Danny White is left in a tough spot.
Big future scheduling news this morning — the Tennessee-Nebraska home and home is off. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Nebraska opted out of the agreement with hopes of getting to eight home games in 2027.
Sources: Tennessee and Nebraska are canceling their upcoming football series, which was schedule for 2026 in Lincoln and 2027 in Knoxville. A driver of the move was Nebraska wanting eight home games in 2027 when they expected reduced stadium capacity because of renovations.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 21, 2025
Tennessee was set to play at Nebraska in week two of the 2026 season. Nebraska was set to make a return trip to Knoxville in 2027.
Danny White is less than pleased.
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
The contract was initially drawn up way back in 2006. The home and home was delayed by ten years, and now it’s canceled completely. According to Volquest, the buyout to get out of the series is $500,000.
This obviously leaves Danny White in a tough spot. He now has to find non-conference games for 2026 and 2027. Tennessee is set for another neutral site game this season, playing Syracuse in Atlanta. That follows a game against NC State in Charlotte last season after Tennessee was forced to make other plans after Oklahoma joined the SEC. Tennessee also played Virginia in Nashville at Nissan Stadium to open the 2023 season.
Just a guess here, but Tennessee is likely going to have to take the neutral site route to fill these voids. With just 18 months to find a new opponent, scheduling a home and home doesn’t seem like a viable option.