USC Football News: Future Series With Tennessee No Longer on Schedule

Since 2009, the thought has been that USC and Tennessee will be playing a home and home football series in 2021 and 2022. Now, that is not the case, as the series has ultimately fallen through.

According to the footnotes in a FBSchedules.com report from last month –which we at RoT just stumbled upon– the verbal agreement between USC and Tennessee never materialized into a formal contract.

With the Vols scheduling Pittsburgh for a home and home in those years and USC inking a two-for-one deal with BYU recently, it’s safe to say that the battle of Lane Kiffin’s scorned lovers is long gone.

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It’s familiar territory for the Trojans’ relations with the SEC. Just two years ago, the same scenario played out as a verbal agreement with Texas A&M to play in 2015 and 2016 was revealed to have never been put to paper.

At the time, the Aggies claimed that the they needed to re-structure their future schedules after moving from the Big 12 to the SEC and that’s why a contract never came about. However, that did not stop A&M from scheduling UCLA in 2016 and 2017.

The vacancy left by A&M paved the way for USC to play Alabama in a one-off game next season. Could that happen with Tennessee too? Maybe.

As mentioned, the Trojans are set to host BYU in 2021. If recent trends count for anything, it’s a safe bet that the Trojans will fill out the non-conference schedule with Notre Dame and a mid-major.

Where it gets interesting is that USC plays BYU in 2019 and 2023 as well, leaving 2022 as a year with two vacancies that aren’t likely to be filled with home-and-homes due to there not being consecutive openings in the schedule.

So let the rumors begin that USC could face Michigan in Qatar as a precursor to the World Cup. We kid. Mostly.