The countdown is officially on.
There are 100 days left on the calendar until Tennessee’s season opener as of Thursday.
While the summer doesn’t present too many storylines heading into the fall, the big note to look for during July is SEC Media Days. The addition of Texas and Oklahoma into the Southeastern Conference only adds to the magnitude of the upcoming season, with perhaps no better fitting place for the event than Dallas, TX.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is set for Day 2 of the event on July 16 alongside Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Missouri’s Eliah Drinkwitz, and Oklahoma’s Brent Venables.
Training camp will begin in August on the other side of SEC Media Days as Tennessee gets ready for the season ahead. The Vols have been commonly tagged as a Top 20 preseason team on the fringe of the Top 15 with quarterback Nico Iamaleava as a darkhorse Heisman contender. Tennessee also boasts EDGE rusher James Pearce Jr., who could solidify his spot as the No. 1 overall draft pick in the 2025 NFL Draft with a strong showing.
Tennessee opens up the 2024 season in a home contest against Chattanooga on August 31. The Vols will quickly hit the road, though, with a likely Top 25 non-conference game under the lights in Charlotte, NC, against NC State in week two. Tennessee then returns home for a non-conference game against Kent State before taking off for unfamiliar territory in their first SEC game against Oklahoma in Norman, OK.
After an open date closes the final weekend of September for Tennessee, the Vols head out to Arkansas for a second-straight road SEC game to open the conference slate before returning to Knoxville for a pair of high-profile rivalry games. Tennessee will host Florida and Alabama in back-to-back weeks in October before another open date closes down the month.
With five weekends in the month of November, Tennessee will face their longest stretch of games to close the season with back-to-back home games against Kentucky and Mississippi State before traveling to Athens, GA, for a matchup with Georgia on Nov. 16. Tennessee then returns home for the home-finale against UTEP before the season-finale against Vanderbilt in Nashville.
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Here’s a look at the key dates you need to know with 100 days between now and the start of the Vols’ 2024 season:
July
SEC Media Days (Dallas, TX)
- July 15: Brian Kelly, Lane Kiffin, Shane Beamer, Clark Lea
- July 16: Kirby Smart, Eliah Drinkwitz, Brent Venables, Josh Heupel
- July 17: Kalen DeBoer, Billy Napier, Jeff Lebby, Steve Sarkisian
- July 18: Sam Pittman, Hugh Freeze, Mark Stoops, Mike Elko
August
- TBA: Start of Tennessee Football fall camp
- Aug. 31: Chattanooga at Tennessee (Knoxville)
September
- Sep. 7: Tennessee vs NC State (Charlotte, NC)
- Sep. 14: Kent State at Tennessee (Knoxville)
- Sep. 21: Tennessee at Oklahoma (Norman, OK)
- Sep. 28: OPEN
October
- Oct. 5: Tennessee at Arkansas (Fayetteville, AR)
- Oct. 12: Florida at Tennessee (Knoxville)
- Oct. 19: Alabama at Tennessee (Knoxville)
- Oct. 26: OPEN
November
- Nov. 2: Kentucky at Tennessee (Knoxville)
- Nov. 9: Mississippi State at Tennessee (Knoxville)
- Nov. 16: Tennessee at Georgia (Athens, GA)
- Nov. 23: UTEP at Tennessee (Knoxville)
- Nov. 30: Tennessee at Vanderbilt (Nashville, TN)
December
- Dec. 7: SEC Championship (Atlanta, GA)
- Dec. 20-21: CFP First Round
- Dec. 31: Fiesta Bowl (Quarterfinals)
January
- Jan. 1: Peach Bowl (Quarterfinals)
- Jan. 1: Sugar Bowl (Quarterfinals)
- Jan. 1: Rose Bowl (Quarterfinals)
- Jan. 9: Orange Bowl (Semifinals)
- Jan. 10: Cotton Bowl (Semifinals)
- Jan. 20: National Championship (Atlanta, GA)
1⃣0⃣0⃣ 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚔𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚘𝚏𝚏
The countdown is on… 🗓️#GBO 🍊 pic.twitter.com/Au7KYg6t3L
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) May 23, 2024
