Tennessee football will be one of the teams to get five SEC home games during the 2026 season, according to UT athletic director Danny White.
With the league moving to nine conference games next season, some teams will get four home games and others will get five. According to White, the Vols will be in the latter group, giving them seven total home games in 2026.
It also gives White the freedom to start scheduling out Power Four nonconference games to match up with the rotation of four and five SEC home games.
The years Tennessee has four SEC home games, White's goal is to have a Power Four nonconference game at home. When the Vols have five SEC home games, that Power Four nonconference game will be on the road.
“Next year we'll have five SEC home games. We'll be at Georgia Tech, and then it flip flops,” White said said on Big Orange Countdown on the Vol Network on Sept. 20. “So it's lined up for us through all of our non-conference games that are scheduled right now. And now that we have that set in stone, that rotation four to five, I don't anticipate to change.
“The three (permanent opponents) may, but when you have five, when you have four, will be a rotation that goes on into perpetuity. So now I can schedule home and away nonconference games that matches up where we'll always have five Power Four opponents in Neyland Stadium.”
The home and home with Georgia Tech will be played in 2026 and 2027, replacing the series with Nebraska that the Cornhuskers backed out of in February.
The SEC is set to announce each team's three permanent rivals along with the teams and sites for all nine conference games on Sept. 23. The six games outside of the permanent opponents will rotate among the remaining schools, and the league will continue with a single-standings, non-divisional structure.
“I think (SEC deputy commissioner) Charlie Hussy in our conference office has done a really good job working with us really over the last few years,” White said. “I have been hesitant to move forward out to many years with non-conference scheduling because I wanted to see where we landed on eight games versus nine games. And if we are at nine games I want to make sure that our home versus away mix matches up with what our five SEC games would be versus four.”
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football: Danny White says UT will have five SEC home games in 2026
