Crispin Powley knew he was in some trouble. He just didn’t realize the depth of his own desperation.



He thought he could turn his own misfortune into a chance to help out a friend and dig himself out of a hole.



On Sunday, he jumped the gun and purchased a pair of tickets to the Music City Bowl for $250 before the matchup was decided. The 42-year-old fishing lure designer drives five hours from his home in Camden, Tenn., for every Tennessee home game, but the only bowl he’d ever attended was the 2016 Music City Bowl. Now, Tennessee was back, and Powley was going to make a return of his own.



Instead, despite initial reports that said otherwise, Tennessee ended up in the Gator Bowl against Indiana in Jacksonville, Fla., and Powley was stuck with rapidly depreciating tickets. He called up a family of Mississippi State fans he knows with an offer for a pair of tickets to see the Bulldogs take on Louisville in Nashville.



“They...