Tennessee is set to kick off the 2026 SEC slate against a team that hasn’t been seen often by the Volunteers in recent history. Josh Heupel’s squad will begin the season with three straight non-conference games before moving into a nine-game SEC slate to close out the regular season.
Tennessee’s SEC opener will be played against the Texas Longhorns on Saturday, Sep. 26, in Neyland Stadium. While the two programs have some recent history in baseball and basketball, you’ve got to go back more than 50 years to find the last time the two teams met on the gridiron.
The Volunteers and the Longhorns have only played three times in program history, with each being a Cotton Bowl appearance during the bowl season in Dallas, TX. That’s not surprising at all, considering Texas’s prior history as a Big 12 team.
Tennessee and Texas first met on Jan. 1, 1951, with the Vols winning a 20-14 game. The two programs then squared off in the same bowl two years later, with the Longhorns winning a 16-0 matchup on New Year’s Day. The final and most recent matchup came in 1969, with Texas beating Tennessee by a score of 36-13.
Aside from the historical aspect of the series, another interesting nugget is that it’ll be the first time that the Manning bloodline has played in Neyland Stadium since Peyton’s last game. Texas quarterback Arch Manning could go pro this year, but it seems plausible that he’ll return to the Longhorns for one more collegiate season. If that happens, it’ll make for a Manning family reunion in Neyland Stadium next September.
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Here’s a look at Tennessee’s full 2026 SEC Schedule next season:
Sept. 26 – Texas at Tennessee
Oct. 3 – Auburn at Tennessee
Oct. 10 – Tennessee at Arkansas
Oct. 17 – Alabama at Tennessee
Oct. 24 – Tennessee at South Carolina
Oct. 31 – OPEN
Nov. 7 – Kentucky at Tennessee
Nov. 14 – Tennessee at Texas A&M
Nov. 21 – LSU at Tennessee
Nov. 28 – Tennessee at Vanderbilt
