The 2019 Music City Bowl was a

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bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played on December 30, 2019, with kickoff at 4:00 p.m. EST (3:00 p.m. local CDT) on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. The 22nd edition of the Music City Bowl featured

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

member Mississippi State and

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

member Louisville, and was one of the 2019–20 bowl games concluding the 2019 FBS football season. Sponsored by the Franklin American Mortgage Company, the game was officially known as the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl.

Teams

The 2019 Music City Bowl was contested by the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the

Louisville Cardinals The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Co ...

. The teams had met five times previously, with Mississippi State holding a 3–2 edge in the series. Louisville's two wins came via forfeit, as the Bulldogs were forced to forfeit all their wins in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

for fielding a player who was later ruled ineligible. The teams had last met in the

2017 TaxSlayer Bowl The 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 31, 2017, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. The 73rd edition of the Gator Bowl featured the Louisville Cardinals of the Atlantic Coast Confe ...

, won by the Bulldogs, 31–27.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

The Bulldogs entered the bowl with a 6–6 record (3–5 in conference); they finished in fifth place of the SEC's West Division. This was Mississippi State's second Music City Bowl; their 2011 team won that season's Music City Bowl over Wake Forest, 23–17. This was the 10th consecutive bowl appearance for the Bulldogs, dating back to their 2010 season. This was Mississippi State's 23rd overall bowl game in program history. Head coach

Joe Moorhead Joe Moorhead (born November 2, 1973) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at the University of Akron. He was the offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon from 2020 to 2021, and the head coach at ...

had initially named true freshman

Garrett Shrader Garrett Michael Shrader (born August 5, 2000) is an American football quarterback for the Syracuse Orange. He previously played for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. High school career Shrader attended Charlotte Christian School in Charlotte, North ...

the starting quarterback for the game, but he was injured prior to the game, resulting in

Tommy Stevens Thomas Mason Stevens (born December 15, 1996) is a professional gridiron football quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Mississippi State and was drafted by the New Orleans Sa ...

(a graduate transfer from Penn State) getting the start.

Louisville Cardinals

Louisville entered the bowl with a 7–5 record (5–3 in conference), including an upset win against No. 19 Wake Forest by three points on October 12. The Cardinals finished in second place in the ACC's Atlantic Division. This was Louisville's second Music City Bowl; their 2015 team won that season's Music City Bowl over Texas A&M, 27–21. This was the first bowl game for the Cardinals since 2017, and the 23rd overall bowl game for the program.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

*
Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Louisville Cardinals bowl game navbox Music City Bowl Music City Bowl Music City Bowl Music City Bowl Mississippi State Bulldogs football bowl games Louisville Cardinals football bowl games