It’s The Kenny Chesney Bowl This Weekend As The ETSU Buccaneers Take On The Tennessee Volunteers

It’s unofficially the Kenny Chesney Bowl this weekend.

Football is back in full force, and I couldn’t be happier. They say the “most wonderful time of the year” is Christmas, but I beg to differ. The very beginning of football season – when the majority of football is still out in front of us – would like a word in the “best part of the calendar” conversation. There’s just always a big game to look forward to during football season, and I’ve got a feeling that country music star Kenny Chesney has a very personal big game circled on his calendar.

I feel like it’s very appropriate to go ahead and coin it the “Kenny Chesney Bowl.” That’s because Chesney’s alma mater – the Eastern Tennessee State Buccaneers – is facing off against the Tennessee Volunteers. Chesney was born just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, which explains his ties to Neyland Stadium and the Vols. But he didn’t attend the University of Tennessee. Instead, he opted to go to ETSU, and it was there where he discovered his passion for music.

So both schools mean a lot to him… but only one can win this weekend as they face off against each other:

The game is to be played at Neyland Stadium, and the Volunteers are expected to win the contest. That being said, both teams enter into the matchup with 1-0 records. Tennessee took down a feisty Syracuse team to open the season in a high-scoring matchup, and ETSU showed off their offensive firepower in a blowout win against my alma mater… Murray State University.

You often hear situations being called a win-win, or a lose-lose, but this is a certifiable win-lose for Kenny Chesney. Though I would imagine the beach country icon would be happy to see either of his favorite teams come out victorious, something tells me a huge upset win for underdog ETSU over a No. 22 ranked Tennessee Volunteers team would mean more.

And that’s really saying something, considering Chesney featured Neyland Stadium and the University of Tennessee in his Las Vegas Sphere residency. I honestly still can’t get over how cool that looked:

@vegas @Kenny Chesney ♬ original sound – Las Vegas

But if ETSU wins the “Kenny Chesney Bowl,” I’d argue that the imaging in future Sphere shows would need to change to ETSU. After all, the country music star has a degree from Eastern Tennessee State (he graduated from there in 1990). So it’s about time the Buccaneers, hailing from the Southern Conference, start getting some more recognition from their notable alum.

Maybe even a song from Kenny Chesney is in order? The 57-year-old artist has a couple of songs that reference or revolve around the University of Tennessee, and I’m sure there’s enough love to go around – and creative freedom at this point in Chesney’s career – to warrant an ETSU country song. On second thought… I suppose “Touchdown Eastern Tennessee State University” would have been a bit of a mouthful, eh?

“Touchdown Tennessee”

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