The start of the 2018 football season is still over three months away for Tennessee. But we now know at what time the Vols will be kicking off their first three games of the season.
Tennessee officially announced the starting times of their first three games of the upcoming 2018 season on Thursday. It was announced yesterday by CBS that the Vols would face West Virginia at 3:30 Eastern on September 1st, but now we know the times for Tennessee’s next two games as well.
The Vols’ home opener against ETSU on September 8th will kick off at 4:00 Eastern. Tennessee’s next game against UTEP, another home match-up, will be a noon kickoff.
This year will mark the first time that Tennessee has ever faced both West Virginia and ETSU in football. The ETSU program is headed up by former Vol player and offensive coordinator Randy Sanders. This year marks his first year as a college head coach, and he served as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach from 1998-2005.
Tennessee has played UTEP twice previously, but the two schools haven’t met since 1990. The Vols beat the Miners 26-16 in 1986 then 56-0 in 1990. UTEP has former Vol quarterbacks coach Mike Canales on staff. Canales served as UT’s quarterbacks coach last season, and he’s now UTEP’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
The Vols’ match-up with West Virginia on September 1st will be the “Game of the Week” on CBS. Both the ETSU and UTEP games will be on the SEC Network.
