Tennessee football’s 2026 schedule is official. The Vols, like the rest of the SEC, will play nine conference games, one against a quality out-of-conference opponent and two remaining matchups.

For UT, home games on the slate include Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, Texas, Furman and Kennesaw State. On the road, it’ll play Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech. That’s seven games inside Neyland Stadium and five in a hostile environment on the road.

Here’s what I love and what I hate about the slate of games next year.

More From RTI: Confirmed Games on Tennessee Football’s Schedule Until 2030, Next Four Years of SEC Matchups

Love

Annual Opponents

Yesterday, Chris Low reported the annual opponents for every team in the SEC. Tennessee got a great pull. The Vols will play Alabama, Kentucky and Vanderbilt every season. While the latter two aren’t as sexy as a Florida or Georgia game, they’ll likely be much easier matchups over the next four seasons. Even with Vanderbilt rising through the conference of late, Kentucky seems to be the team to replace them at the bottom of the barrel.

You also couldn’t lose the Alabama game. The Third Saturday in October is a classic rivalry that will be mandatory on all future schedules for UT.

At the end of the day, I don’t think there was any better combination for the three annual opponents over the next four years. Tennessee’s set of games isn’t too tough (which is important given the expanded playoffs to simply just win the games that are in front of you), and it’s the three teams UT has played the most in its storied history.

Vols Welcome Texas to Town

For the first time in the history of the two programs, Tennessee and Texas will meet on the gridiron for a regular-season game. The UTs have met three times before, all in bowl games played in Dallas. Tennessee is 1-2 in those meetings, with the most recent one back in 1968.

When Oklahoma and Texas joined the league, it made too much sense not to pair up the Vols and Sooners first, given the connection with Josh Heupel. Now that he’s made his trip back to Norman, I think the natural pairing between the orange-clad UTs is super intriguing.

With how good the Longhorns have been lately and a possible Manning headed to Knoxville with Arch Manning seemingly on track to return, all the storylines you could want are there. And most importantly, it should be a great game.

Forgotten Old SEC Rivalry Revived

From 1956-1991, Tennessee and Auburn played every single season in football. Since then, it’s become a forgotten rivalry from the traditional SEC.

While playing every other year won’t be enough to fully revive the rivalry, it’ll be great to see the Tigers back in Neyland Stadium. Auburn hasn’t had to make the trip to Knoxville since 2013, with the previous pair of meetings both at Auburn.

I’m admittedly too young to reminisce on the old rivalry, but I can certainly appreciate the history between the teams and how cool it will be for them to play much more often.

Fun Former SEC West Opponents

It’s not often Tennessee gets to play LSU or Texas A&M. The Vols went to Baton Rouge in 2022 and hosted the Aggies in 2023 (winning both), but those were a long time coming. The last time Tennessee hosted LSU? 2017, nearly a decade ago, once this one is played. The last time the Vols went to College Station? 2016, the gut-wrenching overtime loss that will be a decade in the past when this one is held.

This is the beauty of the new scheduling format, though. If you’re a player who sticks around at an SEC school for all four years of your career, you’ll get the chance to play at every single stadium the conference has to offer.

Hate

Another Game Against Arkansas

It was fun in the ’90s, but the Tennessee-Arkansas game doesn’t move the needle for me. Maybe if the teams weren’t just coming off two straight years of playing, I’d be more open to it, but it just feels like the game with the least juice on the SEC slate.

The Razorbacks don’t project to be very good, either. Now, I don’t think you should turn down an easy win on paper in the SEC, but as a fan of college football, it just won’t be very exciting. After all, there’s seemingly a very, very good chance it’ll be a new Head Hog in Fayetteville next season.

No Florida or Georgia

Like I said earlier, my vote for Tennessee’s three annual opponents were the ones it got. Alabama, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. However, it would’ve been nice if Florida and Georgia were staggered.

Instead, it’ll be no games against the Gators or Bulldogs in 2026 or 2028, and the typical diet of both in 2027 and 2029. It’s not the end of the world, but it will be weird to have neither on the schedule next season.