Watch: Tennessee pays tribute to EA Sports NCAA Football return with 2024 schedule release video
Tennessee football revealed its 2024 schedule on social media on Wednesday night by paying tribute to the return of EA Sports’ NCAA football video game.
In a video on ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter, the Vols built out the new schedule as if it was being made in the game. EA Sports is scheduled to bring the game back this summer after it was discontinued after the 2013 release.
Tennessee even threw in a troll of Vanderbilt in the release. Each game on the schedule showed the stadium the game would be played in. When it reached the Vols’ regular-season finale at Vandy on November 30, Tennessee used a picture of Vanderbilt Stadium showing Tennessee fans filling the side of the stadium behind the visiting bench.
🎮 Road to Glory 🎮
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) December 14, 2023
The 2024 schedule is officially live!#GBO 🍊 pic.twitter.com/PfXtMWKXBJ
The entire SEC schedule was released Wednesday night on SEC Network. Tennessee has already dates set with Chattanooga, the season opener on August 31, North Carolina State, a neutral-site game against Charlotte on September 7, Kent State on September 14 and UTEP on November 23.
It was announced on Monday night that Florida would play at Tennessee on October 12 and ESPN in recent weeks announced that the Vols would open SEC play at Oklahoma on September 21, as the Sooners make their debut in the conference, and Alabama would come to Knoxville on October 19, a week after the Vols host the Gators.
Those dates were all confirmed Wednesday.
Tennessee will have two bye weeks, with the first on September 28 and the second on October 26. The Vols go to Arkansas on October 5, after the first bye week, starting conference play with two road games.
Vols play four straight home games between October 12 and November 9
Tennessee’s SEC home opener against Florida on October 12 is the start of four straight home games.
The Florida-Alabama back-to-back is followed by the second bye week, before Tennessee hosts Kentucky on November 2 and Mississippi State on November 9.
The Vols go to Georgia on November 16, host UTEP for Homecoming on November 23 and close the regular-season schedule at Vanderbilt on November 30.
The SEC in 2024 will play without divisions for the first time since 1991, after Oklahoma and Texas joined the conference, bringing it to 16 teams. The league went with an 8-and-1 schedule model next season, with eight conference games and one Power 5 non-conference game for all league schools.
Tennessee had a non-conference game scheduled with Oklahoma for 2024, but the SEC told both schools to cancel the series with the Sooners set to join the league.
The two teams have met only four times, with Oklahoma winning the last three. The Vols beat the Sooner 17-0 in the 1939 Orange Bowl, capping an 11-0 season in which the Tennessee defense allowed only 16 total points. Oklahoma won 26-24 in the 1968 Orange Bowl, won 34-10 in Norman in 2014 and won 31-24 in overtime at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville in 2016.
