After opening the season against Furman (FCS), Tennessee football will instantly be tested. The Vols hit the road to square off with the ACC’s Georgia Tech in Atlanta for the front end of a home-and-home series.
For the Yellow Jackets, it’s a premier out-of-conference game and the second straight against a Power Four team at home to open the 2026 season. The week prior, Colorado comes to town.
For that opening game against the Buffaloes, Georgia Tech will be holding a ‘White Out’. For Tennessee, it won’t be the same level of fan coordination, but gold pom poms will be handed out in an attempt to bolster the home-field advantage against the Vols.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ ๐
Start planning your game days on The Flats!
Single-game tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 am ๐๏ธ๐๏ธ https://t.co/blNvdFcJLk#StingEm ๐ pic.twitter.com/oVt74XQgg9
โ Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) July 14, 2026
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Kickoff between Tennessee and Georgia Tech is scheduled for Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air on ESPN from Bobby Dodd Stadium.
This series was scheduled in a short window after Nebraska backed out of a previously scheduled home-and-home with the Vols. Tennessee was supposed to play in Lincoln in 2026 and then host the Huskers in 2027. Now, it’s UT making the trip to Atlanta in 2026 before hosting Georgia Tech on Sept. 11, 2027.
“After Nebraska canceled the series, our main focus was to secure another home-and-home matchup with an opponent from a Power Four conference, which seemed improbable at the time,” Tennessee Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White said when scheduling the series. “I sincerely appreciate Athletic Director J Batt’s creativity in modifying Georgia Tech’s schedule to make this series possible. We look forward to seeing plenty of orange in Atlanta in 2026!”
Overall, Tennessee holds a 25-17-2 advantage in the series against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets were members of the SEC from 1933 to 1963, leading to consistent matchups between the programs. However, this will be the second matchup between the teams in the past 38 years after UT won in 2017 in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in double overtime.
