The 2018 Music City Bowl will pit the Big Ten Conference and SEC against each other this season. Purdue will face Auburn on Dec. 28 (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). Here is the 2018 Music City Bowl preview:
It was an interesting season for the Boilermakers in 2018. They beat ranked teams in Boston College, memorably Ohio State and Iowa at home. However, Purdue also lost at home to Eastern Michigan and was pummeled at Minnesota.
Photo by kentucky.com
It all worked out with the Boilermakers headed to a second straight bowl game after missing out the previous four years. They got there thanks to a potentially explosive offense led by All-American freshman receiver Rondale Moore (103 receptions, 1,164 yards, 12 touchdowns) and the exciting running back tandem of D.J. Knox (868 rushing yards) and Markell Jones (502) yards.
Defensively, Purdue had its moments like holding then-No. 23 Boston College to 13 points and then-No. 2 Ohio State to 20. However, it yielded 40 or more points three times this season.
Auburn Tigers (7-5)
The Music City Bowl is not where Auburn expected to be when the season started, but this is the reality. The Tigers opened 4-1, beating Washington and narrowly falling to LSU.
Photo by the montgomeryadvertiser.com
However, Auburn was not competitive in losses at Mississippi State and Alabama and fell at home to Tennessee. The offense was inconsistent, being held to 10 or fewer points twice this season. That’s one reason coach Gus Malzahn will be calling plays next season.
One guy who won’t be asked to execute Malzahn’s plays is quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who declared early for the NFL Draft despite his number dropping in 2018. Senior receiver Ryan Davis led the Tigers with 64 receptions and 523 receiving yards, but remarkably did not catch a touchdown pass but threw for two this season.
While Auburn is bowling for a sixth consecutive season, it’s lost four of the last five such contests.
It will be interesting to see how much fight Auburn has left following a disappointing regular season. Purdue, meanwhile, would like to end a memorable campaign with a winning record and further solidify itself for more good things to come in 2019.
Purdue 33, Auburn 30
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