2010 Music City Bowl The 2010 Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl was the 13th edition of the college football bowl game and was played at LP Field in Nashville , Tennessee . The game was played on Thursday , December 30 , 2010 , at 5 : 30 p . m . CST and telecast on ESPN . The Tar Heels won 30 - 27 in two overtimes , but this game will be remembered for the frantic finish of the contest , and for causing a rule change for the next season . Teams . The North Carolina Tar Heels represented the Atlantic Coast Conference , and the Tennessee Volunteers represented the Southeastern Conference , the 32nd meeting between the two schools . Coming into the game , Tennessee held a 20 - 10 - 1 record in prior matchups with the last contest having taken place in 1961 . Tennessee and UNC were actually scheduled to play one another in 2011 and 2012 ; however , the series was canceled by Tennessee . The two programs had never before played each other in a bowl game . North Carolina Tar Heels . The Tar Heels came into the 2010 season ranked No . 18 in the country in the pre - season AP poll . However , the season would be marked by numerous injuries and suspensions and UNC entered the game with a 7 - 5 record . North Carolina was making its third straight bowl appearance . Veteran quarterback T . J . Yates was one of the most improved players in the country during the 2010 regular season and was at the heart of the team ’ s success . He was No . 2 in the ACC in passing efficiency and No . 2 in passing average per game . The Tar Heels were making their first appearance in the Music City Bowl . Tennessee Volunteers . Tennessee started the season at 2 - 6 and looked like it would not be appearing in a bowl game . However , the team rebounded nicely and won its last 4 straight to come into the game at 6 - 6 . The Vols had one of the youngest teams in the country with 21 first - year players on the two - deep chart . Nonetheless , freshman quarterback Tyler Bray had thrown 12 TD passes in his last four starts to get the Vols bowl eligible . This was the first time that Tennessee played in the Music City Bowl . Game Summary . The 2010 Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl ended in unusual fashion . Trailing Tennessee 20 - 17 with only 31 seconds left , no time - outs and the ball on their own twenty yard line , the Tar Heels were able to move all the way to the Tennessee 25 yard line with 16 seconds remaining . North Carolina ' s Shaun Draughn ran the ball for a seven - yard gain but did not get out of bounds to stop the clock . Chaos ensued as North Carolina tried to rush in the field - goal unit to tie the game . North Carolina had seventeen players on the field as quarterback T . J . Yates tried to stop the clock by spiking the ball at 0 : 01 . Penalty flags flew as the clock on the scoreboard ran out . Volunteers players and coaches streamed onto the field in celebration while UNC coaches and players were in disbelief . The head referee announced to the crowd over the loudspeaker , " The game is over , " and the head coaches for both schools shook hands at mid - field . The replay official then called for a review since there had been one second left on the clock when the ball was spiked . The officials reversed the decision on the field , ruling that the ball had in fact been snapped and spiked with one second remaining on the clock . The Tar Heels were assessed the five - yard penalty for too many men on the field and the clock was reset to 0 : 01 . ( If the 2011 rules were in effect for this game , then at this point North Carolina would be penalized 10 seconds in addition to five yards , and thus the game would have ended as a Tennessee victory . If the 2013 rules regarding spiking the ball were in effect for this game , the game would have been over regardless of any penalties because three seconds is the minimum time allowed to spike the ball and get another play and , again , Tennessee would have won the game . ) UNC kicker Casey Barth then kicked a 39 - yard field goal to tie the score at 20 - 20 and send the game into overtime . Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime period to tie the score at 27 - 27 . In the second overtime period , North Carolina linebacker Quan Sturdivant intercepted a pass from Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray on the Volunteers ' possession and North Carolina kicker Barth kicked a 23 - yard field goal to win the game for North Carolina 30 - 27 . Aftermath . Because of the 4th quarter situation in which North Carolina ' s penalty stopped the clock , a rule change was made effective beginning with the 2011 season . If a team commits a penalty that directly causes a clock stoppage in the final minute of a half , the opposing team is allowed to have 10 seconds run off the clock in addition to the yardage penalty .