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Nebraska cancels football series with SEC opponent

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated Feb 21, 2025 5:05 PM ET

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have canceled a scheduled football series with an SEC opponent.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on Friday that a 2026-2027 home-and-home series between Nebraska and Tennessee had been canceled. Nebraska was set to host Tennessee in Lincoln in 2026, while the Cornhuskers were set to visit the Vols in Knoxville in 2027.

Thamel said that part of the reason for the cancelation was Nebraska wants to host eight home games in 2027 for revenue purposes. Nebraska is planning a renovation that will reduce capacity and therefore revenue, so an eighth home game could potentially help offset that.

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

In response to Thamel’s report, Tennessee athletic director Danny White issued a statement via social media. White made clear that it was Nebraska who canceled the series and that the decision was not mutual.

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

Nonconference games between football programs are typically scheduled years in advance, so this doesn’t leave Tennessee with much time to find a replacement for their 2026 schedule.

It’s easy to wonder whether Nebraska was motivated to cancel the series in part because of how improved Tennessee is. The Vols have gone 30-9 over the last three seasons and seem to have hit their stride under Josh Heupel. Contrarily, Nebraska is in the process of turning things around under Matt Rhule and hoping to become a double-digit win team. Having Tennessee on their schedule in 2026 and 2027 would make it a lot tougher to get some extra nonconference wins.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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