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The Utah State Aggies and Tennessee Volunteers have changed the date of their 2014 contest. Originally the game was to be played on Nov. 8 in Knoxville, Tenn., but now the game has been changed to the season opener on Aug. 30. The decision to move the game to the front of the schedule was requested by Utah State, and that is likely due to the Aggies not wanting to disrupt their conference slate late in the year and head to SEC country.
Utah State athletics director Scott Barnes was complimentary of Tennessee for being able to move the game:
"We are pleased with the opportunity to move the Tennessee game to the first week of the 2014 season," said Barnes. "It simply works better in every aspect of our schedule. I appreciate working with Tennessee Athletic Director Dave Hart to get this done."
This will be the first ever contest between the two schools and Utah State has struggled against the SEC with an all-time record of 1-16. Utah State traveled on the road to face a SEC team was back in 2011 where a true freshman quarterback named Chuckie Keeton nearly upset the defending national champion Auburn Tigers. This time Keeton will be full of experience as a senior, and four-year starter.
As for the rest of Utah State's 2104 non-conference schedule they have the BYU Cougars on the schedule which is a road game on Oct. 3. The Aggies have two more non-conference games to schedule and the likelihood will be that they will be home games.