Transperfect Music City Bowl

Auburn (6-6) vs. Maryland (7-5)

1 p.m. CST Saturday (ABC)

Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee

1 Music City Bowl did not include an SEC team — Virginia’s 34-31 victory over Minnesota in the 2005 game. The SEC has a 9-14 overall record in the Music City Bowl. The Big Ten has a 5-4 record in the Music City Bowl – 5-3 against SEC opponents.

2 Passing yards for Maryland QB Billy Edwards Jr. during the 2023 season. Edwards is in line to start under center for the Terrapins with Taulia Tagovailoa opting out of the Music City Bowl. Tagovailoa completed 290-of-437 passes for 3,377 yards with 25 TDs and 11 interceptions for Maryland in 2023 as he became the Big Ten’s career passing leader. Edwards completed 4-of-10 passes for 2 yards with no TDs and one interception. Maryland has thrown at least 30 passes in each of its past 15 games, the second-longest streak in the nation. Edwards also ran for 41 yards and six TDs on 16 carries. Edwards leads Maryland in rushing TDs this season.

2 Games against SEC opponents in the previous 35 seasons for Maryland, and both occurred in the same calendar year. The Terrapins lost to Florida 56-23 in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2, 2002, and defeated Tennessee 30-3 in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 31, 2002. Maryland has a 26-30-2 record against SEC opponents, including a 4-5-1 bowl mark.

3 Previous games between Auburn and Maryland. The Tigers lost to the Terrapins 13-7 on Sept. 27, 1952, in Birmingham, then won home games against Maryland 20-7 on Oct. 25, 1958, and 35-23 on Nov. 5, 1983. In the teams’ most recent meeting, Auburn had three 100-yard rushers – Tommie Agee with 24 carries for 219 yards and two TDs, Bo Jackson 18 carries for 105 yards and one TD and Lionel James 14 carries for 115 yards – while Maryland QB Boomer Esiason threw for 355 yards and three TDs.

3 Consecutive bowl losses for Auburn. Since the Tigers defeated Purdue 63-14 in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 28, 2018, Auburn has lost to Minnesota 31-24 in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1, 2020, Northwestern 35-19 in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2021, and Houston 17-13 in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 28, 2021. The Tigers have a 24-20-2 bowl record and have never had a four-game bowl losing streak. Auburn has made one other appearance in the Music City Bowl and won that one, too, defeating Wisconsin 28-14 on Dec. 31, 2003.

3 Victories without a loss on Dec. 30 for Auburn. The Tigers defeated Colorado 24-3 in 1972 and Texas 27-3 in 1974 in the Gator Bowl and Memphis 31-10 in 2015 in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 30. Maryland has a 2-1 record on Dec. 30. The Terrapins defeated Nevada 42-35 in 2008 in the Humanitarian Bowl, lost to Stanford 45-21 in 2014 in the Foster Farms Bowl and defeated North Carolina State 16-12 in 2022 in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

4 Consecutive bowl victories for Auburn coach Hugh Freeze. Liberty lost to Toledo 21-19 in last season’s Boca Raton Bowl, but Freeze already had left for Auburn. Before that, the Flames defeated Eastern Michigan 56-20 in the Lending Tree Bowl on Dec. 18, 2021, Coastal Carolina 37-34 in the Cure Bowl on Dec. 26, 2020, and Georgia Southern 23-16 in the Cure Bowl on Dec. 21, 2019, and Ole Miss defeated Oklahoma State 48-20 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2016, under Freeze, who has a 6-1 bowl record.

7 Victories, eight losses and one tie for Auburn against Big Ten opponents, with 13 of the meetings coming in bowls. The Tigers are 7-6 in bowls against Big Ten opponents. Auburn has lost its past four meetings with Big Ten opponents. Since a 63-14 victory over Purdue in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 28, 2018, the Tigers have lost to Minnesota 31-24 in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1, 2020, Northwestern 35-19 in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2021, and Penn State 28-20 on Sept. 18, 2021, and 41-12 on Sept. 17, 2022.

8 Consecutive Auburn bowls have been won by the team that finished with the most first downs. The most recent time that wasn’t true was the BCS national-championship game for the 2013 season. Auburn had 25 first downs to Florida State’s 19, but the Seminoles won the game 34-31.

11 Consecutive non-conference games have been won by Maryland, the nation’s second-longest active streak. Since a 20-17 loss to Temple on Sept. 14, 2019, Maryland has beaten non-conference opponents West Virginia, Howard, Kent State, Virginia Tech (in the Pinstripe Bowl), Buffalo, Charlotte (twice), SMU, North Carolina State (in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl), Towson and Virginia.

13 Victories, 14 losses and two ties in bowls for Maryland after the Terrapins ended the past two seasons with wins, defeating Virginia Tech 54-10 in the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 29, 2021, and North Carolina State 16-12 in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Dec. 30, 2022. Maryland has never won a bowl in three consecutive seasons. Maryland is making its first appearance in the Music City Bowl.

19 Consecutive field-goal attempts have been made by Auburn K Alex McPherson since he missed the first one of his career, the longest streak in school history.

33 Receptions for Rivaldo Fairweather in 2023, tied for the most in one season for an Auburn tight end. John Samuel Shenker set the mark with 33 receptions in 2021. Fairweather has 349 receiving yards. His six TD receptions are the most for an Auburn tight end since Philip Lutzenkirchen had seven in 2011. Fairweather leads Auburn in receptions, receiving yards and TD receptions this season.

36 More tackles for Auburn WLB Eugene Asante than for any of his teammates this season. Asante has 84 tackles, with MLB Larry Nixon III next with 48.

46 Years since Auburn had three consecutive losing seasons. The Tigers went 3-6-2 in 1975, 3-8 in 1976 and 5-6 in 1977. Auburn posted a 6-7 record in 2021 and a 5-7 mark in 2022. The Tigers enter their final game of the 2023 season on Saturday at 6-6. From 1978 through 2020, Auburn had seven losing seasons.

354 Passing yards and three TD passes for Auburn QB Payton Thorne in his previous bowl appearance. Thorne completed 29-of-50 passes for 354 yards with three TDs and one interception in Michigan State’s 31-21 victory over Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30, 2021. In his first season at Auburn, Thorne has completed 149-of-238 passes for 1,671 yards with 15 TDs and nine interceptions and run for 520 yards and three TDs on 125 carries.

647 Rushing yards for Auburn RB Jarquez Hunter in the past six games after he had 218 six games into the 2023 season. Hunter has averaged 7.3 yards on 89 carries in the second half of the season.

799 Victories in Auburn football history. A win on Saturday would make the Tigers the 13th NCAA FBS and fifth SEC program with 800 victories. The other schools with at least 800 victories include Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, Nebraska, Tennessee, Southern Cal, Georgia and LSU. The NCAA record book credits Auburn with an all-time record of 799-470-47.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.