So, you're looking for the tennessee football score today, January 17, 2026. If you've been refreshing your apps hoping for a surprise playoff game or a late-season scrimmage, I have to be the bearer of some pretty quiet news. There isn't a game. The Vols aren't on the field today.
Honestly, the 2025-2026 season for Josh Heupel and his crew wrapped up back on December 30, 2024, in a way that most fans are still trying to scrub from their memory. That 30-28 loss to Illinois in the Music City Bowl was a heartbreaker, plain and simple. It left Tennessee with an 8-5 record. Not terrible, but certainly not what everyone was dreaming of when the season kicked off in Atlanta.
While the football pads are in storage, the campus in Knoxville is far from quiet. Today, the focus has shifted entirely to Thompson-Boling Arena. If you’re a Tennessee fan, the real "score today" is on the hardwood, where the No. 20 Vols are hosting the Kentucky Wildcats in a massive SEC basketball showdown.
What Happened to the Football Season?
The reality of the tennessee football score today is that the "score" is currently 0-0 for the upcoming 2026 season. The Music City Bowl loss was a microcosm of the whole year. You had Joakim Dodson returning a "kick-six" that felt like it was going to save the day, putting the Vols up with less than five minutes left. But then, the defense couldn't hold. Illinois marched down, kicked a 29-yard field goal with three seconds left, and that was it.
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Basically, the Vols spent the whole night hanging around, showing flashes of brilliance, and then letting it slip away at the very last second. It was a tough pill to swallow for a team that had beaten Alabama 37-20 earlier in the year.
The Transfer Portal: The Scoreboard That Never Stops
Even though there isn't a game on the field, there’s a scoreboard in the transfer portal that matters just as much for the future. Just yesterday, January 16, a major piece of news dropped. Tennessee has reportedly decided not to pursue Duke transfer quarterback Darian Mensah.
This is huge.
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Mensah was one of the hottest names on the market after throwing for nearly 4,000 yards. For a while, people thought he might be heading to Knoxville to compete for the starting job in 2026. But according to Pete Thamel, the Vols are passing. This signals a massive vote of confidence in the current room, likely meaning Josh Heupel feels really good about the development of his younger guys, or maybe they’ve got their eyes on a different target like Ethan Fields, the Ole Miss interior lineman who visited Knoxville this past Thursday.
Who is Coming and Who is Going?
If you want to know the real status of the program today, look at the roster turnover. It’s been a busy January.
- The Big Addition: Qua Moss, the safety from Kansas State, committed on January 4. He’s a veteran with 41 tackles and two interceptions last year. Tennessee desperately needed help in the secondary, and Moss brings a ton of experience.
- The Departure: Rickey Gibson III is gone. After a season-ending arm injury against Syracuse, the cornerback officially entered the portal. Losing a starter like that hurts, even if he was coming off an injury.
- The Kicking Situation: Max Gilbert, the kicker who went 14-for-19 this season, has transferred to Arkansas. Most fans will remember him for the missed 43-yarder against Georgia, but losing a scholarship kicker always creates a bit of anxiety.
- The Future: Six incoming freshmen from the 2026 class just got back from the Navy All-American Bowl in San Antonio. Guys like Joel Wyatt and linebackers like Rouse are enrolling for the spring semester, which starts January 20.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Since you won't find a tennessee football score today, the best we can do is look at the gauntlet waiting for them in September. The 2026 schedule is already set, and it is brutal.
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They open with Furman on September 5, but then things escalate quickly. They go to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech, and then they host Texas on September 26. Think about that. Texas, Alabama, Auburn, and LSU are all coming to Neyland Stadium this year.
Practical Next Steps for Fans:
If you are craving some Tennessee action right now, the best thing to do is tune into the basketball game against Kentucky. It tipped off at noon ET on ESPN.
For football junkies, keep an eye on the interior offensive line targets. With Ethan Fields potentially making a decision any minute, that could be the next "win" for the program. Also, spring practice is just a few months away. That’s when we’ll get our first real look at how the 2026 roster is shaping up after all these portal moves.