Tennessee football is in search of a new home-and-home series after Nebraska elected to back out of its scheduled matchups with the Vols on short notice.
Nebraska has backed out of the scheduled home-and-home football series with Tennessee, GoVols247 learned on Friday morning.
UT was scheduled to travel to Nebraska next season to play in Lincoln on Sept. 12, 2026, while the Cornhuskers were scheduled to play in Knoxville the following season on Sept. 11, 2027.
Nebraska informed Tennessee of its decision to buy out of each game for $500,000 on short notice last week, a UT spokesperson confirmed. Tennessee is now in search of a new home-and-home series to replace the previously scheduled matchups with the Cornhuskers.
«I’m disappointed Nebraska cancelled the series, especially at such a late date,» Tennessee athletic director Danny White told GoVols247.
The move is not related to the potential SEC-Big Ten scheduling agreement that the commissioners and athletic directors from both conferences reportedly discussed during a joint meeting in New Orleans earlier this week.
Nebraska and Tennessee agreed to the home-and-home series in 2006. It was originally scheduled to be played in 2016 and 2017, but the series was pushed back a decade to allow Tennessee to play Virginia Tech in the Battle at Bristol in 2016.
The two teams have played each other three times. Nebraska beat Tennessee in the 1997 Orange Bowl and the 1999 Fiesta Bowl to win the first two matchups. The Vols won the most recent matchup, beating the Cornhuskers in the 2016 Music City Bowl.
UT’s lone upcoming home-and-home with a power-conference opponent is a series with Washington. The Huskies are slated to play in Knoxville on Sept. 1, 2029. The Vols are set to play at Washington on Sept. 7, 2030.
Tennessee has future games scheduled with Syracuse (2025), Furman (2026), Western Michigan (2027) and West Virginia (2028).
UT will open the 2025 season against Syracuse on Aug. 30 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Tennessee’s non-conference schedule for the upcoming season also features games against East Tennessee State (Sept. 6), UAB (Sept. 20) and New Mexico State (Nov. 15).