COVID-19 forced the Tennessee football Volunteers to play a 10-game Southeastern Conference-only schedule.
It looks like Tennessee football won’t be playing the Oklahoma Sooners this year after all. In fact, the Vols won’t be playing any non-conference opponents, which would have also included the Charlotte 49ers, Furman Paladins and Troy Trojans.
On Thursday, the SEC announced it was moving to a 10-game conference-only schedule for 2020 due to coronavirus concerns. The league is also moving back the start of the season to Sept. 26 with one midseason open date, an open date for all schools on Dec. 12 and the SEC Championship being played on Dec. 19, still at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
As of right now, Sept. 26 is when Tennessee football is set to face the Florida Gators. However, a “revised schedule” for the league has not yet been announced, and the conference said that would come at a later date after being approved by all of its athletic directors.
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Earlier this year, the SEC had announced that it would holds its annual media days virtually. However, they were scheduled the second week in July, and they still have not been held. That appeared to put the start of the season in jeopardy.
The decision by the conference to move everything back came after other leagues had announced they would be doing the same thing. Given all the delays that have happened so far, there could still be more surprises in the future.
With every league team usually playing eight games, six against their divisional opponents and two against teams in the other division, one of whom is a permanent rivalry, this move will simply allow the teams to add two more opponents from the other division. That could make for a few more interesting games.
When it comes to Tennessee football, assuming they play all the teams who were already on their schedule in the conference, the Vols will add two more teams among the Auburn Tigers, LSU Tigers, Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs and Texas A&M Aggies. No matter what happens, though, their schedule just got a heck of a lot tougher.