Dates for three of Tennessee Vols' biggest 2024 SEC matchups revealed

The Tennessee Vols have known for a while who they will play out of the SEC in 2024. Now the Vols know when three of their biggest games of the season will take place. ESPN revelated some key dates for the 2024 SEC season, and three of Tennessee's games were included. The Vols will travel […]

Craig Smith — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer

Nov 27, 2023 7:59 PM EST

The Tennessee Vols have known for a while who they will play out of the SEC in 2024. Now the Vols know when three of their biggest games of the season will take place.

ESPN revelated some key dates for the 2024 SEC season, and three of Tennessee's games were included. The Vols will travel to Norman, OK for a September 21 matchup with the Sooners. The Vols will also host Florida on October 12 and Alabama on October 19 in Knoxville.

The game is particularly interesting for Oklahoma, as the matchup with Tennessee will mark the school's first ever SEC game. The Vols and Sooners have faced off four times before and twice in recent years. Tennessee fell 34-10 in Norman in 2014. UT lost a heartbreaker in Knoxville in double overtime 31-24 in 2015 in the return matchup.

It goes without saying that October will be a massive month for Josh Heupel and the Tennessee program. Back-to-back home games against two of Tennessee's biggest rivals will make for an incredible stretch for Tennessee fans.

The Vols and Gators have only faced three times outside of September since 1991. The first and most memorable for Tennessee was in 2001 when the tragic events of 9/11 pushed the game to December 1, which Tennessee won 34-32 to clinch the SEC East. The schools also faced off on October 4, 2014 and December 5, 2020, the latter of which was scheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tennessee and Alabama resume their usual place on the calendar – the Third Saturday in October. It's nice to see the league choose to not just continue the rivalry, but put it on the weekend that it has made famous for decades.

The remainder of the SEC teams' conference schedules will be announced sometime in December, per the ESPN release. For now, Tennessee fans can start to plan their trips for some of the Vols' biggest weekends of the year.