The Tennessee Volunteers have added the Tennessee State Tigers to their 2027 football schedule, FBSchedules.com has confirmed. A copy of the football game agreement with Tennessee State University was obtained from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Tennessee will host Tennessee State at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2027. The Volunteers will pay the Tigers a $600,000 guarantee for the contest, according to the copy of the contract.
The 2027 Tennessee vs. Tennessee State matchup will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.
News of the Tennessee State at Tennessee contest was first reported by The Tennessean last month. The report indicated that Tennessee State University Director of Athletics Mikki Allen was lobbying to move the game against the Volunteers to the new Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.
“We’ve been working on the Tennessee game for a while,” Allen told The Tennessean. “It’s going to be a special game. We’re still working with their administration to figure out where to play. Because we’re here by the state capital and would love to play that game in the inaugural year at the new Nissan Stadium.”
The Tennessean report also stated that Tennessee State was set to play future games at Georgia, Middle Tennessee, and Vanderbilt in the coming years. To date, only the game at Middle Tennessee has been officially contracted (Sept. 1, 2029; $350,000 guarantee).
The Tennessee Volunteers now have three scheduled non-conference games in 2027 with the addition of Tennessee State. The Vols are also scheduled to host the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Sept. 11 and the Western Michigan Broncos on Sept. 18.
Tennessee is the second scheduled non-conference opponent for Tennessee State in 2027. The Tigers are also scheduled to host the Alabama A&M Bulldogs on Sept. 11.
Football Schedules
I’m surprised how this is their first meeting so far
See Joseph, there was this thing in the South called segregation. They don’t want you to remember it though, or research their definition of what was separate but equal.
Maybe Tennessee forgot Tennessee State is an HBCU school because the Tigers don’t play in the SWAC or MEAC.
@JM, TSU’s been playing FBS opponents on and off since the 90s, regardless if they were a HBCU or not, my comment was not for a segregation bias, thanknyou
Joseph, I did not suggest that you did. Obviously, Pop and David understood what I was saying too. The fact that TSU has been playing whoever they have been playing does not explain though why Tennessee would choose to play a season opener against Montana before scheduling an in state HBCU. If you didn’t get that, then I apologize that you felt I was offended at what you said and responded to that, but it was not my intention for you to take that comment personally.
Kudos to Tennessee for playing an in-state HBCU! Now if ‘Bama would try that…
Alabama vs Alabama A&M would make an excellent in-state HBCU for Crimson Tide.
This is just a suggestion.
Is this Tennessee’s first-ever football game against an HBCU?
It’s definitely their first in the past 40+ years. I didn’t check before the ’80s but I seriously doubt they played one before then.
Thanks, PeteF3. I agree it’s unlikely they played an HBCU more than 40 years ago, particularly if this will be the first meeting with TSU, the most likely candidate for the Vols to have played.