KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Vols' home opener against Bowling Green is now set for Thursday, Sept. 2.
The Neyland Stadium kickoff is 8 p.m. It was originally supposed to be played Saturday, Sept. 4. That's Labor Day weekend.
"Any time you consider moving football games to a weekday—which is rare—you want to be sensitive to out-of-town fans who have to make plans to travel to Knoxville," Tennessee Director of Athletics Danny White said in a prepared statement Tuesday. "In this case, the Labor Day holiday and four-month lead time should help in that regard. Sliding our opener to this Thursday primetime window gave us a wonderful opportunity for our football student-athletes to kick off their season in the national spotlight.
It'll be new coach Josh Heupel's official debut with the Vols.
The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
This will be the second time the two teams have met. UT won the opener in 2015 59-30.
This fall marks Neyland's 100th year in operation.
Season tickets are available here.