Tennessee suddenly needs a football opponent and USF seems like a natural fit

USF football coach Alex Golesh loves to strike quickly when he sees an opening, so his reaction when Nebraska canceled a home-and-home series with Tennessee was no surprise.

As Golesh loves to say, Let’s Gooooooooooo.

After Tennessee Athletic Director Danny White tweeted his frustration at the turn of events, Golesh responded: “Sup AD-Danny White #ComeTo’theBay”

Golesh, of course, came to USF from Tennessee, where he served under current Vols coach Josh Heupel. He left on good terms, and judging by comments on social media, Tennessee fans seem to appreciate what he did there.

In that sense, a USF-Tennessee matchup would be a natural.

As you might guess, however, there are a few twists to the plot.

Start with the fact that the Nebraska-Tennessee games were scheduled for 2026-27, home and home. Tennessee would have gone to Lincoln the first year and played in Knoxville the following season.

Backing out of the games leaves the Vols scrambling to find another Power 4 opponent willing to take Nebraska’s place. That won’t be easy because P4 schedules are usually locked in many years in advance. The Tennessee-Nebraska series was first agreed to in 2006.

Even if the Vols wanted to play USF, the dates would have to match up and the Bulls would have to pull out of games they have scheduled.

In 2026, the Bulls have non-conference games in Tampa with FIU and Bethune-Cookman. Presumably, USF could cancel one of those games without a significant penalty on September 5th and 19th, respectively.

In between those games, USF travels to Alabama and later goes to BYU. Adding Tennessee to the mix would be, um … ambitious.

The Bulls new on-campus stadium opens in 2027 and they have a game scheduled in the third week of the season against FAMU.

If Tennessee is willing, it probably wouldn’t present a significant challenge to get out of the game against the Rattlers.

Pipe dream?

Maybe.

But for all the focus on finding P4 opponents, Tennessee’s non-conference schedule next season includes East Tennessee State, UAB, and New Mexico State. Furman is on the Vols’ docket for 2026 and Western Michigan arrives in 2027.

While USF is not a power conference program (yet), it would be a respectable opponent for the Vols with an intriguing storyline.

Despite the obvious difficulties in making this happen, it also makes sense for both programs.

So, like Golesh said, “Sup, Danny White?”