'Great job by the conference': SEC Network analysts react to Tennessee's 2024 opponents
Tennessee football learned its eight Southeastern Conference opponents for the 2024 season Wednesday night. But in hindsight, there aren’t that many changes for the Vols from what was previously scheduled.
There are home games set with Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Mississippi State, four teams that would’ve been on Tennessee’s schedule based on the league’s previous format of division play, annual rivalries and rotating SEC West opponents.
Even Oklahoma, who will host the Vols in 2024, was on Tennessee’s schedule originally as a non-conference game, before the Sooners and Texas joined the SEC, forcing the league to call off the game. North Carolina State filled the vacancy for Tennessee, with a neutral-site game in Charlotte.
Only Arkansas is the new addition to the road schedule, which will include Georgia and Vanderbilt along with Oklahoma.
SEC keeps Tennessee’s rivalry games on schedule
“As a fan you’ve got to love this schedule,” SEC Network analyst Takeo Spikes said Wednesday night during the schedule release. “You’ve got ‘Bama at home, Mississippi State, Florida and Kentucky. As a coach, these are the games that you have to win if you really want to make your mark in the SEC. No SEC East or West, it’s the SEC.”
“To me it’s the rivalry games,” Chris Doering said on SEC Network when asked about the Tennessee schedule. “Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Vandy and Georgia all retained. Great job by the conference.”
The league will drop the divisions in 2024 when Texas and Oklahoma officially make the move. During spring meetings in Destin last month, an eight-game conference schedule won the vote over a possible nine-game format.
The most notable change for Tennessee is the absence of South Carolina on the schedule. The Vols and Gamecocks have played annually since 1992, when the SEC added South Carolina and Arkansas and went to divisions.
Tennessee and Missouri have played every year since 2012, when the Tigers joined the league alongside Texas A&M, but they won’t play in 2024.
Tennessee at Oklahoma a ‘sneaky entertaining game’ on 2024 schedule
Spikes, the former Auburn linebacker and NFL Pro Bowler, picked Tennessee at Oklahoma as his “sneaking entertaining game” on the 2024 schedule. Josh Heupel was the obvious reason why.
He led the Sooners to a national championship as the team’s star quarterback and Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2000. He coached at Oklahoma from 2006-2014, first as quarterbacks coach and later as co-offensive coordinator before he was fired by former head coach Bob Stoops in January 2015.
“The last time we saw Josh Heupel be apart of this (as a player), he won a national championship,” Spikes said. “He also came back to coach at Oklahoma. This is going to be my sneaky good game. And the reason why, I’ve never been a coach, but as a player, when you have ties to something or a team in the past, you want to come back and establish your dominance.
“So best believe that he’s going to say it’s another game. Nah, it won’t be another game. The intensity during practice throughout that week is going to be picked up.”
