Who will play in Music City Bowl? Why Auburn, Texas A&M are more likely than Tennessee

Auburn and Texas A&M are the SEC teams with the best chances to end up in the 2023 TransPerfect Music City Bowl while Wisconsin and Rutgers have emerged as the favorites from the Big Ten, according to a survey of some of the nation’s top college football prognosticators.

Only two predictions have Tennessee headed for Nashville for the Dec. 30 game at Nissan Stadium (1 p.m., ABC). Five say Auburn will be the SEC representative, three say Texas A&M, two say Kentucky and one says South Carolina.

Wisconsin is the favorite to be the Big Ten representative with seven predictions, followed by Rutgers (3), Northwestern (2) and Nebraska (2).

Iowa defeated Kentucky 21-0 in the 2022 Music City Bowl. Current Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis opted out of that game.

Here are some of the predictions heading into Week 13:

⋅ ESPN (Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach): Auburn vs. Northwestern (Bonagura); Auburn vs. Wisconsin (Schlabach)

∙ Sports Illustrated (Brett Gibbons): Auburn vs. Nebraska

∙ CBS Sports (Jerry Palm): Texas A&M vs. Wisconsin

∙ Sporting News (Bill Bender): Tennessee vs. Rutgers

∙ College Football News: Tennessee vs. Wisconsin

∙ Fox Sports: Auburn vs. Wisconsin

∙ 247 Sports: (Brad Crawford): Texas A&M vs. Wisconsin

∙ Action Network (Brett McMurphy): Texas A&M vs. Wisconsin

∙ College Football Network: Kentucky vs. Rutgers

∙ Saturday Down South: Auburn vs. Rutgers

∙ Hatch Rankings: South Carolina vs. Northwestern

∙ College Sports Madness: Kentucky vs. Northwestern

TSU’s Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. reaches 1,000 career points

Former Pearl-Cohn basketball standout Marcus Fitzgerald Jr., now a junior at Tennessee State, reached 1,000 career points in a game at Oregon last Friday.

Fitzgerald, a guard, scored 11 points and has 1,006 for his career.

He became the 29th player in TSU history to score 1,000 points. Fitzgerald is averaging 9.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this season.

Coaches with local ties named Eddie Robinson Award finalists

Two college football coaches with local ties − Austin Peay’s Scotty Walden and Gardner-Webb’s Tre Lamb, who played at Tennessee Tech − are among 20 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award, which goes to the nation’s top FCS coach.

Walden led the Governors to nine straight wins, the United Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the national playoffs.

Lamb was a three-year starting quarterback at Tech and the Golden Eagles’ offensive coordinator (2018-19). In his fourth season at Gardner-Webb Lamb led the Runnin’ Bulldogs to a share of the Big South/OVC title and an automatic playoff bid.

Nashville Kats 2024 schedule released

The Nashville Kats, who will return to action after a 16-year hiatus when the new Arena Football League launches in 2024, released their schedule this week.

The Kats will play their home games at Municipal Auditorium.

They open the season April 27 at home against the Minnesota Myth followed by May 1 at Albany (Firebirds), May 9 against Philadelphia (Soul), May 16 against Georgia (Force), May 23 at Georgia, May 30 against Albany, June 6 at Minnesota, June 13 against Philadelphia, June 20 at Billings (Montana, Outlaws) and against Southwest Kansas (Storm) June 27.

If you have an item for Midstate Chatter contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.