Georgia Tech’s 2027 football trip to Tennessee is moving up two weeks and becoming a season opener.
The Yellow Jackets will play the Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2027, Tennessee announced Wednesday. The game had been scheduled for Sept. 11.
The matchup and location remain the same. Georgia Tech’s original series announcement in April 2025 called for Tennessee to visit Atlanta in 2026, followed by Tech’s return trip to Knoxville in 2027.
Wednesday’s announcement did not include a kickoff time or television assignment for the game.
Why the game is moving into August
The change follows the NCAA’s decision to move the start of the FBS regular season earlier beginning in 2027.
In an August calendar update, the NCAA said its new first-contest date had been adopted. The season will begin on the Thursday of the weekend now called Week 0 and finish on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Tennessee said its revised schedule creates room for two open weeks while the Volunteers play a nine-game SEC schedule. The school also moved its 2028 opener against West Virginia in Charlotte to Aug. 26, 2028.
A quicker return for an old rivalry
The teams renewed their series earlier this month, when Tennessee beat Georgia Tech 45-24 at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field on Sept. 12.
According to Georgia Tech’s game report, the Yellow Jackets led 10-7 after the first quarter before Tennessee took control in the second. The result left Tech with a 17-26-2 record against the Volunteers in a series dating to 1902.
The schools were both founding SEC members in 1933. After Tech left the conference following the 1963 season, they continued playing almost every year through 1987.
Before this year’s meeting, their only matchup since 1987 was Tennessee’s 42-41 double-overtime win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2017.
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Featured image: Neyland Stadium on February 24, 2026. Photo by Quintin Soloviev / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Resized and cropped for display.
