After a season filled with new challenges and unexpected changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Southeastern Conference released the schedule for Tennessee football on Wednesday.
The Vols will start the season on Sept. 4 against Bowling Green in Neyland Stadium. The next two games will be at home, until Sept. 25 when the Vols travel to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to face off against the Florida Gators.
The full schedule is listed below:
- Sept. 4: Bowling Green
- Sept. 11: Pittsburgh
- Sept. 18: Tennessee Tech
- Sept. 25: at Florida
- Oct. 2: at Missouri
- Oct. 9: South Carolina
- Oct. 16: Ole Miss
- Oct. 23: at Alabama
- Oct. 30: Open Date
- Nov. 6: at Kentucky
- Nov. 13: Georgia
- Nov. 20: South Alabama
- Nov. 27: Vanderbilt
The Vols will start the season with a new athletic director and a new head coach, Josh Heupel. He will be the 27th head coach of the Tennessee football program.
Heupel replaced Jeremy Pruitt after he was fired on Jan. 18. Chancellor Donde Plowman said that a compliance investigation revealed possible Level I and Level II NCAA violations.
The new coach said that he was looking forward to working with Athletic Director Danny White to help make student-athletes the best they can be both on and off the field.
White said when he asked the players what they wanted in a head coach, they told him they wanted someone with confidence, juice, and swagger.
Both Heupel and White said they want to build a foundation of long-term success, but that doesn't mean they won't focus right now on winning games.
White also said that players told him they didn't want a coach that was focused on winning two or three years down the road. They want to win now.