Tennessee Vols AD Danny White has smart take on scheduling non-conference games
The Tennessee Vols will play NC State next fall in a neutral site matchup at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. While the game in Charlotte should be a fun trip for Vols fans, it's not how Tennessee athletic director Danny White would prefer to schedule non-conference games. White had no choice but to schedule […]
The Tennessee Vols will play NC State next fall in a neutral site matchup at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
While the game in Charlotte should be a fun trip for Vols fans, it's not how Tennessee athletic director Danny White would prefer to schedule non-conference games.
White had no choice but to schedule the game with NC State in 2024, due to the expansion of the SEC which impacted the schedule next season (UT had a non-conference game scheduled against Oklahoma in Knoxville, but that game was canceled once the Sooners joined the SEC…..oddly enough, the Vols will now play OU in a conference game in Norman next season).
In the future, White would prefer to schedule home-and-home non-conference matchups.
"We intend to continue to play a non-conference home-and-home Power 5 opponent,” said White on Wednesday during an appearance on WNML.
"We’re really excited about going to Charlotte next year," added White. "They’ve been a great partner. We had a great experience in Nashville last year with the Virginia game that replaced the road game at BYU. But as we move forward, nothing changes with regard to our philosophy on finding really quality home-and-home non-conference games against Power 5 opponents."
Neutral site games every now and then can be fun — especially games in Nashville since there's a large contingent of Vols fans in the Music City.
But home-and-home non-conference games are always the way to go. It's a chance for fans to travel to different stadiums outside of the SEC. A matchup against Penn State, for example, would be much more fun for fans if it included a trip to Happy Valley (while also playing a game at Neyland Stadium) instead of a trip to a neutral site in Atlanta or Charlotte.
It's nice to hear that White and Tennessee are committed to scheduling home-and-home series in the future, instead of falling into the neutral site trend that's seemingly taken over college football the last decade.
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