Tennessee AD Danny White 'excited in any iteration' of new-look SEC football schedule
Danny White hasn’t had much time to think about the future of SEC football schedules. For now, there’s too much other stuff — talk of revenue sharing, the ever-changing NCAA Transfer Portal era and other changes to college athletics — that has the attention of Tennessee’s athletic director.
The SEC in December announced an eight-game schedule for the 2024 football season, with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma and the stripping away of east and west divisions, instead sending the top two teams in the overall standings to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game.
SEC teams also have to play one opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 or a major independent in the new scheduling format.
Tennessee opens SEC play at Oklahoma on September 21
“I think we were getting close to the point where we need to make some decisions” White told reporters of the scheduling situation last week during the Big Orange Caravan stop in Nashville.
“To be perfectly honest with you, we’ve got so many other bigger issues I hadn’t really thought about that one most recently. I know our fans would love to know.”
Tennessee this season will open SEC play at Oklahoma on September 21 in the Sooners’ first game as an SEC team. The Vols go to Arkansas (October 5), host Florida (October 12), Alabama (October 19), Kentucky (November 2) and Mississippi State (November 9), then go to Georgia (November 16) and Vanderbilt (November 30) to close the regular season.
There are open dates on September 28 and October 26, with the addition of the second open date being another change in the new-look SEC scheduling format.
It was announced in March that the same setup would apply for the 2025 season, with Tennessee going to Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Mississippi State and hosting Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.
“We continue to monitor changes across college sports as they relate to future scheduling,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement at the time. “Continuing with our current format for the 2025 season provides additional time to understand the impact of the changes happening around us as we determine the appropriate long-term plan for SEC football scheduling.”
Danny White: ‘I think it’s going to be awesome. And I can’t wait’
Tennessee opens the 2024 season on August 31 against Chattanooga at Neyland Stadium and goes to Charlotte to face North Carolina State on September 7 at Bank of America Stadium, fulling the power-conference opponent requirement. The other non-conference games are against Kent State (September 14) and UTEP (November 23).
“I’m excited in any iteration of this new football conference,” White said last week. “And adding two (schools) is one thing, and they’re two big-time brands. But just playing everyone more frequently by getting rid of the divisions and having much more diversity in the schedule, whether it’s eight or nine, we will get home and away in a four-year period with everybody in the league.
“From a fan experience, student-athlete experience. I think it’s going to be awesome. And I can’t wait.”
