Vols Non-Conference Schedule Fails to Impress
By Mark Nagi
College football is the greatest sport in the world… no matter what the powers that be do to destroy our love for it.
Remember out-of-conference home and home contests? I certainly do.
In 1990 and 1991, Tennessee and Notre Dame played late in each season in games with National Championship implications. The Irish held off a furious Vols rally in 1990, but Tennessee got revenge in “The Miracle at South Bend” a year later, a game that ranks among the favorites in program history for UT fans.
In 1994, Tennessee went west to face UCLA. They lost that day in the Rose Bowl, but we saw Peyton Manning’s debut.
In 1998, the Vols hit the road to start the season at Syracuse. Jeff Hall’s FG on the last play of the game started Tennessee on the road to a national championship.
In 2006 and 2007, Tennessee and California made cross-country trips and played memorable games.
The 2015 Oklahoma/Tennessee contest, which the Sooners won in double overtime, was one of the loudest games ever played at Neyland Stadium.
There are other notable trips, like the one to Oregon in 2013, but these games are getting harder and harder to come by… why, you ask? Because somewhere along the line, athletics directors chose to embrace neutral site games, ensuring at least seven home games a year, and the ticket revenue that comes with it.
So now we get trips to Charlotte and Nashville and Atlanta to play FBS opponents in NFL stadiums.
Woo Hoo.
Wouldn’t it have been better to see those games in Knoxville or Morgantown or Raleigh or Charlottesville?
Over the last 25 years, Tennessee has had trips to Wyoming, BYU, West Point, North Carolina, Southern Cal, and Ohio State canceled outright, bought out, or moved to neutral sites. Those would have been trips to allow some Vols fans to see parts of the country they otherwise would never visit.
We were told that the expansion of the College Football Playoff would lead to more entertaining out-of-conference home and home games in the sport. With added room for error, teams would be more willing to venture out of their comfort zones and avoid scheduling “Directional Kentucky.”
That might be the case for some schools, but apparently not Tennessee.
Recently, Nebraska backed out of a home-and-home series with the Vols, forcing UT AD Danny White to go into scramble mode to find a replacement on short notice. The Vols recently announced that in 2026 the Vols will play at Georgia Tech, with the Yellow Jackets making the return trip to Knoxville in 2027.
Probably the best White could do, and the game in 2026 could be played at Bobby Dodd Stadium, but it’s yet another Atlanta trip, and the game still could be moved to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
There is hope (even if it is the hope that kills you). In a few years, Tennessee is scheduled to play Washington, with the Vols heading to the Pacific Northwest in 2029 and the Huskies in Knoxville in 2030. Those would be great games to see, and wonderful trips to make… but do you have any confidence these games will happen?
If the past is prologue, I’d avoid making non-refundable reservations.
