Fearful: Iowa’s head coach received a death threate.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Tennessee football has made its way south to put a bow on its 2023 season that had its up and downs, but to also begin work towards a 2024 season that features as much excitement for a first-time starter at quarterback as the program has ever seen.
No. 21 Tennessee (8-4, 4-4 SEC) will face No. 17 Iowa (10-3, 7-2 B1G) on New Year’s Day in the Cheeze-It Citrus Bowl. Kickoff on Jan. 1 is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on ABC with Dave Fleming (play-by-play), Brock Osweiler (analyst) and Kayla Burton (sideline).
Preparation is well underway for the Volunteers. They arrived the day after Christmas and began a run of five consecutive days of practice on Wednesday. Their final day of practice will be on Sunday, when they go through what would ordinarily be their Friday routine.
Tennessee has participated in multiple press conferences this week leading up to the game. Vols coach Josh Heupel met with the media on Wednesday following the Vols’ first practice before Nico Iamaleava, Dylan Sampson, Bryson Eason and Jaylen McCollough spoke following Thursday’s practice. The Citrus Bowl then hosted a press conference on Friday morning that featured the coordinators and captains of both teams.
Heupel will meet with the media once more this week when he participates in a joint press conference with Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz on Sunday morning.
GoVols247’s Patrick Brown and Ben McKee have been in Orlando all week long for extended bowl coverage leading up to gameday. This is your one-stop shop for all of their bowl coverage. You can follow their work and everything going on with the Vols in the links below.