Tennessee Athletic Director Blasts Nebraska For Backing Out Of $1 Million College Football Series
Nebraska and Tennessee were scheduled to play a home-and-home college football series in 2026 and 2027. That is no longer the case!
The Cornhuskers officially backed out and left the Volunteers to scramble for a replacement.
Pete Thamel of ESPN first broke the news on Friday morning. He reported that “Tennessee and Nebraska” are canceling their upcoming college football series, which was scheduled for 2026 in Lincoln and 2027 in Knoxville. However, Danny White did not allow for his phrasing to stand. The fifth-year athletic director made it abundantly clear who was/is responsible for the cancellation. It was not him!
These kinds of cancellations are not uncommon. Schools often schedule unique non-conference games as many as 10 years in advance. And as those games get closer, they don’t make sense. Sometimes it is a mutual decision. USC and Ole Miss decided to dissolve their series for 2025 and 2026. Sometimes it is a one-sided decision. Wake Forest recently backed out of its road game at Ole Miss for 2025 after getting stomped by the Rebels at home in 2024. Lame.
The good news for White is that Nebraska’s decision gives him a full year (almost 18 months) to find a replacement. The bad news is that he has only 18 months to find a replacement. Most other schools in the Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC already booked their non-conference games so pickings are slim.
According to Thamel, the Cornhuskers want to play eight home games in 2027 so they decided not to travel south to the Volunteer State. An agreed upon buyout of $500,000 was established for each game so Nebraska will pay $1 million to Tennessee to back out.
Logistics aside, this is also a huge bummer for the fans. And not just those of the two teams. College football fans were excited to see two big-name programs play each other on their home fields instead of a neutral site! That has become a rarity in recent years. It now becomes even more so after this decision— which Danny White made abundantly clear was not his idea.
Tennessee football winning in Tuscaloosa could define the 2025 season
Tennessee football is coming off its first College Football Playoff appearance since the postseason format was introduced in 2014. The Vols won ten games for the second time in three years, and Josh Heupel’s squad will look to be back in the CFP mix in 2025.
It could come down to one key game to determine whether Tennessee makes or misses the College Football Playoff this year, which is Tennessee’s biggest rivalry game.
Tennessee plays Alabama in Tuscaloosa this year in a critical, “season-defining” game for the Volunteers. We’ve seen Tennessee make the series competitive after 15 years of dominance under Nick Saban.
The Vols have won two of the last three against Alabama, but the Crimson Tide could very easily get even with Tennessee this year, given the game being in T-Town. ESPN has also labeled it a season-defining game for Tennessee this year.
“The Third Saturday in October is officially back, Harry Lyles Jr. writes. “After Alabama ripped off 15 consecutive wins over Tennessee from 2007 to 2021, the streak was snapped in 2022. In 2025, the Volunteers will make the trip to Tuscaloosa in what could be the toughest game on their schedule all season.
