The Third Saturday in October rivalry game is returning to Neyland Stadium this fall and now has a time slot window. According to a post from Tennessee Athletics on Wednesday, the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Alabama Crimson Tide will be played in the “Flex” window.
What does this mean? Not much from an exact standpoint, but we do know that it’s confirmed not to be at the Noon slot. The Flex window means that the game will either kick off between 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET or 6-8 p.m. ET.
Let’s speculate for a minute, though. When looking at the SEC slate for Week 7 (Oct. 17), there doesn’t seem to be many games that could challenge Tennessee-Alabama for the primetime night game, especially considering the rivalry nature of the contest taking place in Knoxville. Georgia is set to host Auburn in a rivalry game, but other than that, there’s not a ton of other high-profile contests as things stand now. Other SEC games that day include Mississippi State at LSU, Missouri at Ole Miss, Kentucky at Oklahoma, Florida at Texas, and Arkansas at Vanderbilt.
Depending on how the first six weeks shape out, Tennessee appears to be in a pretty good position to host Alabama under the lights this October. But an exact game time does remain unconfirmed at this time and won’t be released until later on during the season.
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On June 4, DraftKings released a way-too-early betting line that saw Tennessee open as a 1.5-point underdog in the contest this fall.
The Vols are looking to avenge last season’s 37-20 loss in Tuscaloosa when a 99-yard pick six late in the first half dug Tennessee a hole it couldn’t recover from. Tennessee has split its last four meetings against the Crimson Tide, including victories at Neyland Stadium during the 2022 and 2024 seasons.
Alabama will be the seventh opponent on Tennessee’s 2026 schedule. The Vols will travel to Arkansas the week before and are set to travel to South Carolina the following week. From there, Tennessee will have its open date on Oct. 31 before finishing out the final four games of the regular season.
Alabama was selected as one of Tennessee’s three annual opponents in the new nine-game conference scheduling format. The Vols’ other two yearly foes include Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
