Tennessee headed to the Liberty Bowl to face West Virginia

Tennessee just put the finishing touches on a 3-7 season, and the Volunteers are going bowling. Only in 2020, right?

Tennessee has accepted a bid to play in the Liberty Bowl, per Brett McMurphy. They’ll face the West Virginia Mountaineers in Memphis on New Year’s Eve.

Tennessee hasn’t played in the Liberty Bowl since 1986.

It’s the second bowl bid for Tennessee under Jeremy Pruitt, following their win over Indiana in the Gator Bowl last season. West Virginia was actually Pruitt’s first opponent as Tennessee’s head coach back in 2018. That ended up going down as a 40-14 loss for the Vols, as Will Grier ripped up a young Tennessee secondary.

The Mountaineers went 5-4 this season. They picked up wins over Baylor, Kansas State, Eastern Kentucky, Kansas and TCU. Their most recent appearance was back on December 5th, where they were blown out by Iowa State. West Virginia’s final game against Oklahoma was canceled due to COVID concerns.

West Virginia is in year two under head coach Neal Brown, who went 5-7 in his first season with the program.

The Liberty Bowl expects 12,000 fans to be able to attend the event. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET on December 31st.

Update: It’s now official.