BYU and Tennessee announced Thursday that they have agreed to a home-and-home series that includes games in 2019 and 2023. This will mark the first-ever meeting between both football programs.
BYU will play at Tennessee on Sept. 7, 2019, with the Vols scheduled to make a return trip to LaVell Edwards Stadium either Sept. 1 or Sept. 2 in 2023. If the Vols do end up coming in 2023, it will be the first time Tennessee has ever played in the state of Utah.
“There’s something about those orange and white checkerboard end zones that shouts ‘Tradition!’,” BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe said. “When the opportunity to play a series with Tennessee presented itself, we didn’t blink. They’re a storied football program with a winning tradition, national championships, a classic stadium, incredible fans and hall of fame coaches.”
The game will feature some two of the top programs over the past three decades with BYU and Tennessee having won 254 games apiece. The Cougars and Vols are tied with Clemson for ninth-most among FBS teams during that span.
BYU’s 2019 Schedule
With the addition of Tennessee, BYU’s 2019 schedule is loaded with some of the top teams in the country.
After hosting rival Utah — who is just one of five other teams that have been ranked in every College Football Playoff rankings since its inception — the Cougars will travel to historic Neyland Stadium to play in front of 102,455 raucous fans.
After that, BYU hosts USC, followed by Washington at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
The Trojans are coming off a 10-win season and topped it off with a 52-49 win over Penn State, in one of the best games in Rose Bowl history.
Washington made its debut in the College Football Playoff with a 24-7 loss to Alabama in the Peach Bowl. The Huskies won the Pac-12 title and look to be a dominant force for years to come.
Since going Independent, BYU has played in a number of historic venues across the country and playing in Neyland Stadium will check another one off the bucket list for Cougar Nation.
The Cougars will also take on Massachusetts inside Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots — the reigning Super Bowl champions. And with the game being in late November, Cougar fans will have a shot at catching a Patriots game the following day to cheer on former Cougar stud Kyle Van Noy.
And if BYU doesn’t make the CFB Playoff, fans can still celebrate in Hawaii with the Cougars scheduled to play in the Hawaii Bowl at Aloha Stadium.
