After a week one neutral site win to begin the season, Tennessee football faces off against instate foe ETSU in its home opener Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium. Matt Schumacker, Dustin Fox and Stephanie Otey are on the call for the matchup.
No one is broadcasting the game on cable this week though both the SEC Network+ and ESPN+ are streaming the game.
After an action packed first weekend of the college football season, week two does not present a bunch of big games. Oklahoma-Michigan is the biggest game of the weekend with the top ABC announcing crew heading to Norman for the Big 10-SEC battle.
Ole Miss-Kentucky is the 3:30 p.m. ET game on ABC while Texas-San Jose State is the noon ET game on ABC. Other top games in the SEC include Kansas-Missouri, Florida-South Florida, Mississippi State-Arizona State and Virginia Tech-Vanderbilt.
So while it’s an overall weak slate, Tennessee’s matchup against a FCS foe is still understandably one of the worst games of the day in the SEC and is not getting any sort of big game treatment.
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Tennessee football opened up its 2025 season by knocking off Syracuse 45-26 in the Aflac Kickoff Game. It was a strong debut for Joey Aguilar with the transfer quarterback completing 16-of-28 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 34 yards.
It was a mixed bag for a Tennessee defense that battled a multitude of injuries in the game. The Vols forced two fumbles and recorded five sacks but also gave up four touchdowns against a new-look Syracuse offense.
ETSU is off to a 1-0 start in head coach Will Healy’s tenure. The Bucs knocked off Murray State 45-17 in Johnson City while playing both North Carolina quarterback transfer Jacolby Criswell and Iowa quarterback transfer Cade McNamara. But ETSU’s offense did most its damage on the ground, rushing for 392 yards and five touchdowns on 58 total carries.
It’s the second ever meeting between Tennessee and ETSU on the gridiron with the Vols routing the Bucs 59-3 in the first win of Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure back in 2018.
