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Tennessee AD Pins Blame on Nebraska for Canceling Football Matchups
ESPN's Pete Thamel reported on Friday morning that the Tennessee Volunteers and Nebraska Cornhuskers are canceling their upcoming football home-and-home series for 2026 and '27, citing Nebraska "wanting eight home games in 2027 when they expect reduced stadium capacity because of renovations."
Tennessee athletic director Danny White has since clarified his side of this story, however, taking it upon himself to note that it's not his school's fault for the cancelation.
"Correction: Tennessee is not canceling this series, Nebraska did," he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). "We are very disappointed that they didn’t want to play these games, especially this close to 2026."
Correction: Tennessee is not canceling this series. Nebraska did. We are very disappointed that they didn’t want to play these games, especially this close to 2026. https://t.co/uSz7kAXk94
— Danny White (@AD_DannyWhite) February 21, 2025
Well, that answers that.
"It’s extremely disappointing," White would go on to tell Volquest, On3 Sports' Tennessee blog. “This series has been under contract for so long. We had been planning on playing it. For it to get cancelled this short notice we are extremely disappointed."
According to On3, the contract between the two schools was originally drafted back in 2006 with the home-and-home set for 2016 and '17. After both sides agreed to push the games back a decade, they will no longer happen. Both the Volunteers and Cornhuskers will now scramble to find new opponents for the upcoming 2026 and '27 seasons.
Perhaps we have a new Big 10-SEC rivalry afoot—if we can ever actually get them on the same football field.
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Mike Kadlick is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the New England Patriots for WEEI sports radio in Boston and continues to do so for CLNS Media. He has a master's in public relations from Boston University. Kadlick is also an avid runner and a proud lover of all things pizza.