Opening Saturday

#76
#76
I wouldn't pull for Notre Dame if they were playing Putin.

My dad is a NCSU alum.......I wouldn't give NC air if they were in a jug.

I always pull for the conference even though it can be as odious as casting a vote for President this year.
 
#78
#78
The games are only "played on the field now" if you can get into the games.

Fact: every single year, at least one Power 5 conference champion is left out of the playoffs as currently structured. Up until a couple of years ago, at least 3 of the 5 were left out.

Under those conditions, it's always best to be in the conference that is perceived as the strongest of them all.

You only get considered the strongest of them all if your collective win/loss ratio, during the season in OOC games, and during the bowls, is hugely in your favor.

When one conference is stronger than the rest, you can bet money that four-fifths of everyone in the country is hoping that they show weakness. 80% of everyone is hoping for the chance to say, "see? they're not that good."

So you gotta win. And win. And keep winning, in big games and small.

That's just how college football works today. You can ignore it, you can let your hate of Bama and Florida and Georgia make you short-sighted for the real goals (championships, and the guaranteed chance to play for them when we win in the conference). But that doesn't change the basic reality of how it all works today.

p.s. It is entirely possible to feel a sense of allegiance and belonging to more than one level of community at the same time. For example, I have 100% allegiance to the United States, and to the great state of Tennessee. Short of civil war, I would never have to choose between those allegiances. Saying you're loyal to the Volunteers does not preclude you from feeling other loyalties in life as well. I bleed orange, have since birth. But I'm also a fan of the SEC, love our traditions and love belonging to the strongest conference, where the best live. That doesn't mean I'm gonna go around hugging ugly gators or bulldogs. Nothing wrong with feeling a sense of belonging to both levels at the same time.

Ask an Ohio State fan if they pull for Michigan at any point during the season, 9 of 10 will say h*** no!

Additionally, ask a buckeye if they have suffered from Michigan, Penn State, and the rest of their conference being down for years... they will point to their numerous NC rings and NC appearances.

USC dominated an overall suffering PAC 10 last decade and their nationally perceived status at the top of the heap took no hits.

FSU has dominated an abysmal ACC many times and cruised into the national title.

The point is if you take care of your own house, you don't really have to worry about your neighbors.

Don't get me wrong, I love that TN is in the SEC and I argue constantly to OOC fans that the SEC is best in so many ways, but I refuse to cheer for our biggest rivals to succeed purely based on the hope that our neighborhood maintains elite status.

If you build a mansion in the Hamptons, or bordering a trailer park it will still be a mansion regardless and perceived as such.
 
#81
#81
Next year the buy week could be a different week. And your wedding anniversary could fall on a game. How do you want to celebrate your anniversary? At Neyland or in front of a TV?

Hmmm well if my husband has any brains he'll get tickets. But he knows very well nothing gets between me and a TV on Saturdays

It's one of the things he loves about me. He finds it fun to see me get so passionate on gamedays hehehe.
 
#84
#84
For our By week in October I'm getting married (yes I scheduled my wedding around football, I'm the bride, I can do whatever I want)

But you could never get me to pull for Bama or Florida no matter what. Same goes for LSU, other than that I generally just pick underdogs, when underdogs win it can make for an interesting Saturday

Congrats on your pending nuptials. :hi:
 
#85
#85
As soon as I was old enough to start understanding football at a deeper level was around the time we started our slump. I would always pull for the conference I guess because I thought it made Tennessee look better being that they were consistently losing to the better teams of the SEC. After years and years of being at the bottom, I kinda stopped caring and just wanted Tennessee to start winning, screw the other teams. It is important to have a strong conference, but heck, the SEC is far and away the best, and a couple of games aren't going to change that. That being said, I will almost always root for LSU simply because every LSU fan I've known has always been fun and respectful. Also, it's so hard to root for UNC even over UGA because I'm still so dang bitter after we got cheated out of that bowl win. In the end, I just want the outcome of every game to be the one that helps Tennessee out in any way shape or form.
 
#86
#86
Ignorance.

4 playoff spots to be filled by 5 P5 conferences (and yes, 4 teams from 4 different conferences is the way it will always shake out).

The people screaming "Screw the SEC!! Them other teams can all go to heyell!!!! I hope they lose every game, and when they play each other I hope somehow they both lose!!" don't realize that if each P5 conference has an undefeated team, the weakest conference doesn't get it. Yet in their dream world the SEC is a conference of nothing but losing teams and Tennessee.

This is an argument that goes around in circles, and the pro-SEC crew always makes the more valid point. The "screw the SEC" crew just comes across as unintelligent. Oh, and as for recruiting, go ahead and cheer for Clemson to beat Auburn guys. "Screw the SEC!" right? Maybe if we're lucky after Clemson wins they'll give us one of our recruits back.

Ok, so please enlighten me as to how Alabama being so dominate has helped us? Also Ohio state isn't in the SEC and it hasn't held them back. Blindly rooting for a conference is stupid IMO. Oh yeah, and there is this little school to the north of us that don't even have a conference, and have been moderately successful,maybe you have heard of Norte dame.
 
#87
#87
It's on them if they are competative or not. I don't care. I like to see competative games, so it makes for a better game if they can compete. It all about the Vols. How great can they be?
 
#88
#88
Well I'm not a blind loyalty kind of fan. That goes both ways, I don't always pull for the sec and I don't always pull against other sec teams. I have a few sec teams I'm "cool with" and I have some that I hate deeply!!! Even though I may pull against some sec teams during their games I will admit when I see that 7 outa 9 sec teams won their bowl games or whatever dominate performance this conference shows any particular year, it does make me feel good. Maybe cause I know we play the best of the best and also to shut up the folks that say the sec is over rated. Just like a cpl yrs ago when the west lost all but 2 bowl games it looked bad on our "power" division.

Still when the red team or swamp donkeys play ANYBODY I root for them to get embarrassed. I want to cuss them out to their face, in cursive!
 
#89
#89
Bama's dominance? The Indwelling. Little Nicky had strayed to the NFL and was floundering in Miami. He desperately wanted to return to CFB and achieve fame and fortune. Ol' Beelzebub offered him a way to do just that. So, Saban traded away his immortal soul and became Lucifer's Vessel. He became the highest paid CFB HC ever, made the cover of Forbes magazine, and led Alabama to unimaginable glory. The Son of the Morning Star gained access to the corporeal plane through his (diminutive) human host and set about harvesting the oh so tasty souls of Southern Baptists and Southern Methodists (much more satisfying than run of the mill Roman Catholics).

Now, before you surmise that there can be no victory over the power of Satan, recall that Lucifer is the trickster. No promise from the Fallen One comes without disappointment ( the 2014 Sugar Bowl, the 2013 Iron Bowl, the 2010 Iron Bowl,the 2008 Sugar Bowl...). Even as he is lifted up, Saban will taste the bitter reminders of his subservience to his master.

Besides, Tennesseans are among the righteous. The Volunteers will defeat the Tide, even if Saban is infused with the power of darkness. The day is coming. There will be a reckoning. Victory will belong to the righteous, and they will be clad in orange and white. Amen.

Please, pass the biscuits and gravy.
 
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#90
#90
Still when the red team or swamp donkeys play ANYBODY I root for them to get embarrassed. I want to cuss them out to their face, in cursive!

Verily, my son. Tomorrow, you may ask the blessing. :angel:
 
#91
#91
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-CoqfXLZ3M

I still hold ULM in warm esteem.
p-40-2-jpg.121351

Strafe 'em, P-40s!
 
#92
#92
Okay, I've done as most the last several months, log on and read, shake my head, force myself to Not say something due to the topics absurdity.

Alas, we are a few weeks away, I am as excited as most here and am hoping for a dominant season. We were moved to Thursday for our first game, at first it upset me, but looking at the first Saturday it seems many games are on which will be significant. So after thinking about it Thursday is fine by me.

I am rambling, my question here is: do most of us cheer for the SEC on that first Saturday, or will you do as I will do, become a PAC12 fan? I have made up my mind already, moan if needed but give reason;

-I am pulling for NC vs. GA.
-I am for Auburn vs Clemson
-I am for LSU vs Wisconsin
-I am for Ole Miss vs Fla St.
-I am pulling for A&M vs UCLA (for strength of schedule)
- and I am for the first time in my life a PAC 12 fan with Southern Cal. vs Alabama

What say you. also I want to say no matter what happens this year, let's all support our team..... and hope we kick ass!😂

With you on every one of those games. Only one that will be hard is pulling for AU but I hate Clemson a tiny bit more.
 
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