Tennessee Football: Best Bowl Options for the Volunteers

With the hard part of getting bowl-eligible over, the Tennessee Volunteers can now sit back, heal up and eagerly anticipate their bowl destination.

The Vols secured their first postseason berth since 2010 with a 24-17 sigh-of-relief victory over instate rival Vanderbilt. Though they looked anything but bowl-ready, none of that matters now. They overcame adversity, and jubilation reigns on Rocky Top.

Tennessee is vying for its first winning season since the Lane Kiffin-led 2009 campaign. While just getting to a bowl game and securing 15 more practices were big for perception and development, winning one would really fuel the positive vibes heading into the offseason.

So, what are the Vols looking for in a bowl berth?

• First of all, a quality opponent that injects excitement and makes the nation forget about UT playing in a lower-tier bowl. For instance, nobody would care what bowl it was if the Vols could play a tradition-rich program such as Notre Dame or Texas. It would just be a fun matchup.
• Secondly, UT probably wants to play somebody it matches up well against. At this point, just getting to a bowl game with this young, shallow roster was an accomplishment. But if the Vols lose a bowl game, it still goes down in the books as yet another losing season.

Considering the Big Orange Nation is a hungry bunch starved for any bowl game, many committees will be looking to get the Vols to secure good gate revenue. In other words, UT fans are going to travel well. 

But with the new SEC selection process, where the Vols land is anybody's guess, especially considering there are 12 league teams eligible for a bowl.

With Alabama an option for the first College Football Playoff, the SEC has nine additional bowl tie-ins (Citrus, Outback, Belk, Liberty, Music City, Texas, TaxSlayer, Birmingham and Independence).

The Citrus will pick from the remaining participants after the CFP committee selects its playoff and bowl participants. Then, the SEC office will decide which team goes to which bowls afterward.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Dave Matter has a good breakdown, and SEC executive associate commissioner Mark Womack told Matter there is no pecking order within the six (Outback, Belk, Liberty, Music City, Texas and TaxSlayer) and no significant differences between payouts.

The Tennessean's Matt Slovin reported that the league office will take into consideration the list of preferences submitted by both the universities and the bowl sites in choosing the destinations for those six bowls.

The Birmingham and Independence bowls will then pick from the remaining pool.

So, in the past, when the Music City Bowl almost assuredly wouldn't have passed up on the Vols because keeping UT instate virtually guaranteed a sellout, it may not have that option this year with the league office placing teams.

That makes UT's bowl destination extremely up in the air. So, where are the best possible landing spots for the Vols?

No. 1: Music City Bowl, Nashville

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There is little doubt that a date in the Music City would be beneficial for both parties, but it's ideal for the Vols.

Not only is the Midstate a recruiting hotbed for the Vols, it would be easy travel for the fanbase, and UT would paint the state capital orange for the Dec. 30 game. 

Of the three destinations most being buzzed about with Tennessee, the Music City has the best reputation, but it also seems like the longest shot considering all the good, marquee SEC teams that have qualified. 

UT's last bowl appearance was a 30-27 loss to North Carolina in the 2010 Music City Bowl.

The Vols almost certainly would prefer this landing spot, and Music City president and CEO Scott Ramsey told The Tennessean's Mike Organ last week prior to the Vols beating Vandy that UT would be a desirable participant: "We love Tennessee; I joked with (UT athletics director) Dave Hart a couple of weeks ago and said, 'If we could book all of your home games here, I wonder if we could cut that deal?' Seriously, if Tennessee wins this week we're going to have to have a discussion because of the relationships we have there."

ESPN's Mark Schlabach and Phil Steele project the Vols to head there for their bowl. Some of the participants thrown around in recent weeks for the game were Duke, Iowa and Miami. None of those teams are dynamic offensively, and they'd be good matchups for the Vols. 

A date with Duke would see UT go toe-to-toe with longtime Vols offensive coordinator and current Duke coach David Cutcliffe, so that would be a fun game.

No. 2: Liberty Bowl, Memphis

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Again, since there's really not a lot of difference in bowl games at this level, the Vols would absolutely love to play in Memphis' bowl, where they haven't been since the 1986 game against Minnesota.

That city is about as far away in the state as you can get, and UT struggles to recruit out there, but there's still a large contingent of Vols fans in the area.

This seems the most logical choice and most likely destination for the Vols, and that would make bowl officials in the Bluff City giddy. According to GoVols247's Wes Rucker, "Tennessee is No. 1 with a bullet on the Liberty Bowl's list. It would settle for Arkansas but would prefer Tennessee. In fact, it’s tough to see a bowl wanting a program more than the Liberty Bowl wants Tennessee."

A dream matchup there on Dec. 29 that has at least been discussed is setting up Tennessee with the other UT (Texas) and coach Charlie Strong, who spurned the Vols in the search that ultimately landed Jones.

However, ESPN Big 12 writer Jake Trotter tweeted that he's hearing another prominent name for a potential UT opponent in Memphis:

If the Vols played the Mountaineers, it would be a precursor to the 2018 opener scheduled to be played in Charlotte. WVU is a good team that has played a hard schedule and would be a difficult draw for the Vols.

No. 3: Belk Bowl, Charlotte

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Under Jones, Tennessee has knocked down the walls to the fertile recruiting grounds of North Carolina, securing nine commitments from past, current and future classes from that state.

It's such an important battleground that UT has scheduled that aforementioned opener for the '18 season there. So, playing in Charlotte on Dec. 30 would not be a bad option for the Vols, especially those fans wanting an experience away from the state.

The coolest thing about a possible Belk Bowl berth would be the rumor that the Vols could play Notre Dame, a tradition-rich school with which UT has a storied history.

CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm predicts a Vols-Irish bowl game in Charlotte.

There's little doubt that Tennessee would sell its ticket allotment with ease to set up a showdown with Notre Dame, and that would be a game that would get plenty of national exposure because of the Irish's countrywide support.

No. 4: Hey, anywhere will do just fine

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Let's face it: When you win six games, beggars can't be choosers. Also, considering UT hasn't played later than the regular-season finale in four long, frustrating years, players and coaches are simply ecstatic to be going anywhere.

Birmingham and Shreveport aren't exactly exotic locales this time of year, but football is football, and getting those extra practices, more exposure and bonus perception points matter. Heck, just getting the bowl swag will be a new experience for many of the UT players.

As a matter of fact, nobody on Tennessee's roster has played in a bowl game. The ones who were part of that 2010 team—punter Matt Darr, offensive tackles Jacob Gilliam and Marques Pair and walk-ons Jacob Carter, Gregory Grieco and Deanthonie Summerhill—all redshirted that year.

That's a clear picture of how far Tennessee had fallen. A program that used to bristle at Steve Spurrier wisecracking that "You can't spell Citrus without 'UT'" has struggled to get to six wins for years. 

Now that they have, the Vols are just thrilled with going to a bowl. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs told GoVols247's Ryan Callahan after the win over VU: "That was our goal coming into this season. We wanted to get to a bowl game and get our seniors to a bowl game and then progress from there. This is a stepping stone to this program, and it's definitely an exciting time to be here. I'm excited to be going to a bowl game."

No matter where it is.

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats gathered from UTSports.com unless otherwise noted.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.