Eight home contests, including visits from Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Ole Miss and Georgia, make up the 2021 Tennessee football schedule as the Southeastern Conference unveiled the full fall slate on Wednesday.
The Vols will open the year with three consecutive home tilts beginning on Sept. 4 with Bowling Green, which makes its first appearance in Neyland Stadium. The two squared off in Nashville to open the 2015 campaign. The following week, ACC foe Pittsburgh visits Knoxville for the first time since 1983 on Sept. 11.
Other home non-conference games include Tennessee Tech on Sept. 18 and South Alabama on Nov. 20.
The SEC slate begins with back-to-back road games, including a Sept. 25 showdown at Florida and an Oct. 2 matchup at Missouri. Tennessee’s SEC home opener will be against South Carolina on Oct. 9, while Ole Miss visits Knoxville for the first time since 2010 a week later on Oct. 16. It will be just the third time since 2000 that the two teams face off in Neyland Stadium.
The Vols renew their rivalry with Alabama on Oct. 23, the fourth Saturday in October, before an open date on Oct. 30.
The month of November features three home games to close the season. Following a road game at Kentucky on Nov. 6, the Vols will host Georgia (Nov. 13), South Alabama (Nov. 20) and Vanderbilt (Nov. 27). The Nov. 13 showdown with Georgia is the latest the two teams have met on the calendar since Nov. 21, 1906.
2021 will also mark the centennial of Neyland Stadium, which opened as Shields-Watkins Field in 1921.