From an outsider, who does Tennessee view as their rivals?

#9
#9
Always Alabama. When the last black hole radiates its final quanta of energy into a dead and exhausted universe, leaving behind a degenerate motionless soup of photons and neutrinos resting in a finality with neither beginning nor end - there, in that timeless nothing, you will find me or my spirit - still hating Alabama. Because I hate them. I hate them so very very much.

Uh, after that, Florida, but the further we go from the 1990s, the less that is true. After those two, lesser but still very real, Vanderbilt (in-state and conference pride, as Vandy was once a big time rival), and Kentucky (a lot of cross-border family between UT and UK).
 
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#10
#10
Alabama. Florida closed the gap out of necessity for 2 reasons. For so long that was the matchup to decide the SEC East. The other reason was Steve Spurrier and that proved true as he moved to South Carolina. Vol fans definitely acknowledged that our rivalry with the person of Steve Spurrier was greater even than the schools he coached at.
 
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#11
#11
Alabama is the closest thing we have to Michigan for y’all. Florida is a big rival too, but not as longstanding. Vanderbilt and Kentucky would be but they’re trash historically.
 
#13
#13
Tennessee is a little unique in that there isn't a consensus among our own fans who our biggest rival is, and none of the teams our fans would consider to be our biggest rival see Tennessee as their biggest rival. Conversely, we in no way consider Vandy and Kentucky to be big rivals but they both consider us to be their biggest rival.

It is also a generational thing. Most fans 55+ and under-25 would probably say our biggest rival is Alabama. A lot of people who came of age in the 90s and early 2000s would probably say Florida.
 
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#16
#16
Never can hate Alabama quite enough. Florida during Spurrier was a similar level but is slightly less of late because they have sucked.

Next tier is GA really. Not because of a long history but because since Kirby, they are, with Bama, in our way to SEC champs.

Last tier is KY and Vandy. Both of whom consider us their mortal rivals but whom we don’t really think of that much. Either team can show a pulse though and like most SEC teams, be dangerous on any given Saturday if overlooked.
 
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#18
#18
Old school here...Alabama, Vanderbilt, Kentucky are our traditional rivals.

Before SEC expanded from 10 to 12 teams, we didn't play Georgia or Florida on a yearly basis.

Pre-1990's, Florida was typically bad in football and therefore no tradition there. Back in the day, Auburn was a big yearly game for us.

After next season, I'm predicting we will drop to three annual games. And it will be the three teams I list in the first sentence.
 
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#21
#21
Frank Sinatra said:
Who do the Vols view as your rivals? I’m sure you have more than one.
Click to expand...
Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

There used to also be stronger rivalries with Auburn and Mississippi, but the yearly series with each ended in 1991, the year before the conference split into East and West Divisions.

People throw Georgia in there sometimes now but it’s not a historic rivalry (the teams only played each other 21 times between 1899-1991, before the two teams were put into the same division in 1992…it’s come up more recently among certain fans as “they’re good while we’re good and we can’t quite get past them” type of ill-will more (when Tennessee was regularly beating them from 1992 until the 2000s, it generally wasn’t considered that much))
 
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#22
#22
Frank Sinatra said:
Who do the Vols view as your rivals? I’m sure you have more than one.
Click to expand...
We would rather beat Alabama or Florida more than anyone. I think Steve Spurrier said that Florida's biggest rival was Georgia while he was there. It surprised me when Saban said on game day this year that Tennessee was Alabama's biggest game. I thought it would be Auburn, but he said it was a lot harder to get them up to play Auburn.
 
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#23
#23
I feel like the answer to this question also reveals the decade at which you became a fan.
I would expect a lot of older fans to probably say Alabama first and then a Kentucky.

Those of us who started watching in the 90s hate Florida and to this day I care about that game more than all others combined.

Vanderbilt is an in-state opponent but the series is so one-sided that I still struggle to call them a rival.

Kentucky is someone that we universally hate in all sports, so I would argue they are the university’s biggest all-around rival but maybe not the biggest football rival.
 
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