It’s far too early for anyone to be making bowl game predictions (or College Football Playoff predictions), but we all know they’re going to happen anyway.

The latest bowl game prediction for Tennessee after the Vols’ season-opening win over Furman is one that makes no sense.

On3’s Brett McMurphy predicted on Monday that Tennessee will play Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa on December 31.

Now, I obviously have no idea whether Tennessee will be in a spot in December where the ReliaQuest Bowl is a reasonable option. Again, it’s far too early to even be thinking about bowl game possibilities.

What I do know, though, is that there’s no chance Tennessee plays Illinois in a bowl game.

The Vols, of course, played Illinois in the Music City Bowl last season. I can’t see any bowl game wanting to repeat that matchup in 2026.

Tennessee has only played the same opponent in a bowl game in back-to-back years once, and that was in 1983 and 1984 when the Vols faced Maryland in the Citrus Bowl and the Sun Bowl.

In today’s college football, where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to generate interest for bowl games (thanks to the College Football Playoff and player opt outs), there’s virtually no chance that a bowl game would be on board with repeating a matchup from the previous year (regardless of whether it’s the same bowl game).

Bowl games are looking for fresh matchups, and there’s nothing fresh about Tennessee vs Illinois after seeing them play in Nashville last December.