Jaylen McCullough has a team-high 3 interceptions this season.

The Purdue Boilermakers rep the Big Ten after posting an 8-4 mark this past season. Aidan O’Connell has thrown for 3,178 yards, 23 touchdowns and 8 interceptions on 73.5% passing while King Doerue leads the Boilermakers with 488 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns. David Bell leads Purdue’s receivers with 93 catches for 1,286 yards and 6 scores while Milton Wrightjas 732 receiving yards with 7 TDs and  Payne Durham has 496 receiving yards this season. On defense, Jaylan Alexander leads the Purdue unit with 94 total tackles while Kydran Jenkins has 5 sacks and Cam Allen has 4 interceptions this year.

Tennessee is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games against the Big Ten and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 neutral site games as a favorite while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall. Purdue is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 bowl games and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 bowl games as an underdog.

This is a bit of an intriguing matchup with both teams losing some players with Tennessee losing TiYon Evans while Purdue loses David Bell on offense and George Karlaftis on defense. Losing Evans stinks for the Vols, but Tennessee has depth at running back. David Bell was the top receiver for Purdue and Karlafis had 4.5 sacks this season, and on top of that this is a bit of a pseudo home game for Tennessee. I have to lay the points with the Vols in a game I see Tennessee winning by a TD.