Tennessee’s next SEC home game now has a start time, a TV window, and a little extra uniform flair attached to it.
The Vols will host Auburn on October 3 at Neyland Stadium, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will air on ABC or ESPN.
Tennessee also plans to wear its new Smokey Grey jerseys for the matchup. The set is a nod to legendary head coach Robert Neyland and his run leading the Vols, and it will be the first Smokey Grey look Tennessee wears under the new adidas deal.
Auburn will arrive in Knoxville with familiar faces on the sideline. Alex Golesh is in his first season as the Tigers’ head coach after previously leading USF, and before that he served as Josh Heupel’s offensive coordinator at Tennessee from 2021-22. Auburn’s staff also includes several other former Vol assistant coaches, which adds plenty of overlap between the two programs.
The Tigers are 2-1 overall and 0-1 in SEC play. They opened the season with a dramatic win over Baylor in Atlanta, then lost at home to Florida on Saturday.
Auburn will first return to action this week against Vanderbilt, with that game set for 4:15 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
Tennessee, meanwhile, is 3-0 and has already banked a standout road win over Georgia Tech in Week Two. The Vols’ biggest test is still ahead this weekend, though, with top-ranked Texas coming to Knoxville for what shapes up as the headline game of Week Four.
In Other News...
Texas Coach Just Added More Fuel To Neyland Before Tennessee Showdown
Steve Sarkisian did the Volunteers a favor without meaning to, giving Neyland Stadium another shot of energy before Texas comes to Knoxville. The Longhorns coach called it the loudest stadium in the country ahead of the matchup, and that kind of praise only adds to the atmosphere around a game already carrying plenty of weight, with No. 1 Texas visiting No. 14 Tennessee in the annual Checker Neyland showcase.
The setting figures to be huge even by Tennessee standards, with more than 100,000 seats packed into a noon ET kickoff on ABC and a College GameDay spotlight attached. For the Vols, it is the kind of moment that can turn a September game into a full-scale event, and Sarkisian's comments only sharpen the sense that Texas knows exactly what it is walking into. [Read more 🡒]
Peyton Manning Puts Texas-Tennessee GameDay In An Awkward Spot
ESPN is bringing College GameDay to Knoxville ahead of the Sept. 26 matchup between Texas and Tennessee, setting up one of the more intriguing pregame stages of the early season. The backdrop is already loaded for Volunteers fans, with Tennessee hosting a marquee nonconference game and national attention set to descend on campus before kickoff.
The wrinkle is Peyton Manning. The former Tennessee quarterback has made it clear he would back his nephew, Texas quarterback Arch Manning, over his alma mater if asked to choose, and ESPN still has not announced its guest picker. That has left local observers wondering whether Manning would even be the fit for the role, giving GameDay an awkward little subplot before the show has a chance to get rolling. [Read more 🡒]
Peyton Manning Just Gave Vols Fans A Brutal Dilemma
Peyton Manning has always been one of Tennessees most beloved figures, and he made it clear this week that his affection for his alma mater has not changed. Even so, when the Vols meet Texas in a high-stakes SEC matchup, Manning said his family tie pulls him in another direction, since his nephew Arch is on the other sideline. It is the kind of rooting interest that feels impossible for Tennessee fans to hear from one of their own, even with the loyalty to Knoxville still intact.
The game carries plenty of weight on its own, with both teams undefeated and ranked inside the Top 15, but Mannings stance adds another layer to the buildup. It also complicates the usual pregame pageantry around College GameDay, where Manning would have been an obvious draw as the guest picker. Instead, his allegiance to family appears to leave that spot out of play, turning a marquee Saturday into a small but painful reminder of how messy college football can get when bloodlines and school pride collide. [Read more 🡒]