Music City: A bowl that’s had an MVP punter seems right up Iowa’s alley

Since the TransPerfect Music City Bowl is a new bowl for Iowa, people here may not know its legends and lore. Here are examples:

1. The bowl debuted in 1998, with Alabama playing Virginia Tech. An ice storm plagued Nashville that week.

Alabama’s first practice venue wasn’t usable, so the Crimson Tide went to an indoor facility an hour north of the city.

“It seemed like a barn that was about 10 feet high,” Alabama quarterback Andrew Zow told The Athletic.

The windchill during the game was 14 degrees.

“It’s like we were playing in Green Bay that weekend,” Zow said.

“It was the coldest I’ve ever been. I was running around for my life and then getting to the sidelines and all I could think about was staying next to the heater. No one really wanted to play.”

Alabama lost, 38-7.

2. Florida State came to the 2007 Nashville bowl with only 43 scholarship players. Twenty-three were suspended for being part of an academic cheating scandal involving an online music course.

Twelve of Bobby Bowden’s career wins were vacated by the NCAA, but not this game. That’s because the Seminoles lost to Kentucky.

3. In 2008, the MVP of the Music City Bowl was Vanderbilt punter Brett Upson.

The hometown Commodores got their first bowl win in 53 years, 16-14 over Boston College. The win put Vanderbilt at 7-6, its first winning season in 26 years.

Vandy had just 200 yards of offense. Its only touchdown came when it recovered an Upson punt in the end zone after it bounced off a Boston College player’s leg

After the game, Upson said, “I was celebrating with the team, and I just jumped up and down. Next thing I know, somebody from the coaching staff and a bowl representative were grabbing me and saying you have to go to the stage. I said “For what?”

“They said ‘You’re the MVP.’

“I thought they were joking with me at first. It was even more surreal at that point. I didn’t know what to say or how to act at that point because one, I was the punter.”

4. In 2010, North Carolina trailed Tennessee 20-17 with 31 seconds left, no timeouts, and the ball on its own 20-yard line.

The Tar Heels quickly moved to the Tennessee 25. Then, Shaun Draughn ran for seven yards, but didn’t get out of bounds to stop the clock. The Heels rushed their field goal unit on the field, but had 17 players on the field and spiked the ball in an attempt to stop the clock.

The head referee declared the game over. Tennessee’s team rushed onto the field to celebrate. But the replay official called for a review. They ruled the ball had been spiked with one second left, and called a 5-yard penalty for too many men on the field.

Casey Barth then kicked a 39-yard field goal to send the game into overtime. He kicked a field goal in the second overtime for a North Carolina win.

That ending prompted the NCAA to enact a rule-change for the following season, with a 10-second runoff assessed on clock-stopping penalties.

5. The halftime score of the 2018 game was Auburn 56, Purdue 7. It was an FBS record for most points scored in one half of any bowl.

The Tigers called off the dogs after that, winning 63-14.

6. Purdue was brave enough to return to that bowl last year, and put on a better show. Aidan O’Connell of Purdue and Hendon Hooker of Tennessee threw five touchdown passes each.

O’Connell passed for 534 yards, and the Boilermakers won in overtime, 48-45. The teams combined for 1,265 yards of offense.

Controversy ruled the day, however.

On a fourth-down play in overtime, the officials ruled that Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright had his forward progress stopped short of the goal line. Wright never touched the ground before crossing the goal line, and scored before the whistle. Nonetheless, he was ruled down.

"That is one of the worst calls I've seen in the history of college football. Absolute garbage in the Music City Bowl," ESPN’s Peter Burns said.

Absolute garbage in the Music City Bowl. Besides being one of the greatest lines in college football broadcasting history, it seems like a low bar for Iowa and Kentucky to clear. Right?

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com