ATLANTA-The Georgia State football program will face its second Southeastern Conference opponent when the Panthers play at Tennessee on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012, in Knoxville, Tenn.

The game at Tennessee's Neyland Stadium will be Georgia State's third ever against a team from the Football Bowl Subdivision. In last year's inaugural season, the Panthers played at SEC power Alabama, and next week, GSU will travel to Houston of Conference USA.

"This will be another tremendous opportunity for our football program and our fans," said Georgia State Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick. "The exposure gained from this type of game is invaluable as we build our program, and our student-athletes welcome the challenge of competing at the highest level."

For Georgia State head coach Bill Curry, Tennessee is a very familiar opponent that he faced every year in his 17 seasons as head coach at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky. Curry will be facing a second generation of the Dooley family in current Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley. Curry's Tech teams played Vince Dooley's Georgia squads every year from 1980-86. Derek was a college teammate of Curry's son, Bill, Jr., at Virginia.

The 2012 season will be Georgia State's first year of conference play in the Colonial Athletic Association.

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