College football is like any other televised sport - entertainment. Sports networks, conferences, the Power 5 schools, and the fans spend and receive lots of $$$ for this entertainment. Therefore, it is big business where an investment is made with an expected return. To me, the return is far more than just loyalty and support to your alma mater whether it be vocal and/or financial. Perhaps that was sufficient prior to the mid and late 90s when the sport became more than just going to a bowl game as a vacation and a reward. Now you have a national playoff. There will be a top 4 announced tonight with weekly updates as big games are played with fans of those teams (currently in the playoff or just outside) making their cases for inclusion into the ultimate prize. Sadly, Tennessee has not been a part of this discussion since 2001 when it still was a 2 team BCS. This year, our team is fighting to make a minor bowl (heard Birmingham). Cade Mays, a lifetime Vol fan and a 5* recruit who has been committed to UT for two years, has recently said when interviewed about changes in his twitter account, "I want to compete for championships". Does anyone really believe UT will win a national, SEC, or even a SEC east title in the next four years if massive changes in coaching aren't made? Short of making playoffs, the greatest entertainment for me as a Vol fan is winning games - not just wins against bottom feeders in the SEC, but wins against its historical rivals Alabama and more recently Georgia and Florida. Jones' record against these teams in this 5 years is well documented as abysmal. Losing these games equals no entertainment. Losing badly to these teams lead to fan apathy. In my opinion, that's where the majority of Vol fans are. If massive changes are made that bring UT back to relevance (i.e. winning these big games), then apathy will leave as quickly as it came. UT fans are the best in the land. They love the Vols. Bad teams will divide even the best fans. To me that's where we are at this moment in time.
:gun:
