The contest will take place Dec. 30 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. EST and ESPN will televise the matchup.
Ahead of the matchup, first-year Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel took part in the official TransPerfect Music City Bowl press conference at the Gaylord Opryland Resort.
Below is a transcript of Heupel’s availability during Wednesday’s press conference provided by the University of Tennessee.
Opening Statement
“I want to thank everybody here at the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. The hospitality has been absolutely fantastic. Our players and our staff had a great week here in the lead up to kickoff. (We’re) so appreciative of the hospitality of the bowl, truly first class in every single way. Excited that we get an opportunity to finish our season here inside of our home state. (We’re) looking forward to a great football game. Purdue is a tremendous football team. It will be a great, competitive arena tomorrow, looking forward to a sold-out stadium and having a lot of fun here as we finish off the season. But, just wanted again to say thank you to everybody that’s associated with the bowl. You guys have been fantastic.”
On if winning bowl games means as much to players now as it used to
“I think if you’re a great competitor – and those are traits that we try and build on and recruit to and have inside of our building every single day in what we do – it does matter. It matters in how you perform. It matters to you – individually and collectively as a team – so certainly this is a game that our players have pushed towards, and it matters a great deal inside of our program. A bowl game is unique in that I think it’s important that they enjoy the experience when you’re at home in your preparation (and) when you get to the bowl site early in the week, but the carrot of the whole week and the thing that you’ll remember most about the experience is the game itself.”
On the Tennessee administration’s decision to play in a bowl game this year
“I appreciate that (decision) from our administration. They’re going to support and give our players every tool and every resource, but also just support them in their mission and make sure we have a great player experience in every facet of our program. I said when I took the job, all those things that happened before I got there, really felt like they were going to be a speed bump. It’s been proven to really kind of play out. The kids inside of our program have bought into the culture, bought into competing every single day, and that’s why we’re here and have this opportunity to play inside this bowl game.”
NEXT: TransPerfect Music City Bowl press conference continued