The Southeastern Conference will debut its nine-game league football schedule later this year, and it’s giving Tennessee one of its greatest opposing lineups inside Neyland Stadium.
A first-ever visit from the Texas Longhorns, who will be quarterbacked by Arch Manning, the nephew of Volunteers legend Peyton Manning. A return for former Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh, who is Auburn’s first-year head coach, and another venture to Knoxville for former Vols head coach Lane Kiffin, who will be in his first season guiding LSU.
There is also a visit from Kentucky, the opponent Tennessee has played more than any other, as well as one from Alabama, Tennessee’s greatest rival of all.
Adding a ninth league game will undoubtedly enhance the SEC’s inventory of quality contests each Saturday — Oklahoma plays at Georgia, Texas A&M visits LSU, and Ole Miss goes to Florida on the same Sept. 26 that Tennessee hosts Texas — but Vols sixth-year coach Josh Heupel is already thinking about it from a different perspective.
‘The ninth game adds a lot of excitement and a bunch of great games for our fans and for our players and staff, but there is a physical element of it, too,” Heupel said last week during the Big Orange Caravan event at the Riverdance Restaurant. “It’s another game of the type of contact you take inside of the conference schedule. You can look at the number of draft picks you’ll be playing every single week, which means you’ve got to play championship-caliber football every single week.
“When you go on the road and walk into the venues you see every week, it’s difficult.”
Tennessee’s four SEC road games this season are against Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
The Vols have a tricky contest even before league play begins with their Sept. 12 matchup against Georgia Tech in famed Bobby Dodd Stadium. They do not have an open date until Halloween, which is between their eighth and ninth games.
“This year, there is only one open date, whereas last year we had two,” Heupel said. “We open up with eight straight out of the gate. Managing your team and some individual players getting to game day will be something we’re cognizant of as we go through our preparation.”
The most demanding home schedule for Tennessee occurred in 1980, when there were visits from running back Herschel Walker and eventual national champion Georgia, No. 2 Pittsburgh, No. 6 Alabama and No. 11 Southern California. The 1980 Pitt team included four future Pro Football Hall of Famers — quarterback Dan Marino, center Russ Grimm, offensive tackle Jimbo Covert and linebacker Ricky Jackson — as well as offensive tackle Mark May and defensive end Hugh Green, who were first-round picks in the 1981 NFL draft.
Tennessee opened its 1980 season with a 16-15 loss to Georgia and a 20-17 setback to USC, but the schedule eventually weakened the Vols, as they succumbed to Alabama and Pitt on consecutive Saturdays in late October by the combined score of 57-6. The Vols were then upset by Virginia 16-13 on homecoming on their way to a disappointing 5-6 finish.
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The Vols had another stout home schedule in 1990 with visits from Florida, Alabama and Notre Dame but won the SEC championship that season.
“You’ve also got to continue to grow throughout the course of a season,” Heupel said. “Good teams continue to get better. You’ve got to go good on good, but maybe there’s a week you pull some of that back while still getting your prep work for your opponent.
“Depth is a huge part of this, and this will be the first season we’re at a full scholarship level, which is going to help us. I expect us to be deeper than we’ve been.”
Student vs. teacher
When Tennessee hosts No. 3 Texas in a three-game baseball series this weekend at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, it will pit Vols first-year coach Josh Elander against his former mentor.
Jim Schlossnagle was TCU’s head coach from 2004-21, and Elander was a Horned Frogs outfielder from 2010-12 and coached as a student assistant in 2016, which followed his professional career that included a stint with the 2013 Rome Braves. Schlossnagle was Texas A&M’s coach from 2022-24, with Tennessee topping his Aggies in the best-of-three finals at the 2024 College World Series, before he left for the rival Longhorns.
“He’s always been amazing to me, and he’s someone I’ve kept in touch with a ton,” Elander said in a press conference following Tuesday night’s 8-1 win over Presbyterian. “He knows my family and my kids and all that. I get that this could be an area and whatnot, but this is Tennessee versus Texas here at home in May.
“This is a big weekend for us.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.