Tennessee linebacker A.J. Johnson (45) tackles Vanderbilt running back Wesley Tate (24) in this file photo.KNOXVILLE – The Neyland Stadium press-box seating chart almost always includes multiple bowl representatives, especially in late November.
But the AutoZone Liberty Bowl was the only postseason game to make an appearance at Saturday night’s Vanderbilt-Tennessee game.
“The big thing for us is that we’re going to have an SEC team,” said Harold Graeter, the Liberty Bowl’s associate executive director, knowing Vanderbilt already was bowl-eligible and Tennessee still had a chance to be. “Other than that, we’re going to let them play and see where they stand when the dust settles in a couple of weeks.”
When the dust settled a year ago, the Liberty Bowl was without an SEC team due to five league members — Auburn, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee — failing to post the minimum six wins needed for bowl eligibility.
So the bowl was forced to make do with Tulsa versus Iowa State, a game that produced a 31-17 Tulsa win and more than 53,000 in attendance.