Tennessee AD Danny White puts Nebraska on blast after report of canceled football series

Tennessee Athletic Director Danny White put Nebraska on blast after the Volunteers’ scheduled home-and-home series with the Cornhuskers set for the 2026-27 seasons was canceled.

The series, which was set to begin with Nebraska hosting Tennessee in 2026 from Lincoln before a 2027 return date in Knoxville, was canceled at the Cornhuskers’ request, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, citing the Huskers’ desire for eight home games in 2027 during planned renovations to Memorial Stadium.

In response, White took to social media to make it clear this was a one-sided cancelation on Nebraska’s part in a “correction” quote tweet of Thamel’s original report.

“Correction: Tennessee is not canceling this series. Nebraska did,” White tweeted Friday morning. “We are very disappointed that they didn’t want to play these games, especially this close to 2026.”

As you can tell, the cancellation is very disappointing, for Tennessee fans and college football fans as a whole. The two historic programs have only played each other three times, with the Volunteers winning their last matchup in the 2016 Music City Bowl.

Moreover, Brent Hubbs of Volquest noted the original contract for the series, which was drafted in 2006, states that the buyout to get out of the games is $500,000, “The games were supposed to be played in 2016 and 2017, but both parties agreed to push the game back a decade and now the games are off.

“Because of the contract’s age and terms, the repercussions for Nebraska to opt out are hefty enough to prevent such a move,” he wrote.

The decision will likely lead to changes in the future pertaining buyout implications, as White shed some more light on the matter.

“The buyout implications need to be much steeper,” White added, via Hubbs. “This is such an old contract. It was postponed multiple times. If it had been postponed when I was here, I would have asked for an increase in the buyout to postpone it.

“I don’t know the history if we were requesting to push it back or if Nebraska was. The buyout terms are reflective of a contract that’s 20 years old. They are not steep enough to dissuade this kind of decision-making from our opponent.”

So what’s next for the now-open date on Tennessee’s schedule? White’s team will evaluate all of their options, but a home and home series might not be in the cards moving forward.

“We will make the most of it,” White stated. “If we are playing a neutral site game back in Nashville, Charlotte or Atlanta, I think it will be a great experience for our fans and our players. We are fortunate to have really good partners in those cities that are within driving distance. I’m not saying it’s a bad experience. It will be great if that’s where we are. I know we will have some fans disappointed if we lose a home game in Neyland. 

“Our goal is to try and replace this with another home and home. I just don’t know if that’s possible. It’s going to be a really tall order. As it sits right now, there’s not a single opponent available to do that. We are calling around trying to see if people are open to trying to get out of another game to look at playing us. It’s a lot easier to find someone who can do a one off neutral site than someone who can do two consecutive years and find dates that match up. You typically need 6, 7, 8, 9 years in advance to try and find that kind of arrangement.” 

All told it’s evident White and Tennessee aren’t happy with the way this entire ordeal went down with Nebraska, and it’s tough to blame them. It’ll be fascinating to see where the Volunteers pivot from here.

— On3’s Alex Byington contributed to this article.