Who do we catch first?

#1
checkerboards09

checkerboards09

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#1
UT has losing records against three SEC traditional powers (Alabama 38-52-7, Florida 19-26, Auburn 21-28-3). I'm aware that we don't play Auburn every year, but given our performances (streaky rivalry with Bama, Head games with Florida) would it be safe to say we even the series with Auburn even without playing them every year? There's only one other SEC school that has a winning record against us and that's Mizzou. I'm not too worried about them, as I can see a Vandy/Kentucky type streak getting started against them.
 
#2
#2
checkerboards09 said:
UT has losing records against three SEC traditional powers (Alabama 38-52-7, Florida 19-26, Auburn 21-28-3). I'm aware that we don't play Auburn every year, but given our performances (streaky rivalry with Bama, Head games with Florida) would it be safe to say we even the series with Auburn even without playing them every year? There's only one other SEC school that has a winning record against us and that's Mizzou. I'm not too worried about them, as I can see a Vandy/Kentucky type streak getting started against them.
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Seeing as we play Auburn twice every 14 years currently, I would say no way. Currently we are much closer to evening the series with Florida. A 7 game deficit is not that big.
 
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#3
#3
checkerboards09 said:
UT has losing records against three SEC traditional powers (Alabama 38-52-7, Florida 19-26, Auburn 21-28-3). I'm aware that we don't play Auburn every year, but given our performances (streaky rivalry with Bama, Head games with Florida) would it be safe to say we even the series with Auburn even without playing them every year? There's only one other SEC school that has a winning record against us and that's Mizzou. I'm not too worried about them, as I can see a Vandy/Kentucky type streak getting started against them.
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It'd seem unlikely for it to be Auburn. The current rotation with the 8 game schedule means that - barring an SEC Championship matchup - it's going to take until 2025 for us to just play them twice (2018, 2025).
 
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#5
#5
If you want to catch up to Auburn anytime soon, write/call your favorite SEC university's president and athletic director each day and tell them you want a 9-game conference schedule...like I mean doing so every day or every other day.

Then it would only take a total of 6 years to play two games against each team in the Western division.
 
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#6
#6
TrueOrange said:
If you want to catch up to Auburn anytime soon, write/call your favorite SEC university's president and athletic director each day and tell them you want a 9-game conference schedule...like every day or every other day.

Then it would only take a total of 6 years to play two games against each team in the Western division.
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Right, but for the reasons I have in parenthesis in the OP, I wouldn't be surprised if it is Auburn that we catch first. I hope I'm wrong because we're talking decades before we can catch Auburn.
 
#7
#7
checkerboards09 said:
UT has losing records against three SEC traditional powers (Alabama 38-52-7, Florida 19-26, Auburn 21-28-3)...
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Florida is NOT a traditional power. They were traditional doormats prior to Dickey and only elevated to power by Spurrier. They do not belong in the same discussion as AU/UA/UT.
 
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#8
#8
OrangeByBirth said:
checkerboards09 said:
UT has losing records against three SEC traditional powers (Alabama 38-52-7, Florida 19-26, Auburn 21-28-3)...QUOTE]

Florida is NOT a traditional power. They were traditional doormats prior to Dickey and only elevated to power by Spurrier. They do not belong in the same discussion as AU/UA/UT.
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Whether you like it or not, Florida is a traditional power. For the past 36 years they have been a dominant force in the SEC except for the Muschamp-era. They may not be as old as UT or been around as long, but it's dumb to discount them.
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#9
#9
checkerboards09 said:
UT has losing records against three SEC traditional powers (Alabama 38-52-7, Florida 19-26, Auburn 21-28-3). I'm aware that we don't play Auburn every year, but given our performances (streaky rivalry with Bama, Head games with Florida) would it be safe to say we even the series with Auburn even without playing them every year? There's only one other SEC school that has a winning record against us and that's Mizzou. I'm not too worried about them, as I can see a Vandy/Kentucky type streak getting started against them.
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Well hopefully we'll close the gap by 1 against FL this year and 2 against Bama this year. Actually if we rinse and repeat this exact same scenario for the next seven seasons we'll be tied with both of them in the same year. Which I guess would technically mean we caught FL first since we always play them first.
 
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#10
#10
Interesting side note: We've played Bama 97 times. We have played FL and Auburn a combined 97 times.
 
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#11
#11
Tennessee's record against Florida is a direct product of playing them every year, after they became a consistent winning program. As has been said, Florida was arguably the worst program in the SEC all-time before Spurrier arrived in 1963 as a student. They gradually improved through the years and finally won their first SEC title in football in 1991.

Before expansion and divisional play in 1992 we played Florida on a rotating basis about twice every eight years. Sometimes we wouldn't play them but once every 10 to 15 years. When they played, they almost never beat Tennessee.

Had Tennessee been playing Florida every year like we used to play Alabama, Kentucky, Vandy, Auburn and Ole Miss, we would probably have decided edge over them in the series.

One of the more prophetic things uttered and attributed to Bear Bryant as a quote was: "God help us all if Florida ever figures things out and gets that in-state talent to stay home."
 
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#18
#18
esarmstrong said:
Tennessee's record against Florida is a direct product of playing them every year, after they became a consistent winning program. As has been said, Florida was arguably the worst program in the SEC all-time before Spurrier arrived in 1963 as a student. They gradually improved through the years and finally won their first SEC title in football in 1991.

Before expansion and divisional play in 1992 we played Florida on a rotating basis about twice every eight years. Sometimes we wouldn't play them but once every 10 to 15 years. When they played, they almost never beat Tennessee.

Had Tennessee been playing Florida every year like we used to play Alabama, Kentucky, Vandy, Auburn and Ole Miss, we would probably have decided edge over them in the series.

One of the more prophetic things uttered and attributed to Bear Bryant as a quote was: "God help us all if Florida ever figures things out and gets that in-state talent to stay home."
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Tennessee hasn't "dominated" UF on a consistent basis since the 1950s, save for a stretch from 2001-2004 where you guys won 3 out of 4, after UF had a 5-game win streak from 1993-1997 and before our current 11-game win streak.

We can only play each other when games are scheduled....but UF held their own against UT in the 60s, 70s and 80s when we played.
 
#23
#23
checkerboards09 said:
UT has losing records against three SEC traditional powers (Alabama 38-52-7, Florida 19-26, Auburn 21-28-3). I'm aware that we don't play Auburn every year, but given our performances (streaky rivalry with Bama, Head games with Florida) would it be safe to say we even the series with Auburn even without playing them every year? There's only one other SEC school that has a winning record against us and that's Mizzou. I'm not too worried about them, as I can see a Vandy/Kentucky type streak getting started against them.
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You may have underestimated Mizzou, they did win the SEC east 2 out of 3 years......I think Mizzou is much better that Vandy or Kentucky, don't you, after you really think about it?
 
#24
#24
photovol said:
You may have underestimated Mizzou, they did win the SEC east 2 out of 3 years......I think Mizzou is much better that Vandy or Kentucky, don't you, after you really think about it?
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I think they're more along the lines of Ole Miss level-ish. All over the place with highs that aren't quite high enough to break through the program's ceiling to the next level and low, lows when they're bad...but quite a bit of bowl-ish middle of the roads.

I'm less inclined towards seeing anything 25+ game winning streaks against them. At the same time however, I wouldn't be shocked to have a like 5-9 game winning streak (like UT had against UGA in the 90s...or similar to Alabama's streaks against Ole Miss)
 
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