Bowl games are technically neutral-site affairs, but it sure won't feel that way for the Huskers.
Nebraska will be on the wrong end of a distinct home-field advantage when it takes on Tennessee in the Music City Bowl, played Dec. 30 in Nashville.
The Volunteers will be playing in front of their home-state fans, Nashville just a couple hours' drive from campus in Knoxville.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
This is the Huskers' second straight bowl trip in as many seasons under Mike Riley. Despite a 5-7 regular-season finish last year, Nebraska beat UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl to finish Riley's first season in Lincoln on a positive note. This season, the Huskers finished the regular season at 9-3, losing three of their last five games to Wisconsin, Ohio State and Iowa.
Tennessee finished the season at 8-4, losing games throughout the season to Texas A&M, Alabama, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Only one of those teams finished the season ranked — the No. 1 Crimson Tide — but the Volunteers stayed in the rankings, ending the year at No. 21.
This will be the fourth meeting between these two programs, the previous three all coming in bowl games. Nebraska beat Tennessee in the Orange Bowl to close out the 1997 national-championship season and won in the Fiesta Bowl to finish off the 1999 campaign.