Why Nebraska canceling Tennessee football games is such a puzzling decision

Why Nebraska canceling Tennessee football games is such a puzzling decision | Adams

Posted by author February 21, 2025 Football

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The Nebraska Cornhuskers have gone from great to ungrateful in college football. What a comedown.

Their decision to back out of a two-game football series with Tennessee shows no appreciation for history – or the Vols’ contributions to Nebraska football.

Never mind that 27 years have passed since Tennessee gave its all for Nebraska. My guess is longtime Cornhuskers fans haven’t forgotten how UT went above and beyond in a spectacular display of ineptitude that enabled Nebraska to win a share of the 1997 national championship.

Obviously, Nebraska didn’t consult legendary Cornhuskers coach Tom Osborne in its decision. In his last game, he directed Nebraska to that memorable 42-17 rout of Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.

The resounding victory was enhanced by Tennessee’s status at the time. The Vols had lost only one regular-season game and won the SEC championship. Their depth chart was loaded with future pros, including quarterback Peyton Manning.

And Nebraska handled them with ease.

What happened next was even better for the Cornhuskers. Second to Michigan in the top-25 polls, Nebraska so thoroughly dominated Tennessee that enough voters in the coaches poll moved them ahead of the Wolverines and gave them a share of the 1997 national championship.

Current Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen was just hired a year ago but is an Iowa native and was born in 1966. That means he was close enough and old enough to remember what was going on with Nebraska football in 1997.

Even if the Cornhuskers’ football dynasty – and Tennessee’s contributions to it – slipped his mind while administering his AD duties, one of his minions should have had the courage to step forward and remind him that Nebraska is forever indebted to Tennessee.

Or maybe, Cornhuskers football coach Matt Rhule had more to do with this decision. He might not have wanted to add a potential College Football Playoff opponent to a schedule that already includes three 2024 CFP teams – Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana.

I’m sympathetic to Nebraska’s plight. I realize its football dynasty is ancient history. A program credited with winning five national championships and 43 conference titles has won only 35 games in the past eight years.

It no longer aspires to win championships but gets giddy about making a bowl game. And other programs get excited about playing Nebraska in a bowl. Tennessee can vouch for that. It beat the Cornhuskers 38-24 in the 2016 Music City Bowl.

The Vols could have beaten those Cornhuskers 138-24 and that wouldn’t have taken away from the everlasting joy they brought to Nebraska by stumbling around the Orange Bowl on the second day of 1998.

Tennessee will recover from the cancellation. My guess is UT athletic director Danny White will come up with a less competent Power 4 opponent than Nebraska in 2026.

After canceling a road game to BYU in 2023, White replaced it with a game in Nashville against Virginia, which lost to the Vols 49-13 on the way to a 3-9 season.

Nonetheless, I’m still disappointed in the Cornhuskers. Never mind that they’re avoiding a program that just qualified for the college playoffs. It’s not as though the Vols rule college football the way Nebraska once did. In their last public appearance, they were dismantled by Ohio State in a first-round playoff game.

The final score of 42-17 should remind longtime Cornhuskers fans just how much UT means to Nebraska football.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.