For Tennessee, a bowl game is good news. Admittedly, Nashville isn’t the most exotic of locales. But for an uptrending Vols team, a matchup with fellow offensive power Purdue sounds like a fine way to spend the holidays. Here are 5 things for UT fans to know about the Boilermakers.

1. It’s the 2nd Music City Bowl appearance for Purdue — and its 2nd time facing UT

The Boilermakers have been in Nashville for the postseason before … and they’d just as soon forget, as Jeff Brohm’s squad got absolutely gobsmacked by Auburn 63-14 in the 2018 Music City Bowl. On the other hand, Purdue’s all-time record against UT is 1-0. The game was a 27-22 Boilermakers victory in 1979 in the Bluebonnet Bowl, which definitely should have won an award for the bowl game most likely to be eliminated due to a bizarre name.

2. Brohm doesn’t have great UT memories

Brohm faced the Vols twice as a quarterback at Lousiville. In 1991, he sustained a broken leg during UT’s 28-11 win at Louisville. In 1993, he and the Cardinals headed to Knoxville and left with a 45-10 defeat. As a coach, Brohm has similarly suffered his share of struggles, as he’s 27-29 at Purdue, with his 8-4 season this year his best yet.

3. Purdue can throw

Given Brohm’s reputation as a pass-heavy offensive coach and Purdue’s own history (see Drew Brees, etc.), it’s not a surprise, exactly, but this team can chuck the ball around. Purdue is 8th in the country with 340.2 passing yards per game. QB Aidan O’Connell has accounted for 3,174 yards and 23 touchdowns himself, passing for 375 yards against Iowa, 386 against Ohio State and 536 in an upset win over Michigan State. UT, on the other hand, is in the middle of the pack in passing yardage but is 7th in the nation in passing efficiency.

4. Balance, schmalance

But the tradeoff is that Purdue doesn’t do much of anything on the ground. The Boilermakers’ 83 rushing yards per game (and sub-2.8 yards-per-carry average) are by far the worst in the Big Ten. That’s 4th worst in FBS in yardage and dead last in yardage per carry. Meanwhile, UT is 19th in the nation with 212 rushing yards per game … and with 5.0 yards per carry.

5. Purdue is all about turnovers

The Boilermakers defense is very adequate, but the story of their games has been turnover margin. Five times this season, Purdue has had a negative turnover margin. It’s 1-4 in those games, with the lone win a 13-9 squeaker over Illinois. On the other hand, Purdue is 6-0 when finishing on the plus side of the turnover margin. The good news for UT is that the Vols finished on the negative side of turnovers only 3 times all season, and the 1st 2 were UT’s first games of the season. Since Sept. 11, only Georgia has put UT in a negative turnover margin situation … which bodes well for the Vols.