2016 Music City Bowl

The 2016 Music City Bowl, known as the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl for sponsorship purposes, was the nineteenth edition of the college football bowl game, played on December 30, 2016 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Part of the 2016–17 bowl season, it featured the Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Ten and the Tennessee Volunteers of the SEC.

The 2016 Music City Bowl was the third all-time meeting between Nebraska and Tennessee. The Cornhuskers defeated the Volunteers in the 1998 Orange Bowl to earn a share of the national championship, and again two years later in the 2000 Fiesta Bowl.^[3][4]

After a scoreless first quarter, Tennessee jumped out to a 14–0 lead with rushing touchdowns from John Kelly and Joshua Dobbs. Nebraska answered with a 38-yard connection from Ryker Fyfe to Brandon Reilly to cut the deficit in half, but a second Dobbs rushing touchdown made the score 21–7 at halftime.^[5]

The second half opened with a turnover by each team before a Volunteers field goal extended the lead to seventeen. On the ensuing drive, Nebraska used a 42-yard Devine Ozigbo run to set up Reilly's second receiving touchdown, but it was again answered by a lengthy Volunteers drive and a Dobbs touchdown. Two quick NU scores cut the deficit to seven with most of the fourth quarter remaining. Tennessee responded with a four-play, 77-yard drive capped by a 59-yard Josh Malone touchdown reception.^[5] As time wound down, Nebraska advanced deep into Tennessee territory with a chance to cut its deficit back to seven, but turned the ball over on downs after an intentional grounding penalty and a Derek Barnett sack of Fyfe. NU was unable to mount another scoring threat and Tennessee won 38–24.^[5]

It was Tennessee's third consecutive season with a bowl victory, a feat the program had not accomplished since the mid-1990s. Barnett's fourth quarter sack was the 33rd of his collegiate career, a new school record.^[6]