ESPN includes Tennessee Vols in list of college football superlatives for scheduling trend that goes back over a decade

The Tennessee Volunteers have a tough schedule year in and year out. That's life in the SEC, and that's particularly the case when you're one of two schools (with Auburn) that has played the conference's two elite schools annually in Georgia and Alabama.

However, it was Tennessee's non-conference schedule that made ESPN's list of schedule superlatives for the 2025 season. While not a superlative, ESPN made note of the fact that Tennessee hasn't played a road game on an opposing team's campus since the 2014 season, when they played Oklahoma in Norman.

This is what ESPN had to say about Tennessee's schedule under the headline of "avoiding campuses":

"Tennessee, for the 11th straight year, will not play a nonconference regular-season game on an opposing team's campus. The last time the Vols played a nonconference road game (not counting the playoff game last season at Ohio State) on the opposing school's campus was Sept. 13, 2014, when they lost 34-10 to No. 4 Oklahoma in Norman. The Vols did win at Pittsburgh in 2022, a 34-27 overtime victory, but the Panthers play their home games at the Steelers' stadium, Acrisure Stadium, formerly known as Heinz Field, which stands along the Ohio River on the north side of Pittsburgh. The opener against Syracuse in Atlanta will be Tennessee's sixth neutral-site game in the past 10 years."

While true, Tennessee has still played plenty of Power Four opponents in the non-conference over that stretch. They faced Virginia Tech in Bristol in 2016, Georgia Tech in Atlanta in 2017, West Virginia in Charlotte in 2018, Virginia in Nashville in 2023, and NC State in Charlotte in 2024. Their home-and-home with Pittsburgh took place in Heupel's first two years, and it's no one's fault that Pitt plays in an NFL stadium.

Danny White has discussed in recent years the rationale for scheduling games at neutral sites - particularly the Virginia and NC State games - by noting that sometimes the logistics call for such games to be played outside of Neyland Stadium.

So, to the extent ESPN is taking a subtle dig at Tennessee's scheduling practices, it's certainly misplaced. After all, Tennessee's scheduling over the years has been as tough as anyone's.