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Tennessee’s traditional SEC schedule will get a new look in 2020. The Vols will see their date with the Georgia Bulldogs pushed back to November, according to the President of the University of Georgia.
Tennessee football game vs. Georgia shifting to November in 2020, UGA president says https://t.co/HMb1ObDJZ4
— GoVolsXtra (@GoVolsXtra) February 21, 2019
“As I understand it, the conference has flipped Auburn and Tennessee,” University of Georgia President Jere Morehead said on Wednesday. “They had their reasons for doing it.”
So Auburn and Georgia will now shift to early October, while Tennessee and Georgia will play in November. This, of course, means that one SEC opponent will have to move up on Tennessee’s schedule. Now this Missouri schedule that came out in January makes a lot more sense.
Here's Missouri's 2020 football schedule
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) January 22, 2019
9-5 CENTRAL ARKANSAS
9-12 VANDERBILT
9-19 at South Carolina
9-26 EASTERN MICHIGAN
10-3 at Tennessee
10-10 at BYU
10-17 GEORGIA
10-24 KENTUCKY (HC)
10-31 BYE WEEK
11-7 at Mississippi State
11-14 at Florida
11-21 LOUISIANA
11-28 ARKANSAS
Does this help Tennessee? I think it does at least a little bit. In recent years, Tennessee has been forced to walk through the gauntlet of Florida-Georgia-(insert random SEC West team)-Alabama. That stretch included Auburn last year.
This year it’ll be Florida-Georgia-Mississippi State-Alabama.
Swapping Missouri and Georgia would at least level out the schedule a little bit for Tennessee, who really hasn’t had to play in big-time matchups late in the season. Tennessee has traditionally ended with an SEC West game, a non-conference opponent, then Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
The Kentucky date has been pushed up in recent years with the season now ending with Vanderbilt. Georgia potentially moving to the second to last game on the schedule would give this rivalry a totally different feel.
Tennessee has a long way to go to get on Georgia’s level, but this could turn into a really fun, potential SEC East-deciding game in the future.