Josh Heupel discusses Tennessee's open date in Week 9

No. 17 Tennessee (6-2, 3-2 SEC) has an open date in Week 9 of the 2026 college football season.The Vols will return to action on Nov. 7 versus Kentucky. Kickoff between the Vols and Wildcats is slated for 6:15 p.m. EST at Neyland Stadium. ESPN will televise the matchup in Week 10.Sixth-year head coach Josh Heupel discussed Tennessee's open date on Wednesday."BYE week, got on the field today with our guys," Heupel said. "Good work. Were in the building yesterday, what's a typical Monday for us and opportunity to get healthy, physically as much as you can at this point in the year and then opportunity to get better. Everything in this game is about how you finish and you can look back at last week and us not finishing the game that we need to and you can push forward to needing to go finish the season the way that we need to, so a lot of growth needs to happen this week for us and get ready to go play a really good Kentucky team here in a week and a half."More: Josh Heupel recaps Tennessee's loss at South CarolinaFollow Vols Wire on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Josh Heupel discusses Tennessee's open date in Week 9