NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Coming off its best season in two decades, No. 12/10 Tennessee kicks off its long-awaited season opener against Virginia on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT at Nissan Stadium.
The Volunteers produced their first 11-win season since 2001 in the second year of the Josh Heupel era, including an undefeated 7-0 mark in Neyland Stadium and a 31-14 victory over ACC champion Clemson in the Capital One Orange Bowl to cap the season.
UT will look to improve to 3-0 in season openers under Heupel after defeating Ball State (59-10) in 2022 and Bowling Green (38-6) in 2021. Heupel is 5-0 overall as a head coach, averaging 52.8 points per game in those five victories, three of which came during his time at UCF.
BROADCAST INFO
Saturday’s contest will be televised nationally on ABC as Joe Tessitore (PxP), Jesse Palmer (analyst) and Katie George (sideline) will have the call. Kickoff is slated for 11:07 a.m. CT/noon ET and the game is being presented by Nissan.
Fans can listen to Tennessee’s official radio broadcast on the Vol Network (Local: WIVK-FM 107.7/WNML-FM 99.1) over 70 stations across the state of Tennessee and the southeast, SiriusXM (Ch. 135 or 191) and the SiriusXM app (Ch. 962), as well as the Varsity App. A live audio stream of the broadcast will also be available on UTSports.com and the Tennessee Athletics App.
Bob Kesling (PxP), Pat Ryan (analyst) and Brent Hubbs (analyst) will call the action, with VFL Jayson Swain handling sideline duties for the Vol Network radio broadcast. The Big Orange Countdown pregame show begins two hours prior to kickoff at 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET.
NISSAN STADIUM POLICIES & PARKING INFO
For the most up-to-date information on Nissan Stadium’s policies, click HERE. Stadium parking information and directions can be found HERE. All parking spaces around Nissan Stadium require a parking pass.
TICKET INFO
Saturday’s game is officially sold out. However, fans are still able to purchase tickets on the secondary market through Ticketmaster.
GAMEDAY TIMELINE
SEC Nation / Marty & McGee: 8 a.m. CT – Set located on Lower Broadway between 4th Ave. & Rep. John Lewis Way
Vol Village Opens: 8:00 a.m. CT – Located on Victory Ave. (South End of Stadium)
Vol Walk: 8:45 a.m. CT – South 2nd St. (East Side of Stadium)
Gates Open: 9 a.m. CT
Pride of the Southland Band Pregame Performance Begins – 10:53 a.m. CT
National Anthem – 10:56 a.m. CT
ABC Broadcast Begins – 11:00 a.m. CT
Vols Run Through the T – 11:04 a.m. CT
Kickoff – 11:07 a.m. CT
GAMEDAY EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
Vol Village: Vol Village, which will be located on Victory Avenue on the South end of the stadium, will feature the Heisman House by Nissan as well as other pregame activities for fans to enjoy. Admission is free to all fans with or without a game ticket. Vol Village opens at 8:00 a.m. CT on Saturday.
SEC Nation / Marty & McGee Set: SEC Nation and Marty & McGee will originate from Lower Broadway between 4th Avenue and Rep. John Lewis Way. Live programming begins at 8 a.m. CT with Marty & McGee set to air at 9 a.m. The 10th season of SEC Nation on SEC Network kicks off at 10 a.m. CT. Marty Smith and UT alum Ryan McGee will be inside Nissan Stadium for the last hour of the show leading into kickoff. For fans attending the shows, Music City Center offers one of the largest parking garages in the area. The garage is one block from Broadway, where SEC Nation will broadcast, and within walking distance of Nissan Stadium. Parking rates for game day are set at $20 per entry on Saturday, Sept. 2.
NEED TO KNOW
Opening 2023 in Music City
For the third time in program history, Tennessee will open its season at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. In the prior two season openers hosted there, the Vols defeated Bowling Green, 59-30, on Sept. 5, 2015, and topped Wyoming, 47-7, on Aug. 31, 2002.
UT owns a 5-2 record all-time in games played at Nissan Stadium but dropped its last contest in controversial fashion, a 48-45 defeat in overtime to Purdue in the 2021 Music City Bowl. Saturday’s contest will be the Vols’ first on the new synthetic turf of Nissan Stadium.
Great Expectations
Tennessee begins a season ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 2016 as the Vols enter the year at No. 10 in the AFCA Coaches poll. UT is No. 12 in the AP Top 25. It’s the 43rd time that the Vols open a season ranked in the AP Top 25, which is 10th all-time among all programs. UT has been ranked in 16 consecutive AP polls dating back to Sept. 6 of last season. It finished the 2022 campaign ranked No. 6 in both polls. This season, the Big Orange were picked to finish second in the SEC East and fourth in the overall SEC race by the media. UT returns 62 letterwinners and 12 starters – six on offense and six on defense – from last year.
Heupel Era
Josh Heupel, the 2022 AP SEC Coach of the Year, enters his third season at the helm. Since taking over a program that was 3-7 prior to his arrival, Heupel owns an 18-8 record and has won 13 of his last 16 games. He owns seven wins over ranked teams since 2021, which is third nationally among FBS head coaches during that span and the most by a UT coach through the first 26 games of a career.
This is Heupel’s sixth season as a head coach. He owned a 28-8 record at UCF prior to UT, and since 2018, he ranks eighth nationally among active FBS head coaches in victories with 46. Heupel’s UT teams (2021-pres.) have averaged 42.7 points per game and 500.0 yards of total offense per game, which is second and third in the FBS, respectively, during that span.
Milton’s Time to Shine
For the second straight season, Tennessee will have a sixth-year senior starting quarterback at the helm as Joe Milton III once again takes the reins. It’s also the third straight season that a graduate transfer will start under center for the Vols. The Michigan graduate transfer served as the starter for the Vols’ first two games of the 2021 season before an injury sidelined him in Game 2 vs. Pitt. His then-roommate Hendon Hooker took over and put up two of the most prolific seasons in UT history and finished fifth in voting for the 2022 Heisman Trophy.
In his last start, Milton was named MVP of the 2022 Orange Bowl in his home state, firing 19-of-28 passes for 251 yards and a career-high-tying three touchdown passes to defeat ACC champion Clemson.
SERIES HISTORY
Tennessee leads, 3-1
The Vols and Cavaliers will meet for the fifth time when they square off on Saturday afternoon. It will mark the first contest between the two programs since Tennessee’s epic fourth-quarter comeback to win the 1991 Sugar Bowl, 23-22. UT’s only loss in the series came back in 1980, when they fell 16-13 in Knoxville.
ABOUT VIRGINIA
Virginia enters its second season under head coach Tony Elliott. The Cavaliers finished 3-7 in Elliott’s first season with wins over Richmond, Old Dominion and Georgia Tech.
Saturday will be UVA’s first game in 294 days after its 2022 season was cut short after tragedy claimed the lives of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry. The Cavaliers canceled their final two games of the year. There will be a moment of silence prior to Saturday’s game and Tennessee players will wear stickers on their helmets with the numbers of the three fallen players.
The Cavaliers had to replace nearly 80 percent of their total offense from a year ago, including the program’s all-time leading passer, Brennan Armstrong. The Cavaliers return three starters on offense and have bolstered the offensive side of the ball with key transfers in QB Tony Muskett (Monmouth), WR Malik Washington (Northwestern) and OL Brian Stevens (Dayton), who have a combined 61 collegiate starts.
UVA returns the bulk of its defense, including eight starters and its entire defensive line. The Cavaliers averaged 3.0 sacks per game last season, good for 13th in the FBS. The defensive front of Chico Bennett (34 tackles, 7.5 TFLs, 7 sacks), Aaron Faumui (39 tackles, 8.5 TFLs, 4 sacks), Kameron Butler (29 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, 3 sacks) and Paul Akere (22 tackles, 4 sacks), all return for the Hoos. They also return two of their top three leading tacklers in safety Jonas Sanker (63) and linebacker James Jackson (60).