Poll: Would you rather have Auburn, Florida, USCjr or UK as a permanent rival?

[USCGVOL]

Just tossing the UGA series? This is trash.

 

[87&91ALUM]

None of the above. I would prefer rotate all teams every two years. We have been screwed playing Bama every year and Vandy doesn’t help our SOS.

 

[sjt18]

Hard choice between UF and UK. UF is the better program but playing them also has potential to help FL recruiting. UK is a border rivalry and frankly helps compensate for playing Bama every year.

You aren't going to get away from Auburn though. As meaningful as Bama is to a lot of older Vol fans... Bama fans will always pick the Iron Bowl over the 3rd Saturday. Auburn won't let go either. This may be a bitter pill for some... but Auburn-Alabama is a "bigger game" to the rest of the SEC and college football world.

 

[sjt18]

If you are going to have 9 games then have two 8 team divisions. Those 7 games should be the only ones that count toward the Division Championship. After that, 2 of your remaining games should be against SEC opponents but you schedule a permanent rival if you choose. This takes the disadvantage/advantage away for catching a cross division team either up or down.

The simplest way to do this would be to add Bama and Auburn to the East, move Mizzou to the West, and add Texas and OU to the West.

In that format, you could even make the SEC Championship a two round playoff with the top two teams from each division.

 

[TrueOrange]

I've always wondered why a state famous for its whiskey, and a state known for its bourbon, got together to choose a beer barrel as a game trophy. Does anyone know that backstory? Can anyone share it?


EDIT: I just googled it, found this well-written article.

Reliving the rise and fall of the ‘Battle of the Barrel’

It doesn't say why the lads were drinking beer instead of Kentucky bourbon that Saturday in the fall of 1925, but does a good job of covering the tradition in general.

Go Vols!

Worth a mention as a general sidenote in this overall discussion: Kentucky also played Indiana yearly from 1987-2005, with the winning team receiving a Bourbon Barrel trophy from 1987 until 1999, when it was retired for the exact same reason as the Beer Barrel trophy.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

It has to be Florida. We have to even the score with them, and it’s not going to happen playing them once every several years.

I feel like if we can rattle off like 3 in a row against them, it will start a decade-long spiral. They have us by 11 wins right now, sadly.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

UK, SC and Vandy are boring. Auburn would be interesting but my pick is Florida. They are a much better program than any of the others.

 

[lukeneyland]

Beating Kentucky doesn’t give me near the rush that beating a real SEC school like Auburn or Florida does

 

[Vfl2407]

Some UK fans LIVE FOR the Tennessee game in football while awaiting their real love (UK hoops) to Start.
if they stopped playing us in football each year, they’d have a big sad.

 

[TNnative]

Bama and unfortunately, Vandy, are the only requirements.

I am still waiting for Vandy to defect to the Big 10, which leads to either Virginia Tech or West Virginia to join the SEC.

It would be good for the SEC. And it would be good for Vandy.Vandy being competitive is like waiting for a solar eclipse. In the Big 10, they might actualy win one or two conference games a year every year.

 

[peaygolf]

I hate UF more than any other school…..except Mu**ay St, but the only real rivalries UT has are Vandy, Bama, and UK.

 

['Boro-vol]

Continue to lay the wood to our border rival Kentucky. Because I have family there I love to beat them more than anyone.

As an aside…I still haven’t accepted South Carolina I to the SEC. It’s not a real thing.

 

[volbound1700]

UK because we have played them more than any other school (114 times) and they are a traditional rival. Plus, they have been better lately than Auburn, South Carolina, and to some degree even Florida (although Florida tends to always beat us).

Now after UK, I would go with Florida for historical reasons as well although Florida has totally owned Tennessee in football.

 

[Manchester Vol]

Lotta talent in South Carolina.

Amen! I’m dating one for the last several months!!!

Wow!!! Just, Hell Yeah!!!!!

 

[Vol865]

If you voted for Kentucky, you're scared of competition and would rather pretend to be good than actually be good.

 

[NeverWe'llSever]

If you voted for Kentucky, you're scared of competition and would rather pretend to be good than actually be good.

Lol. I get it. It’s just funny to me that some UT fans always advocate to make things harder than they need to be. We’re going to have to play Bama every year, no matter what. So you’re already playing the program that has more than double the SEC titles of any other program every year. You’re also going to cycle through the entire SEC every other year and every venue in the SEC every 4 years.

Playing Bama every year gives us a good reason to get to play the two doormats of the SEC every year, while programs like UGA, Bama, Texas, LSU, Auburn probably get stuck having to play at least 2 really tough opponents every year. Auburn probably is going to have to play Bama and UGA every year. Bama might have to play us, Auburn and LSU. After the Dark Lord Saban is gone, that will be a tough task. I say any path to Atlanta in the new SEC is going to be difficult and if it can be made any easier, let’s not handicap ourselves.

 

[Vol865]

Lol. I get it. It’s just funny to me that some UT fans always advocate to make things harder than they need to be. We’re going to have to play Bama every year, no matter what. So you’re already playing the program that has more than double the SEC titles of any other program every year. You’re also going to cycle through the entire SEC every other year and every venue in the SEC every 4 years.

Playing Bama every year gives us a good reason to get to play the two doormats of the SEC every year, while programs like UGA, Bama, Texas, LSU, Auburn probably get stuck having to play at least 2 really tough opponents every year. Auburn probably is going to have to play Bama and UGA every year. Bama might have to play us, Auburn and LSU. After the Dark Lord Saban is gone, that will be a tough task. I say any path to Atlanta in the new SEC is going to be difficult and if it can be made any easier, let’s not handicap ourselves.

I want to play Florida and Bama every year. People get caught up looking at the 3 permanent games as the whole schedule when the other 6 will balance it out if done right.

 

[ksgovols]

From the other side of the coin, Kentucky is going to claim UT as it's must have rival game. I think the Bama, Vandy, UK trio have way more tradition historically. Florida and Georgia series are fairly recent ones historically speaking (1990). Auburn and Ole Miss were the other permanent rivals the 30 years before divisions.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

If you go with one rival, some long time series are destroyed: like AL TN, GA Aub, uTa OK, TN KY/ or Vandy, FL LSU, etc. It has happened before: uTa aTm, FL Aub, TN Aub
I say with only one rivalry game, it will probably stay in state because of state governments and boosters: such as AL Aub instead of AL TN, egg bowl, etc.

Something like:
Probably ......................or
Aub AL .........................Aub GA
Ole Miss Miss St .......AL TN
Arky LSU ......................FL SCAR
FL GA ...........................Ole Miss MissSt
aTm uTa ......................aTm uTa
TN KY or Vandy ........Mizzou OK
SCAR KY or Vandy ...Arky LSU
Mizzou OK .................KY Vandy

I just can't stomach giving KY a Vandy rivalry game though.

 

[SpookyAction]

I want UK. It is our real rival.
It is convenient because they are an easier draw than most, but it is our bigger rival than the others.

 

[volbound1700]

If you voted for Kentucky, you're scared of competition and would rather pretend to be good than actually be good.

Or maybe you value tradition and the fact that Kentucky is one of three series that Tennessee has played every year since the SEC was formed (Alabama and Vanderbilt being the others) and frankly we have played Kentucky more than any other team and have played them since the 1890s. That series is not going away. They are a border rival and it is a fun, heated rival.

 

[Vol865]

Or maybe you value tradition and the fact that Kentucky is one of three series that Tennessee has played every year since the SEC was formed (Alabama and Vanderbilt being the others) and frankly we have played Kentucky more than any other team and have played them since the 1890s. That series is not going away. They are a border rival and it is a fun, heated rival.

Don't care. It isn't fun. It's rarely competitive and it's not Florida. If you ask most Tennessee fans who they hate more, it isn't going to be Kentucky.....if they're not 60 yrs old at least.

With that said, I broke it down team by team and our 3 permanent rivals could be Bama, UF, and UK.

 

[Volnanza]

(Edited to include UK)

In the new format which will likely be 3-6-6 (because money), the common denominator for opponents in every model I’ve seen are Bama and Vandy, so we’re not getting out of those 2, it seems (not too sad about Vandy).

It is very possible in a pod system, UT could be paired with Alabama, Vandy and Auburn. I have seen another scenario where UT is paired with Alabama, UF and Vandy. And the final and probably best one I have seen is with Alabama, Vandy and USCjr. Which would you prefer?

Florida: Personally, I say the less UT has to play Florida, the better. We’re cursed against UF. Even Alabama I feel like we can beat them somewhat consistently once Saban is gone. I want UF to only be a bi-annual concern. However, I feel I’m in the minority here. Some Vol fans are apparently masochists when it comes to Florida.

Auburn: They would be better imo. They are also technically a more historic rival. We recruit head to head with the War Tigers more than Florida for ATL talent, and they are definitely not a program who is consistently good enough to beat us 11 years in a row.

USCjr: This is a team that is tough to beat on the road (kind’ve), but we dominate them at home (they have 3 wins in Neyland all-time and all 3 were close wins). We recruit against them a lot as well for Carolina talent.

UK: The best outcome, of course. Our most historic opponent, along with Vandy. UK’s program has improved, as well as the interest for the game. But I am confident we will continue to dominate UK. It seems we always play well against them, home or away.

Links/Pics:

UT plays Auburn

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UT plays Florida

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UT plays USCjr

What SEC football schedule format is best? Here's our rivalry modelView attachment 461382

UT plays UK

Which new SEC schedule format should Tennessee football fans want?

Why is Alabama playing 5 east teams and we are playing 5 west teams?

 

[Volnanza]

Vandy, Kentucky and Alabama should be our permanent rivals. Until the first realignment they were the ones we played every year. Georgia and Florida were later added when the conference split. Save some traditions and do this right. Another option would be to have Auburn as one of the three since we always played Auburn every year. This is what it would look like.

1) instate rival Vandy must be maintained. I bet even the state government would raise heck if we stopped playing Vandy.

2) Biggest traditional boarder rival Kentucky must be maintained. (and bring back the beer barrel for Christs sake.)

3) Third Saturday in October. Alabama. Nothing else needs to be said.

It worries me that they are ready to scrap all the things that made the conference great just to grab some quick cash. In the long run it will destroy the conference. Scrapping traditions is like cutting roots on a tree. To much and the tree dies.

 

[GetEmVols]

Kentucky? I don’t even look forward to that bye week. Florida is the most exciting game of the year.