Why Tennessee football canceled BYU in favor of Virginia on 2023 schedule
Tennessee football's scheduled road game against BYU is gone from its 2023 schedule, canceled by the Vols in favor of a game against Virginia in Nashville.
Why?
Athletics director Danny White offered multiple reasons during a Tuesday interview with WNML: The neutral-site game will position UT to come out ahead financially despite owing BYU a $2 million buyout, and the game offers an opportunity to play in Nashville without giving up a game in Knoxville.
"A lot of different priorities aligned," White told the Knoxville radio station.
Here's a reason left unsaid: Canceling BYU helps UT avoid a potential loss.
The Cougars went 10-3 last season, their second straight double-digit-win campaign, and they beat the Vols in 2019 in Knoxville. Virginia finished 6-6 in 2021.
On this edition of "The Volunteer State," Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY Network and the News Sentinel's Adam Sparks and John Adams debate whether this schedule switch makes sense for the Vols.
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Sparks says the scheduling modification checks out from business standpoint while positioning the Vols for further success in 2023.
Toppmeyer came down hard on the Vols after they canceled a 2022 game against Army, scheduled for Neyland Stadium, in favor of cupcake Akron, but he doesn't take issue with this switch. These aren't apples-to-apples cancellations, he says.
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As Toppmeyer wrote in September, canceling a service academy should be held to a different standard than a random nonconference foe.
The Army game would have coincided with honoring Congressional Medal of Honor recipients inside Robert Neyland Stadium. Neyland, the legendary Tennessee coach, was a West Point graduate and an Army general who served in both World Wars. Neyland's maxims are pillars of UT's program.
Toppmeyer understands that some fans are disappointed by UT's swapping a road game vs. BYU for an easier matchup, but he doesn't object to this move.
Neither does Adams, who agrees that canceling Army was a bad decision, but says this is just smart scheduling.
However, Adams is fond of America's West, and he suggests that Vols fans travel to Provo, Utah, despite the football scheduling switch.
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Blake Toppmeyer is an SEC Columnist for the USA TODAY Network. John Adams is a senior columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat writer for the News Sentinel. If you enjoy their coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it. Also, you can subscribe to The Volunteer State podcast for free so you won't miss an episode, or check out SEC Football Unfiltered, another podcast from Toppmeyer and Adams.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Why Tennessee football canceled BYU, added Virginia for 2023 schedule
