The Franklin American Music City Bowl had the fourth largest attendance of all the college football bowls this season, according to FootballSchdules.com.
A sold-out crowd of 68,496 watched Tennessee beat Nebraska (38-24) last Friday at Nissan Stadium.
The only bowls with larger attendances: Rose 97,128 (USC vs. Penn State), Peach 75,996 (Alabama vs. Washington) and Fiesta 71,279 (Clemson vs. Ohio State).
The Music City Bowl had the second-highest attendance increase (18,018) among all 41 bowls from the year before. The 2015 game between Louisville and Texas A&M had the 14th largest attendance, not including the national championship game, at 50,478, among all bowls.
Photos: Vols in Music City Bowl
Photo Gallery: Vols in the Music City Bowl
Timeline: Tennessee Vols football 2016 season
Only the Heart of Dallas Bowl (Army vs. North Texas, 39,177) had a larger increase (18,888) over 2015 (Washington vs. Southern Miss, 20,229).
The Music City Bowl also was among the only four bowls which were sellouts joining the Orange (Michigan vs. Florida State 67,342), Rose and Peach.
The bowl with the biggest decrease in attendance from 2015 was the Birmingham, which had 31,229 for the South Carolina vs. South Florida game. That was 28,201 fewer fans than for Memphis vs. Auburn in 2015.
The bowls with the smallest attendances: Bahamas 13,422 (Old Dominion vs. Eastern Michigan), Miami Beach 15,262 (Tulsa vs. Central Michigan), St. Petersburg 15,717 (Mississippi State vs. Miami, Ohio).
Vanderbilt lost to North Carolina State (41-17) in the Independence Bowl in front of a crowd of 28,995, which ranked 28th in attendance among all the bowls.
Middle Tennessee State lost to Hawaii (54-42) in the Hawaii Bowl before a crowd of 23,175, which was the bowl with the eighth lowest stadium fill rate (26,825 empty seats).
