Tennessee football opens up Josh Heupel’s fifth season as head coach Saturday against Syracuse in the Aflac Kickoff Classic in Atlanta. Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick and Kris Budden are on the call for ABC in the Vols’ 2025 season opener. Kickoff is at noon ET.
Tennessee-Syracuse is the third best game on the ESPN/ABC slate for the first Saturday of the season with Alabama at Florida State occupying the afternoon ABC slot and LSU at Clemson occupying the primetime ABC slot. But while it’s the third biggest game of the day on ABC, it is not necessarily the third biggest game of the season.
Colorado hosts Georgia Tech on ESPN Friday night before South Carolina faces Virginia Tech and Miami hosts Notre Dame on Sunday. Both those games are on the ESPN family of networks and it’s unclear which announcers are double-dipping and calling multiple games this weekend.
The top college football game of the week is at the same time as Tennessee-Syracuse. No. 1 Texas travels to No. 3 Ohio State as the Big Noon Saturday game on FOX.
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Tennessee is coming off a 10-3 (6-2 SEC) season that saw them earn rivalry wins over Florida and Alabama on its way to the College Football Playoff. The Vols have to replace an abundance of production from their playoff team including starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, SEC Offensive Player of the Year Dylan Sampson, leading receiver Donte Thornton and four starters on the offensive line.
Those losses have lessened the expectations around Tennessee entering the season but the Vols are still a preseason top 25 team with an outside chance to push for a return to the College Football Playoff for the second straight season thanks in large part to their strong defense.
Syracuse is coming off a 10-3 (5-3 ACC) season in its first season under head coach Fran Brown. But expectations are low for Brown’s second team. DraftKings Sportsbook set Syracuse’s regular season over/under win total at 5.5 after the Orange lost quarterback Kyle McCord as well as their top running back, top two receivers, top tight end and three of five starting offensive linemen.
It’s the fourth ever meeting between Tennessee and Syracuse. The Vols own a 3-0 record all-time in the series including a season-opening win during the 1998 season.
