2016 Music City Bowl final score: Tennessee’s Josh Dobbs shines in last game

Tennessee and Nebraska may not have seen themselves playing in the Music City Bowl to cap off their 2016 seasons, but so it was in Nashville on Friday afternoon. In the second half, Nebraska looked lifeless at the beginning of the fourth quarter, giving up a Tennessee touchdown to trail, 31-14.

But the Cornhuskers were able to score a field goal and force a fumble on the ensuing kickoff that set up a touchdown to pull the Huskers within seven.

However, Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs, who was playing in the final game of his Vols career, put an end to the hopes of a Nebraska comeback with a 59-yard touchdown bomb to put his team up 14 points.

Tennessee would go on to win, 38-24.

Dobbs ended his UT career on a high note with three rushing touchdowns on the day, which is a Music City Bowl record. He continually made plays to keep Nebraska at bay all day. The senior signal caller wasn’t able to give Tennessee an SEC title, but a career with over 6,800 yards passing and 52 touchdowns, along with 29 rushing touchdowns, is a good one.

Tennessee defensive end Derek Barnett, who is a junior with a high NFL draft stock, also had a successful outing. In the fourth quarter, he broke Reggie White’s all-time Tennessee sack record.

Both Tennessee and Nebraska obviously didn’t expect to be playing in the Music City Bowl at the end of the 2016 season. In fact, there was a point during the season that both teams were ranked inside the Top 10, in the month of October. But a 59-point loss to Ohio State, and a regular season finale loss to Iowa put the Huskers in Nashville, and the year ended with a 9-4 mark.

What was expected to be Tennessee’s best shot to win the SEC East in years ended with an 8-4 season. That record included inexplicable losses to South Carolina and an upset by Vanderbilt to close out the season, leaving just the “Champions of Life,” awarded to them by head coach Butch Jones, the only title won in Knoxville in 2016.

Jones getting the Vols to back-to-back nine-win seasons isn’t bad, but it’s certainly not where Tennessee expected to be at this point in Jones’ fourth year.