Alabama rivalry

[Tnwoodsman]

Have the younger fans moved the Alabama rivalry down below teams such as Georgia and Florida? Neither of those teams could come close to providing the long term rivalry that Tn & Al has had. I don't think Florida had even won an SEC championship til Spurrier came there. I am from the old school where beating Bama is the main thing. I remember listening on the radio in the early 1950's to this game. It was the biggest thing in the south. I watched the Majors teams fall to Alabama over and over. I have followed this rivalry for over 50 years and there will never be anything that puts it second. Of course I want great seasons but a win over Alabama makes the season bearable no matter what else happens. It wouldn't matter if we were undefeated when we play them and they were 0-11. To me, it would still be the biggest game on our schedule. Georgia, Florida, Auburn are no different to me than Ole Miss, Arkansas, Ky or the rest of the SEC. Alabama has always been "the game" and I think it is mostly the younger folks who have followed football for only the last ten or twelve years that place Georgia and Florida in the same class as Bama as far as rivals go and I guess I have to accept that as an indication of changing times but I will always consider Bama the biggest game of the year. Even in 1998, beating Bama rated right up there with the NC. To me, this is the biggest game..... every year.... that we play and it has little to do with the Fulmer/Gallion thing. It is just once again the 3rd (4th) week in October and this marks the 53rd time I have followed this game closely, either on the radio, television or in person. No other game means more to me. No other game ever will................

 

[mikey]

Always will be the #1 rivalry...unless sarge runs all of the UT guys off of the staff...then...who knows...maybe sarge can put us more in line with Kentucky with his football knowledge...that would be great.

 

[IBleedOrange24/7]

Always #1 for me.

 

[utvolpj]

100% and will always be. You can kinda judge the age of Vol fans by their answer. Yes, UGA and UF are big games in the East div., but we could go 1-10 as long as we beat bama.

:bammer:

 

[Doughbelly]

If the vols go 10-2, I'll be shocked (the way things are right now) but as long as we beat Bama I'm a happier Volunteer.

 

[USAF_Vol]

Originally posted by Doughbelly@Oct 19, 2005 2:10 PM
If the vols go 10-2, I'll be shocked (the way things are right now) but as long as we beat Bama I'm a happier Volunteer.

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I hear you man. I feel the same way

 

[JennVols]

Bama has always been the Vols' #1 rivalry to me. Even when I was a kid and cheered for a local little league football team named the Flatrock Vols, our biggest rival was the red and white team just because they looked a lot like Bama. LOL

GO VOLS !!!!!

 

[CHATTAVOL]

it was always Florida with me. It will blow your mind how many people in TN that are Gator.

 

[Lexvol]

Originally posted by mikey@Oct 19, 2005 1:06 PM
Always will be the #1 rivalry...unless sarge runs all of the UT guys off of the staff...then...who knows...maybe sarge can put us more in line with Kentucky with his football knowledge...that would be great.

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If Sarge can run'em off, then they shouldn't be at such a big program in the first place.

UGA is the most important game on the schedule IMO.

 

[utvolpj]

Originally posted by CHATTAVOL@Oct 19, 2005 3:57 PM
it was always Florida with me. It will blow your mind how many people in TN that are Gator.

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I agree that UF is a big game but up until 1990 we only played them occasionally. Only twice in the 80's and 4 times in the 70's and 34 times in our history.

As for bama, we have played every year since 1928 (except for 1943 but I don't think we fielded a team that year) for a total of 87 times. There's no one on this board who can remember a season without the bama game.

It's just the history of the game that makes it so big in my mind.

 

[duckman398686]

my rivals rank #1 florida #2 bama. then everybody else. i just hated the way spurrier ruled the sec and fulmer hardly ever beat him.

 

[#10_Ainge_#10]

Originally posted by CHATTAVOL@Oct 19, 2005 3:57 PM
it was always Florida with me. It will blow your mind how many people in TN that are Gator.

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That's me too but Bama is starting to turn into a big one....Its gonna be sweet this weekend to knock them off that big 6-0 platform

 

[surrealvol]

Bammer is it!!!!!!! The rivalry has just cooled a wee bit because of recent problems with their program. Florida is getting there, and Georgia a bit, too. But Bammer, year after year after year, is the biggest rivalry in the South, in my opinion.

If we beat Alabama, the year (Any year) could never be a really bad year.

GO VOLS! Beat the boys from Bammer AGAIN!!!!!!!

 

[BamasBack12]

I was in Knoxville last year for the UT game, as I am most years yall host us. I am a student at Alabama and I talked to some UT students after the game when I was out with my buddies. I think we were at the OCI and the guys I talked to said that Bama was about the 3rd biggest rival to UT. They said UF was #1 and UGA was #2. They said they hated us but not as much as UF and UGA. On Jox690 which is our sports talk radio here, a big topic today was which rivalry is bigger to Bama fans, UT or Auburn. Most Bama fans agree that Auburn is the biggest rivalry but there are a few that think UT is the biggest. I personally say AU is because it's the in-state rival and my mom and her family are all AU fans. When we lose to them we have to deal with them at work, school, and thanksgiving. When we lose to yall we don't have to deal with yall because yall don't live here. Either way, I really hate all of you and want to beat you until Phil cries. :biggrin2:

 

[Lexvol]

Originally posted by BamasBack12@Oct 19, 2005 6:35 PM
I was in Knoxville last year for the UT game, as I am most years yall host us.  I am a student at Alabama and I talked to some UT students after the game when I was out with my buddies.  I think we were at the OCI and the guys I talked to said that Bama was about the 3rd biggest rival to UT.  They said UF was #1 and UGA was #2.  They said they hated us but not as much as UF and UGA.  On Jox690 which is our sports talk radio here, a big topic today was which rivalry is bigger to Bama fans, UT or Auburn.  Most Bama fans agree that Auburn is the biggest rivalry but there are a few that think UT is the biggest.  I personally say AU is because it's the in-state rival and my mom and her family are all AU fans.  When we lose to them we have to deal with them at work, school, and thanksgiving.  When we lose to yall we don't have to deal with yall because yall don't live here.  Either way, I really hate all of you and want to beat you until Phil cries.  :biggrin2:

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Get your cyring towel ready. You probably won't score on AU this year without Portho.

 

[Jmxvol]

I personally hate UGA more than any team.

 

[utvolpj]

Originally posted by BamasBack12@Oct 19, 2005 6:35 PM
  I think we were at the OCI and the guys I talked to said that Bama was about the 3rd biggest rival to UT.  They said UF was #1 and UGA was #2.  They said they hated us but not as much as UF and UGA.

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Dear God, just a mention of OCI's gives me an instant hangover! Memories...

That's what I mean by your age defining the rival. Most of the current students remember maybe 2 or 3 losses to bama, whereas some of us grew up wondering if we'd ever beat them again.

 

[tvolsfan]

well i hate ohio state more then every other team. but i think tenns biggest rival is alabama.

 

[volmanjr]

Beating Bama makes the season regardless of the record at the end.

 

[orange4ever]

been a VOL fan since early 70's. Always bama. No matter what else happens, beating bama makes the whole season

 

[Brojan]

To me...it's ALL about beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA! A win tomorrow would make my season. :dance2: :dance2: :dance2:

 

[volmanjr]

Originally posted by Brojan@Oct 21, 2005 6:12 AM
To me...it's ALL about beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA, beating BAMA! A win tomorrow would make my season.  :dance2:  :dance2:  :dance2:

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tell how you really feel, don't hold back

 

[allvol]

For now, the younger fans think its Georgia because they've been so successful against Tennessee the last few years. To the fans a bit older, its Florida because they remember how Florida dominated the SEC in the '90s. For the even older, its got to be Alabama for the way they dominated the series for twenty years... no other team has ever dominated a series against Tennessee like that ... EVER. But for those that put the entire history of Tennessee football into perspective... it Alabama. Alabama and Tennessee are 1 and 2 in SEC Championships all-time... their storied programs are 6th and 8th in the NCAA respectively in all-time wins... and the Vols and Tide have played more games against each other than almost any other teams in the south.

Fact: The Auburn-Georgia "The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry" and Tennessee-Alabama "The Third Saturday in October" rivalries are older than the Auburn-Alabama "Iron Bowl" rivalry.

Alabama holds a 43-37-7 edge over the Vols. 87 games. The average score is Alabama 16.48 - Tennessee 14.05

Auburn holds a 52-48-8 edge over Georgia. 108 games. The average score is Auburn 14.99 - Georgia 14.98

Alabama holds a 38-30-1 edge over Auburn. 69 games. The average score is Alabama 18.99 - Auburn 15.70

Other Vols rivalries--
Tennessee has a record of _ against _:
(total number of meeting in parenthesis)

68-23-9 (100) Kentucky
67-26-5 (98) Vanderbilt
43-18-1 (62) Ole Miss
21-25-3 (49) Auburn
26-15-1 (42) Mississippi State
24-17-1 (42) Georgia Tech
37-2-2 (41) Chattanooga
18-15-2 (35) Georgia
19-16 (35) Florida
20-10-1 (31) North Carolina
14-13-2 (29) Duke
20-5-3 (28) LSU
19-2-2 (23) South Carolina
12-2 (14) Arkansas

 

[BamasBack12]

Originally posted by Lexvol@Oct 19, 2005 7:11 PM
Get your cyring towel ready.  You probably won't score on AU this year without Portho.

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Funny you mention how we won't be able to score against AU but you don't say anything about your team. I guess you're bragging about other teams now because you know how badly Bama is going to beat your's. :birgits_giggle:

 

[NCGatorBait]

The UT-Bama game has always made me think of the UF-F$U rivalry...plenty of hate, and alot at stake! :devilsmoke: