Vols Make a Change in 2011 Schedule
And no, they didn’t change their minds and take up that offer to play USC.
The Vols will open up next season against Montana instead of North Texas after the Eagles/Mean Green backed out.
More specifically, North Texas backed out because they want to open their season in their brand new stadium — seems a good enough reason to back out of a guarantee game on the road, right?
Compared to North Texas, Montana might actually be an upgrade in terms of opponent despite the Grizzlies’ status as a Division I-AA, er, FCS school. North Texas won a couple of Sun Belt titles and played in four straight New Orleans Bowls from 2001-04. They’ve won just 10 games the past five seasons and our Bama brethren crushed them by 40+ last year.
Montana, on the other hand, is perennially a top-tier FCS program. They won the national title at that level in 1995 and 2001 and have lost in the championship game each of the past two seasons (to Richmond in ’08 and Villanova in ’09). The FCS title game has been played down I-75 in Chattanooga for the last number of years, so the Grizzlies won’t be entering new territory trekking down to the South.
Montana also has some connections to the Tennessee Titans via I-40. Titans coach Jeff Fisher’s son played there, and there’s a Montana alum on the Titans’ coaching staff and roster.
Montana hasn’t played a BCS opponent since losing 41-7 at Iowa in 2006 (they lost at Oregon in ’05), and you know they will be amped at the opportunity to prove themselves on the road against an SEC school.
You may be thinking, “Ah, it’s just Montana, who even knew they played football out there in the middle of nowhere.”
I’m not saying Montana will pull an Appalachian State, but for a Vols program that’s still going to be in the early stages of rebuilding, this game clearly won’t be as easy as playing North Texas. But it will be a great test since the Vols have to play Cincinnati and North Carolina out of conference in addition to the SEC gauntlet (at Florida and Alabama).
And no, this change is completely unrelated to the deal with USC a few weeks back…
I can see a appalachian state style game in the making here,but chances are that a upset won’t happen
I actually don’t like this swap at all. I’d rather play North Texas
North Texas chickened out. They knew UT was out for revenge for their 21-14 loss to the Mean Green in 1975.
Seriously, this is an upgrade to the schedule, even if some of the computers won’t recognize it as such. If Montana ever moved up to the FBS and joined the Big West or WAC, it would be in a bowl game in its first year eligible. They were actually better than Boise State when they were both 1-AA Big Sky rivals.
I agree that Montana should move up to better there sports programs. They could probally win the Sun-Belt in the first couple of years(Not this year though MTSU is going undfeated.)