(Not Official) SEC Permanent Rivals per Ross Dellenger of SI

[DuckInAPen]

I still think a divisional split on georgraphy and rotate two teams from the other division every year is the way to go.

The whole pod concept upsets me.

I'd have been happy with an expanded eastern division (adding Alabama and Auburn) that got most of the old band back together.

 

[SpookyAction]

It looks like Vandy and MIzzou draw a good little slate of rivals.

 

[JL24]

Realignment has basically killed my interest in college sports.

I consider myself a forward thinking kind of guy. But I hate seeing traditions cast aside for the almighty dollar.

To me, playing and beating your rivals ranks right up there with winning championships.

 

[VOLnMiami]

Realignment has basically killed my interest in college sports.

I consider myself a forward thinking kind of guy. But I hate seeing traditions cast aside for the almighty dollar.

To me, playing and beating your rivals ranks right up there with winning championships.

Well we'll still be playing and beating our rivals...not a lot will change, We get to start some new rivalries as well...The battle of the UT's is coming soon and I got a feeling there is going to be a rivalry with Oklahoma as well...Teams that wear crimson and white tend to get on our bad side

 

[UTK]

I am on the UK>South Carolina train. The UK series his way more history and UK and SCAR are about equal programs. It should be an easy switch to give us UK and UGA SCAR

 

[UTK]

Plus Oklahoma vs Florida? What the actual **** lmao. Give Oklahoma A&M and LSU Florida. That should be an easy fix too

 

[lukeneyland]

Hope not. I barely consider SC part of the SEC.

That sucks

 

[Probably_in_Class]

Kentucky will raise holy hell if this is correct. They consider Tennessee their top rival.

They REALLY don't like us, but I think Louisville is hated even more.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

I want us to play Alabama, Florida, and Georgia every year. This whole ducking the best teams makes no sense. I say let the best play the best every year and the bottom feeders play each other every year.

 

[Nationdom]

I think we should play Alabama, Kentucky and then either Texas or Oklahoma. I’m not interested in playing Vandy every year and definitely don’t want to play South Carolina or Missouri or similar programs. Playing Texas every year could help expand our recruiting.

I’d gladly take Alabama, Florida, and Texas

 

[LadyVolette]

Ross has great sources... this could be it...

I thought for sure we would be Bama, Vandy, KY 😂.. Kentucky is going to be so disappointed… we are the highlight of their season lol

 

[LadyVolette]

I want us to play Alabama, Florida, and Georgia every year. This whole ducking the best teams makes no sense. I say let the best play the best every year and the bottom feeders play each other every year.

Only if everyone else has to do it also 😂

 

[LadyVolette]

Kentucky will raise holy hell if this is correct. They consider Tennessee their top rival.

Most definitely.. it is THE game lol

 

[LadyVolette]

We have to have Alabama. It would be a little sad to lose Florida and Georgia. Other than that, I can get over it.

I won’t shed any tears losing Florida.. they really aren’t traditional rival, nor is Georgia for that matter… Bama, however, is crucial

 

[ptcarter]

You gotta love these things. No matter what, people are going to complain loudly. It's a lightning rod.

Maybe the "leak" is to get the temperature of whatever backlash will be felt.

As for the VOLS, Kentucky makes more sense than USCe, however, pushing last season out of the equation, they have been as mediocre as Kentucky, and their good seasons are spaced out pretty far. Would rather have them than GA and FL.

 

[vols40]

If going to 9 games it’s not that big a deal. You are still going to play everyone in a 2 year period. Going to get to play teams like AM, Auburn and Ole Miss more often which I like.

I agree but rather not play south cackalacka every year. Zero historical rivalry with them. Give me Fla UGA or Auburn and Alabama each year

 

[vols40]

I won’t shed any tears losing Florida.. they really aren’t traditional rival, nor is Georgia for that matter… Bama, however, is crucial

This is so flawed in that one of our greatest coaches left us for Florida.

 

[LadyVolette]

This is so flawed in that one of our greatest coaches left us for Florida.

Okay, that’s fine.. you are entitled to your opinion, just like me 😂. Dickey was way before my time.. my parents were at UT in the 60s and they just hate Alabama lol.. id we want to go back in the history books, Vandy, Kentucky, Bama. Periodt…It doesn’t matter what wither one of is thinks though, they didn’t consult us lmao

 

[northknoxvol]

We have no true Rivalry. Alabama is the closest we have and they gave it to us. Vandy and SC have been traditionally bad more than good, so we get big bad Alabama and 2 softies. Not bad IMHO.

 

[Sarms58]

I thought for sure we would be Bama, Vandy, KY 😂.. Kentucky is going to be so disappointed… we are the highlight of their season lol

Kentucky is Charlie Brown, and we’re Lucy…every year…

 

[DiderotsGhost]

This sucks! Bama and Kentucky are our biggest rivals (and we're big rivals with Kentucky in basketball as well). Why would we not get Kentucky and instead get South Carolina? Doesn't make sense.

 

[Hulavol]

I can see how people would rather Kentucky than SC I guess, it is a joyful tradition to beat their butts.
But unless we get rid of Vandy game, we aren’t getting to keep Kentucky too. No way that should happen when UGA has UF and AU and OU. Or Bama has LSU AU and UT.

And SC is a football school that actually tries. Big (ugly) stadium, rabid passionate fan base, etc. They hired Joe Morris and Lou Holtz and Spurrier.

Kentucky is garbage with no way of really ever amounting to much- they have no recruiting base and their borders are Ohio State and Tennessee.


So in that light, in my opinion SC >>KY

 

[VFL-82-JP]

There really are no cake walks under the 3/6/6. For 30 years we've trained our minds to think permanents are super important because right now permanents make up 7/8th's (87.5%) of the schedule. Under the new set up it's 3 out of 9 that are permanent (33.3%). It's way less significant for schedule balance. If you have fewer traditional powers in your permanents you'll have more in your rotating group. There's nowhere to hide, it's gone be hell no matter what:

That's logically untrue, though, isn't it?

I mean, if the choices were, you can be smashed in the nuts every single November, or once every second November, you'd take the less frequent option, right?

As things currently stand, but including Oklahoma and Texas, let's consider this pecking order--based purely on 2022 results:

1. UGa (15-0)
2. Vols (11-2)
3. Bama (11-2)
4. LSU (10-4)
5. Miss St (9-4)
6. Ole Miss (8-5)
7. Texas (8-5)
8. USCe (8-5)
9. Arky (7-6)
10. Ky (7-6)
11. Okla (6-7)
12. FL (6-7)
13. Mizzou (6-7)
14. Auburn (5-7)
15. A&M (5-7)
16. Vandy (5-7)

You could argue Texas vs Ole Miss or Florida vs Mizzou, but that's not the purpose here; "roughly correct" is close enough for this conversation.

I think we must acknowledge that UGa and Bama are the fiercest competition we face. Call them Tier 1. Less than 50% chance of a W, probably (for now; but we're getting stronger each year).

Next tier is LSU, Miss St, Ole Miss, and Texas. We can easily beat any of these...but we can lose to them, too. They are our peer competition. Tier 2.

Tier 3 are the spoilers: USCe (who certainly spoiled things for us in 2022), Arky, Ky (ok not really Ky, but based on 2022, have to let them be in this group), Okla, and FL.

Tier 4 are the dredges: Mizzou, Auburn, A&M, and Vandy. If it were more subjective, I'd flip-flop Kentucky and A&M, but we're going by the 2022 results.

To keep this scientific, let's assign points to each tier: Tier 1 gets 5 points ... Tier 2 gets 3, Tier 3 gets 2, and Tier 4 gets 1.

So imagine two scenarios:

SCENARIO A: we play both Tier 1 teams and a Tier 2 team (say LSU) every single year. Then we play 6 of the other 12, alternating. That's 5 points + 5 points + 3 points + some combination of six 3- 2- and 1-pointers. Call it 12 points average for those 6 teams. Total of this scenario is 5+5+3+12 = 25 difficulty points.

SCENARIOR B: we play three of the four Tier 4 teams every year. Then we get one of the Tier 1s, two of the Tier 2s, and three of the remaining Tier 3 and Tier 4 teams. That's 1+1+1+5+3+3+2+2+(either 1 or 2) = 19 or 20 difficulty points.

Bottom line is, schedule difficulty IS affected by who the three annual rivals are. It is certainly easier to have Bama, Vandy, and Ky every year than, say, Bama, UGa, and Florida. Even if the ones not included are in our semi-annual rotation.

Lol, having spent 10 minutes thinking this through out loud (well, in typing), I really don't think there's much difference in schedule difficulty whether we get Bama-Vandy-Ky or Bama-Vandy-USCe. Bring either combo on. It's just a pity to lose the rival we've played more times than any other, and the "border war" that came with it.

Go Science!

Go Vols!

 

[LadyVolette]

Kentucky is Charlie Brown, and we’re Lucy…every year…

I know, it’s a classic lol

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I can see how people would rather Kentucky than SC I guess, it is a joyful tradition to beat their butts.
But unless we get rid of Vandy game, we aren’t getting to keep Kentucky too. No way that should happen when UGA has UF and AU and OU. Or Bama has LSU AU and UT.

And SC is a football school that actually tries. Big (ugly) stadium, rabid passionate fan base, etc. They hired Joe Morris and Lou Holtz and Spurrier.

Kentucky is garbage with no way of really ever amounting to much- they have no recruiting base and their borders are Ohio State and Tennessee.


So in that light, in my opinion SC >>KY

Excuse me, sir.

As any reporter could tell you last August, September, and October (and almost all of them DID), Kentucky is one of the hottest programs on the rise, with one of the quietest-best coaches in America, a Heisman candidate QB, and way undervalued potential.

Heh.

Go Vols!