Tennessee football has added Chattanooga, Bowling Green, UT Martin and Austin Peay to its future schedules, according to game contracts obtained by Knox News.
The new additions include five nonconference games over four seasons, all played at Neyland Stadium. They are configured to give Tennessee seven home games each season as the SEC goes to a nine-game conference schedule.
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Tennessee will play Chattanooga in 2028 and 2029, Bowling Green in 2029, UT Martin in 2030 and Austin Peay in 2031.
Tennessee will pay a $550,000 guarantee to Chattanooga, UT Martin and Austin Peay for each game. They are members of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Tennessee will pay a $1.3 million guarantee to Bowling Green, a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team.
All four are familiar foes. The Vols have played each of those teams since 2021 during Josh Heupel’s coaching tenure.
Tennessee has a 2-0 record against Austin Peay, Bowling Green and UT Martin. The Vols have a 39-2-2 all-time mark on the field against Chattanooga, although a 2019 win was vacated as part of the Jeremy Pruitt recruiting scandal.
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With the SEC moving to a nine-game conference slate this season, only three nonconference opponents are needed to fill the schedule each year. Tennessee is now fully booked through 2029. It needs one more nonconference game in 2030 and two more in 2031.
Here are Tennessee’s future schedules from 2027-31.
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Home: Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Florida, Mississippi State
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Away: Georgia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Alabama, Missouri
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Nonconference: Tennessee State (Sept. 4); Georgia Tech (Sept. 11); Western Michigan (Sept. 18)
Tennessee football 2028 opponents
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Home: Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Alabama
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Away: Auburn, LSU, Texas, Vanderbilt
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Nonconference: West Virginia (in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sept. 2); Central Michigan (Sept. 9); Chattanooga (Sept. 16).
Tennessee football 2029 opponents
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Home: Georgia, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Missouri
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Away: Ole Miss, Florida, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Alabama
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Nonconference: Washington (Sept. 1); Chattanooga (Sept. 8); Bowling Green (Sept. 15).
Tennessee football 2030 opponents
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SEC games: To be determined. SEC’s annual opponent assignments will undergo evaluation after the 2029 season and could change.
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Nonconference: UT Martin (Aug. 31); at Washington (Sept. 7).
Tennessee football 2031 opponents
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SEC games: To be determined. SEC’s annual opponent assignments will undergo evaluation after the 2029 season and could change.
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Nonconference: Austin Peay (Aug. 30).
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Exclusive: Tennessee football adds five games to future schedules through 2031
