Tennessee is scheduled

Tennessee Added to Future Husker Football Schedules

Nebraska Athletic Director Steve Pederson will announce later this afternoon that the Huskers have signed a contract for a home-and-home football series with the University of Tennessee. The games will take place in the 2016 and 2017 seasons and mark the third high-profile non-conference series announced by Nebraska in the past six weeks.

The series will begin in Lincoln at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 10, 2016. Nebraska will make the return trip to Knoxville and Tennessee's Neyland Stadium on Sept. 9, 2017.

The announcement of a home-and-home series with the Volunteers comes on the heels of Nebraska's Monday announcement of a contract to play UCLA in 2012 and 2013. In May, Nebraska announced that it will take on Virginia Tech in the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

In addition to Tennessee, Pederson also announced Thursday that the Huskers have inked a contract for a single game against Florida Atlantic in 2009. The game will be played on Sept. 5 at Memorial Stadium, and is the Huskers' second scheduled non-conference game of the 2009 season, joining the Sept. 19 contest at Virginia Tech.

The Huskers' games with Tennessee will be the first-ever regular-season meetings between the two schools. Nebraska holds a 2-0 edge in the series with the Vols, defeating Tennessee, 42-17, in the 1998 Orange Bowl and 31-21 in the 2000 Fiesta Bowl. The win in the 1998 Orange Bowl was Tom Osborne's last game as Nebraska head coach and capped a perfect 13-0 national championship season. The Fiesta Bowl victory completed a 12-1 Husker season in 1999. The games with Tennessee will be rare regular-season matchups between Nebraska and the Southeastern Conference. Nebraska last faced an SEC foe in the regular season in 1981 and 1982 when the Huskers defeated Auburn in a pair of matchups. Nebraska did face South Carolina in 1986 and 1987, but the Gamecocks were not a member of the SEC at that time.

Florida Atlantic completed its second season as a provisional Division I-A member in 2005. The Owls are a member of the Sun Belt Conference and are coached by former Miami and Louisville head coach Howard Schnellenberger.

For the complete news release, please see Huskers.com later this afternoon.