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Tennessee Football announces uniform combination for Music City Bowl vs. Illinois

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey12/29/25GrantRamey

Tennessee Football will wear its traditional road uniform — white helmets, white jerseys and white pants — against Illinois in the Music City Bowl on Tuesday. The Vols announced the uniform combination on social media on Sunday.

The season finale between Tennessee (8-4) and Illinois (8-4) is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

The Vols wore white jerseys and white pants in all but one road game this season, with the exception being the all-orange worn at Mississippi State in September, when the Bulldogs wore all white at home.

Tennessee wore all white at Florida, at Kentucky and at Alabama.

The Vols wore their Smokey Grey ‘Volunteer Spirit’ alternate uniform against New Mexico State on November 15 and wore their all-back ‘Dark Mode’ alternate against Oklahoma on November 1.

Tennessee wore its traditional home uniform in its other four home games this season.

Tennessee’s other uniform combinations this season

Tennessee was in orange jerseys through the first six games of the season thanks to a neutral-site game against Syracuse in Atlanta, where the Vols were designated as the home team, and Mississippi State’s white out in Starkville.

The Vols wore their traditional home uniform in the first three games this season — Syracuse, ETSU and Georgia — then all orange against UAB and at Mississippi State, where the Bulldogs were honoring their 2000 team by wearing white helmets, white jerseys and white pants.

The Music City Bowl will be Tennessee’s final game in Nike uniforms under the current apparel contract. The Vols start their new 10-year deal with Adidas on July 1.

The new deal between Tennessee and Adidas was announced in August. Adidas in its press release promised “to uphold the rich traditions of the University of Tennessee’s athletic history while bringing new energy and industry-leading resources to the storied UT brand.”

Tennessee Football’s alternate uniforms

The Vols have two alternate uniforms, with the Smokey Grey and Dark Mode sets. The Dark Mode look was introduced in 2021, the first season under head coach Josh Heupel, and features all-black jerseys and pants, with orange numbers and pants stripes.

A white helmet trimmed in black was worn in 2021 — the orange helmet stripe and Power T was trimmed in black, to go with a black facemask — before an all-black helmet was added in 2022.

The Vols wore the Dark Mode uniform in wins over South Carolina in 2021 and 2023 and wins over Kentucky in 2022 and 2024.