Tennessee football will play a night game against Alabama on Oct. 18 in Tuscaloosa.
The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET at Bryant-Denny Stadium and be televised on ABC. The SEC announced those arrangements on Oct. 6 as part of the conference’s flex schedule.
Under Josh Heupel, the Vols have played Alabama evenly, with the home team winning all four meetings. UT won in 2022 and 2024 at Neyland Stadium. Alabama won in 2021 and 2023 at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and the Crimson Tide will be back there for this matchup.
Tennessee trails in the all-time series with a record of 40-60-7 in the Third Saturday in October rivalry. But that included the Vols losing 15 consecutive games until the rivalry became competitive again under Heupel.
Josh Heupel, Joey Aguilar vs. Kalen DeBoer, Ty Simpson
This will be the second meeting between Heupel and Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, two South Dakota natives whose relationship spans more than 20 years. Last season, Heupel got the upper hand with the Vols winning 24-17 in Knoxville.
But these are different teams with new starting quarterbacks.
Alabama’s Ty Simpson, a native of Martin, Tennessee, has the highest passer rating of any SEC quarterback. He has passed for an SEC-best 1,478 yards, 13 TDs and one interception. UT’s Joey Aguilar is second in the SEC with 1,459 yards passing along with 13 TDs and five interceptions.
Both teams must avoid a letdown in an SEC game on Oct. 11 before their head-to-head matchup a week later.
No. 12 Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) hosts Arkansas (2-3, 0-1 SEC) on Oct. 11 (4:15 p.m. ET, SEC Network). And No. 8 Alabama (4-1, 2-0 SEC) plays at No. 14 Missouri (5-0, 1-0 SEC) on the same day (noon ET, ABC).
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Emailadam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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