With the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets looking to add formidable opponents to their football schedule, the team needed to look at opponents that fit that bill to add. With the recent news that the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Tennessee Volunteers cancelled their home-and-home series set for the 2026 and 2027 football seasons, the Volunteers were looking for a team to fill that void in their schedule. We now know that that void has been filled with the recent announcement that the Yellow Jackets would be replacing the Cornhuskers.
The series will be the first time that the two teams have played since they opened the 2017 college football season against each other in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game, where the two teams went into two overtimes before the Volunteers won 42-41 after a missed two-point conversion.
The series will bring back what was a yearly meeting between the two teams log ago, as the two teams met 11 of the 12 years between 1976-87. Tennessee holds the all-time record at 25-17-2.
The series comes at a time where the Volunteers are one of the best teams in the entire country, making the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff last season, while the Yellow Jackets and head coach Brent Key are one of the fastest risers in all of college football right now, looking to carry their momentum into this season.
The series looks to be the reason why the Yellow Jackets recently let the Georgia State Panthers know that they would be cancelling their home-and-home series with them.