# 2021 Music City Bowl

The 2021 Music City Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 2021, with kickoff at 3:00 p.m. EST (2:00 p.m. local CST) and televised on ESPN. It was the 23rd edition of the Music City Bowl (after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), and was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. Sponsored by translation and language services company TransPerfect, the game was officially known as the TransPerfect Music City Bowl.

## Teams

The game was played between Tennessee from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Purdue from the Big Ten Conference. The game was the second meeting between the schools; the first was the 1979 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, which Purdue won by a score of 27–22.

### Purdue Boilermakers

The Boilermakers entered the bowl with an 8–4 record (6–3 in conference), including an away upset win against No. 2 Iowa by seventeen points on October 16, and a home upset win against No. 3 Michigan State by 11 points. The Boilermakers finished in a three-way tie for second place of the Big Ten's West Division. This was Purdue's second Music City Bowl; their 2018 team lost that season's Music City Bowl to Auburn, 63–14. The Boilermakers had not made a bowl appearance since, but this was Purdue's 20th overall bowl game in program history.

### Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee entered the bowl with a 7–5 record (4–4 in conference), including an away upset win against No. 18 Kentucky by three points on November 6. The Volunteers finished in third place in the SEC's East Division. This was Tennessee's third Music City Bowl; they lost in 2010 to North Carolina, 27–30, but won in 2016 over Nebraska, 38–24. This was the 54th overall bowl game for the Volunteers program.

## Game summary

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total |
| Tennessee | 21 | 0 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 45 |
| Purdue | 7 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 48 |
at Nissan Stadium • Nashville, Tennessee
* Date: Thursday, December 30, 2021
* Game time: 2:00 p.m. CST
* Game weather: Cloudy • Temperature: 57 °F (14 °C) • Wind: 0 mph S
* Game attendance: 69,489
* TV announcers (ESPN): Tom Hart (play-by-play), Jordan Rodgers (color), and Cole Cubelic (sidelines)
Scoring summary :
| Quarter | Time | Drive | Drive | Drive | Team | Scoring information | Score | Score |
| Quarter | Time | Plays | Yards | TOP | Team | Scoring information | Tennessee | Purdue |
| 1 | 10:28 | 4 | 56 | 0:44 | Tennessee | Cedric Tillman 41-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good | 7 | 0 |
| 1 | 10:15 | 1 | 75 | 0:13 | Purdue | Broc Thompson 75-yard touchdown reception from Aidan O'Connell, Mitchell Fineran kick good | 7 | 7 |
| 1 | 6:31 | 2 | 63 | 0:27 | Tennessee | Cedric Tillman 61-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good | 14 | 7 |
| 1 | 3:29 | 8 | 80 | 2:14 | Tennessee | Jabari Small 2-yard touchdown run, Chase McGrath kick good | 21 | 7 |
| 2 | 14:01 | 10 | 68 | 4:28 | Purdue | 24-yard field goal by Mitchell Fineran | 21 | 10 |
| 2 | 9:42 | 9 | 69 | 2:59 | Purdue | 36-yard field goal by Mitchell Fineran | 21 | 13 |
| 2 | 1:03 | 8 | 52 | 2:33 | Purdue | 29-yard field goal by Mitchell Fineran | 21 | 16 |
| 2 | 0:19 | 2 | 28 | 0:10 | Purdue | Payne Durham 2-yard touchdown reception from Aidan O'Connell, Mitchell Fineran kick good | 21 | 23 |
| 3 | 12:45 | 7 | 71 | 2:15 | Tennessee | Velus Jones Jr. 15-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good | 28 | 23 |
| 3 | 9:04 | 9 | 75 | 3:41 | Purdue | TJ Sheffield 10-yard touchdown reception from Aidan O'Connell, Mitchell Fineran kick good | 28 | 30 |
| 3 | 3:44 | 5 | 36 | 2:01 | Tennessee | 30-yard field goal by Chase McGrath | 31 | 30 |
| 4 | 4:58 | 3 | 90 | 1:02 | Purdue | Payne Durham 62-yard touchdown reception from Aidan O'Connell, 2-point pass good | 31 | 38 |
| 4 | 3:37 | 5 | 65 | 1:21 | Tennessee | Cedric Tillman 13-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good | 38 | 38 |
| 4 | 2:57 | 3 | 75 | 0:40 | Purdue | Broc Thompson 70-yard touchdown reception from Aiden O'Connell, Mitchell Fineran kick good | 38 | 45 |
| 4 | 1:35 | 4 | 72 | 1:22 | Tennessee | Jalin Hyatt 2-yard touchdown reception from Hendon Hooker, Chase McGrath kick good | 45 | 45 |
| OT | | 4 | 4 | | Purdue | 39-yard field goal by Mitchell Fineran | 45 | 48 |
| "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | | |

## Statistics
### Team statistics

Team statistical comparison :
| Statistic | Tennessee | Purdue |
| First downs | 30 | 26 |
| First downs rushing | 16 | 4 |
| First downs passing | 11 | 15 |
| First downs penalty | 3 | 7 |
| Third down efficiency | 8–20 | 6–16 |
| Fourth down efficiency | 2–6 | 0–1 |
| Total plays–net yards | 103–663 | 81–627 |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 62–285 | 33–93 |
| Yards per rush | 4.6 | 2.8 |
| Yards passing | 378 | 534 |
| Pass completions–attempts | 26–41 | 26–48 |
| Interceptions thrown | 0 | 3 |
| Punt returns–total yards | 2–(−6) | 2–2 |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 8–190 | 0–0 |
| Punts–average yardage | 6–43.3 | 5–41.0 |
| Fumbles–lost | 4–1 | 3–0 |
| Penalties–yards | 14–128 | 5–61 |
| Time of possession | 29:53 | 30:07 |

### Individual statistics

Tennessee statistics :
| Volunteers passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| Hendon Hooker | 26–41 | 378 | 5–0 |
| Volunteers rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD |
| Jabari Small | 26 | 180 | 1 |
| Hendon Hooker | 19 | 62 | 0 |
| Jaylen Wright | 17 | 54 | 0 |
| TEAM | 1 | −8 | 0 |
| Volunteers receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Cedric Tillman | 7 | 150 | 3 |
| Velus Jones Jr. | 10 | 85 | 1 |
| Princeton Fant | 3 | 71 | 0 |
| Jalin Hyatt | 3 | 35 | 1 |
| JaVonta Payton | 2 | 35 | 0 |
| Jabari Small | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Purdue statistics :
| Boilermakers passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| Aidan O'Connell | 26–47 | 534 | 5–3 |
| Jackson Anthrop | 0–1 | 0 | 0–0 |
| Boilermakers rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD |
| Zander Horvath | 17 | 58 | 0 |
| King Doerue | 10 | 45 | 0 |
| Jackson Anthrop | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Deion Burks | 1 | −3 | 0 |
| Aidan O'Connell | 3 | −9 | 0 |
| Boilermakers receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Broc Thompson | 7 | 217 | 2 |
| Payne Durham | 5 | 85 | 2 |
| Jackson Anthrop | 5 | 74 | 0 |
| T.J. Sheffield | 3 | 61 | 1 |
| Deion Burks | 1 | 26 | 0 |
| Garrett Miller | 1 | 25 | 0 |
| Dylan Downing | 1 | 21 | 0 |
| Zander Horvath | 2 | 21 | 0 |
| Collin Sullivan | 1 | 4 | 0 |