Another September Walkthrough
Tennessee opens the 2026 season against Furman on September 5th at Neyland Stadium. It's the kind of game that fills stadium coffers and sends nobody home talking about playoff implications.
Furman. FCS opponent. Home game. You've seen this movie.
The Paladins are a respectable Southern Conference program — they won't roll over — but let's not pretend this is appointment television. Tickets are going for $51 on the secondary market. That tells you everything about fan expectations.
Georgia Plays the Same Game
Here's what caught my eye: Georgia scheduled Tennessee State for the exact same day. The Bulldogs, fresh off however many recruiting classes ranked in the top three, are trotting out an HBCU from the Big South-OVC for their opener at Sanford Stadium.
Tickets in Athens start at $79. Twenty-eight dollars more than Knoxville for the same product — an FCS warmup that lets the second string play the fourth quarter.
Both programs doing the exact same thing. Both fan bases will show up, take selfies, watch a 45-10 game, and go home satisfied that football season has returned.
The Uncomfortable Question
I'm not naive. I know how this works. You schedule one FCS opponent, maybe two Group of Five teams, and then your conference slate. That's modern SEC football. Alabama does it. LSU does it. Kirby Smart just won two national titles doing it.
But here's what I want to know: When does Tennessee's administration believe this program is ready to schedule like it matters again?
Year Five under Josh Heupel should mean something. The roster is stacked with NFL prospects. The offense hums. The defense improved. If you believe Tennessee is a legitimate threat in the SEC — and the talking points from Knoxville say exactly that — then why are we still padding September with guaranteed wins?
What September Used To Mean
I've covered this league long enough to remember when Tennessee scheduled UCLA and Oregon home-and-homes. When the Vols opened in Atlanta against ranked opponents. When September was about making statements, not making payroll.
Those days aren't coming back. The playoff expansion killed any incentive to schedule aggressively. Why risk a loss when 12 teams make the dance?
Furman will come to Knoxville. Tennessee will win by 30. The schedule will be called "smart" and "strategic."
But it won't tell us a single thing we didn't already know.