Pick Our Rivals

[VFL-82-JP]

So imagine that the SEC does away with divisions in football, and establishes a rotating 9-game SEC play slate for each year.

As part of that new alignment, each team gets 4 permanent rivals, teams they play every year. The other 5 games rotate among the remaining 9 SEC members.

Who would you pick as the 4 permanent rivals? There are cases to be made for several of them:

• Vandy is our in-state foe. And, in a nod back to the days of Neyland, our key conference rival for leadership of the SIAA, the Southern Conference and the early SEC.
• Kentucky we've played more often than any other team (111 times), and used to have a border war trophy to compete over.
• Bama is most hated foe for many of the older crowd here; it took over from Vandy as the fight for top position during the middle years of the SEC.
• Florida and Georgia have been our top rivals for SEC East lead since introduction of divisions in 1992; lot of hate for both those programs.
• Strong historic ties with Auburn. Same for Ole Miss. In fact, after Kentucky, Vandy and Bama, those are the two teams we've played most often.

But that's seven teams. Too many to all be yearly foes.

Which four would you pick?

Me, I think I'd go with Bama, Vandy, Kentucky and Auburn. But it's really hard to choose just four.

 

[Border Vol]

I wish Tennessee could start playing Alabama every four years

 

[VolForLife83]

Voted for the big 3 plus Ole Miss because of Kiffin. Could careless about the in state Candy rival

 

[Berry4Heisman14]

Tired of playing Alabama every year it’s like we are 0-1 before the season even begins

 

[05_never_again]

Is there another P5 school besides Tennessee that does not have a clear cut "biggest rival?" Not only that, but the schools that we consider big rivals (Florida, Georgia, Alabama) do not consider Tennessee to be a big rival. Also, we do not consider the schools that consider us to be their biggest rival (Vandy, Kentucky) to be a big rival.

We're kind of stuck in no-man's land as far as rivalry games. We consider Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to be huge rivalry games but they do not consider us to be their biggest, or even #2 rival. And we do not consider Kentucky and Vandy to be big rivalry games, even though they consider them to be.

 

[VolunteerCeltic]

At this point, UT isnt a rival to anyone but Vandy.....maybe Kentucky......Every other team in the SEC circles UT as a win every season......

 

[GAVol]

Is there another P5 school besides Tennessee that does not have a clear cut "biggest rival?" Not only that, but the schools that we consider big rivals (Florida, Georgia, Alabama) do not consider Tennessee to be a big rival. Also, we do not consider the schools that consider us to be their biggest rival (Vandy, Kentucky) to be a big rival.

We're kind of stuck in no-man's land as far as rivalry games. We consider Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to be huge rivalry games but they do not consider us to be their biggest, or even #2 rival. And we do not consider Kentucky and Vandy to be big rivalry games, even though they consider them to be.

Some of it is geography. When you border 8 other states the conflicts are a little schizophrenic.

 

[YankeeVol]

Is there another P5 school besides Tennessee that does not have a clear cut "biggest rival?" Not only that, but the schools that we consider big rivals (Florida, Georgia, Alabama) do not consider Tennessee to be a big rival. Also, we do not consider the schools that consider us to be their biggest rival (Vandy, Kentucky) to be a big rival.

We're kind of stuck in no-man's land as far as rivalry games. We consider Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to be huge rivalry games but they do not consider us to be their biggest, or even #2 rival. And we do not consider Kentucky and Vandy to be big rivalry games, even though they consider them to be.

The older generation would say Bama is the clear cut "biggest rival." The younger ones, FL

 

[05_never_again]

The older generation would say Bama is the clear cut "biggest rival." The younger ones, FL

Yeah, we're split though, which seemingly makes us unlike most other schools. Take Alabama or Auburn...those fanbases aren't split by age on who their biggest rival is.

 

[YankeeVol]

Yeah, we're split though, which seemingly makes us unlike most other schools. Take Alabama or Auburn...those fanbases aren't split by age on who their biggest rival is.

I'd say Auburn is more than Bama. They have GA too

 

[05_never_again]

Some of it is geography. When you border 8 other states the conflicts are a little schizophrenic.

True.

I've thought for a while that the school that makes the most sense to have as our biggest rival is Georgia. Play each other every year, and the State of Georgia is an extremely important recruiting state for Tennessee. It just hasn't materialized that way though over time; when we were good in the 90s and raiding their recruits, they weren't very good. And we have been straight ass for about 13 years.

 

[05_never_again]

I'd say Auburn is more than Bama. They have GA too

I haven't met a single Auburn fan that said Georgia was their biggest rival though. They hate Georgia, but the Alabama/Auburn rivalry is just a different animal.

 

[VolBricks]

I picked FL, GA, Vandy, KY. I fall in the middle on Bama. I am old enough to remember when they were our biggest rival, but I feel that has changed over time and now FL is who I consider our biggest rival. I hate being 0-1 before the season starts every single year and I do not expect that to change any time soon. I feel like every year we could beat FL, GA or KY but I never feel that way about Bama.

 

[GTBATV]

I'll stick with the ones we already have.

 

[sjt18]

I'm going to be the heretic again and say that I don't care that much about keeping the annual Bama game.

IMHO, having that game as a near guaranteed loss over the last 15 years has hurt UT's chances of recovery.

 

[Volador]

Chose the Top 4. Only going to get better if we play the best. Historical softies like Vandy, KY, Ole Miss and Cocks are what help keep us in the basement.

 

[UTK]

Is there another P5 school besides Tennessee that does not have a clear cut "biggest rival?" Not only that, but the schools that we consider big rivals (Florida, Georgia, Alabama) do not consider Tennessee to be a big rival. Also, we do not consider the schools that consider us to be their biggest rival (Vandy, Kentucky) to be a big rival.

We're kind of stuck in no-man's land as far as rivalry games. We consider Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to be huge rivalry games but they do not consider us to be their biggest, or even #2 rival. And we do not consider Kentucky and Vandy to be big rivalry games, even though they consider them to be.

It all depends on person to person with us. I get what you're saying. But there are absolutely Georgia, Bama, and UF fans that see us as a big rival. Of course with our lack of success the past decade+ it's easy for them to be like "lmao UT ain't a rival", if the tables were reversed wed do the same. There were times were UT was seen as Bamas biggest rival, no question. Times where UT was seen as UFs biggest rival. It's been a while, obviously Auburn and UGA are those two schools biggest rivaries atm.

The other P5 school in our state is Vandy, and I get it the series has been dead even lately. But in reality it's two schools of different calibers. Like another poster said, the state boarders 8 freaking states or whatever it is. I would point to the main boarder rivalry as Kentucky, but obviously that one is heavily in our favor.

At the end of the day, UT is unique. They don't really have the "Ohio State" to their "Michigan". I kinda compare UT to Notre Dame who has several rivalries from Stanford and USC to Michigan and Purdue. It's all over the place. Everyone kinda hates UT and is enjoying our misery the past decade. That's the reality of the situation.

 

[N.ohio vol]

I always find the South Carolina game very entertaining. But i still go with the big 3 and vandy just because of all the history. South Carolina might be the only team I switch with another team like vandy or Kentucky.

 

[YankeeVol]

I know SC, UK, and Vandy have all been closer than they should have the last 15 years, but I will never consider them to be real "rivals."

 

[zaqhhh]

Bama, UF, and Vandy for sure.

UK or UGA as the 4th.

I'd say Auburn if we are trying to diversify a bit on the West.

 

[TMvol10]

I chose Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Vandy. Sick of playing Alabama. It’s not fun at all and hasn’t been for years. Things change and it’s ok. Florida and Georgia are tough games but much more win-able than Bama. And I just like beating Kentucky and Vandy as much as possible.

 

[Vol423]

Is there another P5 school besides Tennessee that does not have a clear cut "biggest rival?" Not only that, but the schools that we consider big rivals (Florida, Georgia, Alabama) do not consider Tennessee to be a big rival. Also, we do not consider the schools that consider us to be their biggest rival (Vandy, Kentucky) to be a big rival.

We're kind of stuck in no-man's land as far as rivalry games. We consider Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to be huge rivalry games but they do not consider us to be their biggest, or even #2 rival. And we do not consider Kentucky and Vandy to be big rivalry games, even though they consider them to be.

More teams consider you a big rival when you're really good as opposed to being a bottom dweller for the better part of the last 15 years. Had you asked the rest of the SEC conference in the year 2000 if they considered UT a big rival, I think everybody on our annual schedule would have answered affirmatively.

It's hard to consider someone a major rival when they're also not considered to be a threat.

 

[05_never_again]

More teams consider you a big rival when you're really good as opposed to being a bottom dweller for the better part of the last 15 years. Had you asked the rest of the SEC conference in the year 2000 if they considered UT a big rival, I think everybody on our annual schedule would have answered affirmatively.

It's hard to consider someone a major rival when they're also not considered to not be a threat.

Even when Tennessee was good though, I don't think Florida, Georgia, or Alabama would have considered us to be their biggest rival. Maybe Georgia, especially when we were poaching all their recruits?

I suppose we do have schools who consider us a big rival when we are good, but no schools other than Vandy or Kentucky would consider us to be their biggest rival. And Kentucky doesn't even consider us their biggest rival in basketball.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I'll stick with the ones we already have.

In this hypothetical, you can't.

Because right now we have permanent, annual rivalry games with Bama, Vandy, Kentucky, Florida and Georgia (5, already busted the hypothetical limit of 4), plus USCe and Mizzou. We play those seven teams every single year.

What if we couldn't?

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Even when Tennessee was good though, I don't think Florida, Georgia, or Alabama would have considered us to be their biggest rival. Maybe Georgia, especially when we were poaching all their recruits?

I suppose we do have schools who consider us a big rival when we are good, but no schools other than Vandy or Kentucky would consider us to be their biggest rival. And Kentucky doesn't even consider us their biggest rival in basketball.

There was a time, and it lasted for decades, when most Bama fans would list Tennessee as their top rival. Auburn was an afterthought for them, just as Vandy often is to us.

But I agree with you that we've never been the top rival for Florida or Georgia. Mainly because we only became regular rivals in 1992, so less than 30 years, and in all those 30 years, their in-state or Cocktail Party rival has always been as strong as Tennessee, or stronger. For Florida, that's Florida State...every year Tennessee was up, so were the Seminoles. So we never supplanted them as Florida's top rival. And for Georgia, it was Florida in the World's Largest Outdoor Homoerotic Cocktail Party. Heh.