Tennessee football: Kickoff time, TV set for game vs. Aggies

The Tennessee football Volunteers Nov. 14 showdown will be on national television.

Although the game won’t be on CBS, Tennessee football will be facing the Texas A&M Aggies on national TV in the middle of the afternoon. These two schools will face off at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on ESPN at 3:30 p.m. ET.

A large audience will be able to see Jeremy Pruitt face Jimbo Fisher, who gave him his first job as a defensive coordinator in 2013 with the Florida State Seminoles. It will also be the first game on ESPN for Rocky Top this year.

It’s likely that ESPN carries this Tennessee football game in the late afternoon as opposed to at noon or in the evening because CBS’ primetime game, between the Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers, will be at 6 p.m. ET that day. The SEC tweeted out the full Nov. 14 schedule Monday.

So far this year, the Vols have played three games on SEC Network against the South Carolina Gamecocks, Missouri Tigers and Kentucky Wildcats. They will have played a fourth game on the network Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET at the Arkansas Razorbacks. That will also mark two noon games and two 7:30 games on the network.

Meanwhile, UT has played two games in the 3:30 p.m. ET CBS slot, at the Georgia Bulldogs and against Alabama. That means its game against Texas A&M will be its third 3:30 game on the year despite being its first on ESPN.

Since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2012, they have only met UT once. That was back in 2016, and it was at 3:30 on CBS. Both teams were undefeated, but the Vols lost that game in overtime. It sparked a three-game losing streak for Rocky Top and was the start of a rapid decline for the program under Butch Jones.

Four years later, Jeremy Pruitt is now feeling the heat as Tennessee football’s head coach, although he’s only in his third year, while Jones was in his fourth year in 2016. However, a win over Texas A&M on ESPN would be a huge boost for him. They have to get by Arkansas first, though.