Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart announced Friday that Tennessee football's season opener against Appalachian State has been moved ahead two days to Thursday, Sept. 1. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday and will air nationally on the SEC Network. The game marks the first-ever meeting between the Vols and Mountaineers.
Hart issued the following statement regarding the game's new date:
"The conference approached me during our recent athletics director meetings in Jacksonville about a request they had received from ESPN to move our season-opening game to Thursday night on the SEC Network. I visited with Butch Jones about it upon my return to gauge his interest prior to my conversations with appropriate campus personnel. He was very interested in making the change.
"This decision was not made in a vacuum. The collaboration that ensued included the Chancellor, Provost, our University CFO, Vice Chancellor for Student-Life and representatives from both University Development and the Tennessee Fund as well as key athletics department personnel. Challenges related to the implementation were identified and discussed at length over the course of several days. Academics was our collective primary concern. Our goal will be to do this with minimal impact to the class schedule.
"At the end of the deliberations all were supportive of moving forward with the game on Thursday night ahead of the barrage of games to follow throughout the Labor Day weekend. This change will also assist us with logistical considerations connected with the Battle at Bristol the following weekend which involves several of our staff who are assisting with that event."
Coming off a 9-4 record and a resounding 45-6 win over 13th-ranked Northwestern in the Outback Bowl last season, Tennessee is 25-20-7 all-time in Thursday contests—the last of which came in December 2010 when UT met North Carolina in the Music City Bowl. Tennessee has not played a regular season contest on a Thursday since 1996 when the Vols defeated Ole Miss by a score of 41-3 in Memphis. Additionally, the last time a Tennessee football program opened the season on a Thursday was in 1991 when the 11th-ranked Vols traveled to Louisville and grabbed a 28-11 win over the Cardinals.
Hart issued the following statement regarding the game's new date:
"The conference approached me during our recent athletics director meetings in Jacksonville about a request they had received from ESPN to move our season-opening game to Thursday night on the SEC Network. I visited with Butch Jones about it upon my return to gauge his interest prior to my conversations with appropriate campus personnel. He was very interested in making the change.
"This decision was not made in a vacuum. The collaboration that ensued included the Chancellor, Provost, our University CFO, Vice Chancellor for Student-Life and representatives from both University Development and the Tennessee Fund as well as key athletics department personnel. Challenges related to the implementation were identified and discussed at length over the course of several days. Academics was our collective primary concern. Our goal will be to do this with minimal impact to the class schedule.
"At the end of the deliberations all were supportive of moving forward with the game on Thursday night ahead of the barrage of games to follow throughout the Labor Day weekend. This change will also assist us with logistical considerations connected with the Battle at Bristol the following weekend which involves several of our staff who are assisting with that event."
Coming off a 9-4 record and a resounding 45-6 win over 13th-ranked Northwestern in the Outback Bowl last season, Tennessee is 25-20-7 all-time in Thursday contests—the last of which came in December 2010 when UT met North Carolina in the Music City Bowl. Tennessee has not played a regular season contest on a Thursday since 1996 when the Vols defeated Ole Miss by a score of 41-3 in Memphis. Additionally, the last time a Tennessee football program opened the season on a Thursday was in 1991 when the 11th-ranked Vols traveled to Louisville and grabbed a 28-11 win over the Cardinals.
