My reply to an Oklahoma fan

[ConantheVolbarian]

I was replying to an Oklahoma fan who claimed mid SEC teams ride the coat-tails of other SEC programs and my Internet crashed, so I decided to just make a thread for it.

Now, on the coattail riding comments. It's just a fact that the SEC is by far the best conference in the country and has been forever. Since 1998, six SEC teams have won the national championship and those were all traditional SEC teams not counting Texas and Oklahoma too who just joined.

So yes, there is a reason nobody in this conference has as many conference championships as Oklahoma. Realistically, Oklahoma had one tough conference opponent or two every year for years and years and even Texas was mid to bad for awhile just like Tennessee.

The Vols were mediocre to bad for about a decade and now we are back to being one of the top SEC programs. I think we are third all time in SEC championships behind Alabama and Georgia now, but we were #2 for years until we went into the cellar for awhile and Georgia emerged as the best in the SEC.

Is Oklahoma a great program? Yes! But they wouldn't have won half as many conference championships in this league if they were here for decades. This conference is just different. And it shows because Oklahoma just lost their first game in the SEC.

 

[wmcovol]

The SEC has 6 programs that has won national championships in the last 30 yrs. Far and away the most of any conference. To believe only Alabama & Georgia have been good is really naive.

If OU fans really believe that, they should not have an issue with their schedule this year.

 

[madbamahater]

So I guess Oklahoma is a coattail rider

 

[VOLfrombama]

Ever since the start of the BCS Era, they’ve been brought back down to Earth. That’s why Heup was welcomed back with open arms. 1 championship in the modern era does not make you a blueblood. At least that’s what we have been told recently.

 

[Voltopia]

Yeah, it's pretty rich when people from the Big 12 start up that conversation about "riding coattails," especially coming from the conference whose biggest brand wore a coat big enough for 10 teams (save Oklahoma) to ride on for over a decade. And that coat was big enough that they even let Texas have (1) their own TV network and (2) their own larger slice of the media money, just so they could ride on that coat. That's some serious coattail riding. How competitive can your conference be, if no one in your conference is even able to stand up to you?

And setting that aside, here's a news flash. Winning 50 conference titles, as Chris Fowler just had to remind us of last night, doesn't mean you're playing in a tough conference, kids. I don't think the Big 12 is chopped liver or anything, far from it, it's just silly for people from Texas or Oklahoma to talk how difficult their conferences were. Especially when you're comparing with the SEC, who has six (count them) marquee brands that would compete in any league.

 

[TAF]

The Vols were mediocre to bad for about a TWO (2) decadeS and now we are back to being one of the top SEC programs.

fyp

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

Venables just coached his 30th game there and only played 6 ranked teams, counting us.

 

[ConantheVolbarian]

fyp

We were not bad in the 2000s. We had more winning seasons than losing (I think we had two bad seasons) and appeared in several SEC championship games. We were only "bad" from 2010 until 2021 and thankfully those days are over now.

 

[CR-vol]

Welcome to the SEC ha!!

 

[Tenacjim]

Playing in the SEC has a cumulative effect. Even the mid-tier teams (and even some of the “bad” teams) will physically pummel the opponent. I think the first 2-3 hits OK took showed that. That takes a toll over 8 games…..

 

[BelievetheHeup2022]

Well that old buzzard @Sooner Redzone claimed we don’t have a history. I guess 6 championships 11th in all time wins from Power 5 conference teams is on the line of K State according to this clown. I’m guessing he’s just mad he had to eat his pudding before going to bed last night after an L.

 

[swampfoxfan]

Even Vandy can cause problems in theSEC

 

[TennesseeTarheel]

How would that even work? (Coat-tail riding).

 

[TAF]

We were not bad in the 2000s. We had more winning seasons than losing (I think we had two bad seasons) and appeared in several SEC championship games. We were only "bad" from 2010 until 2021 and thankfully those days are over now.

7 decent years out of the last 23 is closer to 2 decades than to 10 years...

The Vols have scored 216 points in 4 games this season. That's more than the 2020, 2008, and 2005 Vols scored in their entire seasons.
2020 - 215 points (10 games)
2008 - 208 points (12 games)
2005 - 205 points (12 games)

 

[EZE]

Yeah, it's pretty rich when people from the Big 12 start up that conversation about "riding coattails," especially coming from the conference whose biggest brand wore a coat big enough for 10 teams (save Oklahoma) to ride on for over a decade. And that coat was big enough that they even let Texas have (1) their own TV network and (2) their own larger slice of the media money, just so they could ride on that coat. That's some serious coattail riding. How competitive can your conference be, if no one in your conference is even able to stand up to you?

And setting that aside, here's a news flash. Winning 50 conference titles, as Chris Fowler just had to remind us of last night, doesn't mean you're playing in a tough conference, kids. I don't think the Big 12 is chopped liver or anything, far from it, it's just silly for people from Texas or Oklahoma to talk how difficult their conferences were. Especially when you're comparing with the SEC, who has six (count them) marquee brands that would compete in any league.

The Big Eight was even worse. Outside of Nebraska and Oklahoma, it was a collection of high school teams.

 

[PC Jr.]

Like I posted in another thread, OU fans will need to recalibrate their expectations. They will not be dominate like they were before. On the Norman experience, most OU fans were very nice. A lot welcomed us to Norman and thanked us for coming after the game. A few were really upset and hostile at the end of the game. I told them, you will learn to hate us. You will learn to hate Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida and the rest too. It’s hard to be nice in the SEC when you care a lot and the winning fans let you hear all about it. Neyland will be a hostile place for them next year.

 

[Hunerwadel]

Sooners don't know it yet but the path to their next conference championship is now full of land mines.

 

[TnVol!]

ou could lose 6 games this year. Welcome to a real conference. Ride those coattails.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

Even Vandy can cause problems in theSEC

This year appears to be one of those random years that come along now and then where Vandy is actually dangerous. That QB of theirs is legit good. If we had Dooley, Butch or Pruitt as coach I'd be seriously concerned they might be about to whip our arse come November.

 

[PowerT83]

My reply to any OU fans lurking. Beat Texas

 

[Ratvol]

Sooners better fix their field or recruits will go elsewhere. Atrocious…

 

[PC Jr.]

They were surprised to see us, but I got more Go Vols than at the OU game.

 

[PC Jr.]

2 ranked games an hour apart. It was epic!

 

[Orangethumb]

They are about to learn about life in the SEC. Starting with last night's L.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

ou could lose 6 games this year. Welcome to a real conference. Ride those coattails.

Yeah, if they don't get that OL/QB situation fixed 6-6 is the floor.

If they do get it fixed I can see them winning 9-3 with that defense. 10-2 would just about take a miracle for them with that schedule.