Written by Garin Turner
Another Big 10 vs. SEC game is on tap when the Purdue Boilermakers (6-6) take on the Auburn Tigers (7-5) in the Franklin American Mortgage Company Music City Bowl Dec. 28 at 1:30 PM EST at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. ESPN will broadcast the game. This will be the first meeting between the two teams. This is the first appearance for Purdue in the Music Bowl. For the Tigers, it’s their 2nd appearance in the Music Bowl and
The season was in jeopardy early on for the Boilermakers as they went 0-3 to start the season. They fought back to win their next four including an upset win over then #2 ranked Ohio State which likely cost the Buckeyes a trip to the CFP. The Boilermakers were able to knock off then 16th ranked Iowa and in the last game of the regular season, Indiana to become bowl eligible. After starting the year in a two-quarterback system, David Blough took over for good in week three. He has 25 touchdowns and 3,521 passing yards for the Boilermakers.
For Auburn, quarterback Jarrett Stidham and running back Jatarvious Whitlow both ranked in the Top 10 in passing and rushing yards in the SEC this year. It’s the fifth straight bowl game appearance for the team. The Tigers could never put a string of more than two wins in a row this year. They won their first two games of the season before dropping a game to LSU. They won two more games before losing back to back weeks against Mississippi State and Tennessee. They went on to beat Ole Miss and Texas A&M before losing to Georgia and Alabama after beating an FCS school.
