Tennessee has no Rival

#101
#101
I'll ask this question. Which SEC team would UT fans rather beat than any other team.
Someday I'd like to see a poll % wise.
My guess would be.
Alabama 40% mostly older fans
Florida 35% mostly post Spurrier/Urban timeline fans.
Georgia 25% mostly college and under 30 fans
now if you asked these 3.
Alabama 100% Iron Bowl
Florida Spurrier always said Georgia @ World's biggest cocktail party.
Georgia I'd say its split between UF45%/Auburn35%& UT 20%
Regrettably, Vanderbilt 100% wants to be the Vols more than any other team, but we do not reciprocate % wise.
We actually do not have a rival that exclusively hates us more than any other team, and vice a versa.
I know we do not like to hear that, but it is true.
 
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#102
#102
northknoxvol said:
We have teams that share dislike for each other, but if you ask Alabama they will say Auburn, Florida will say Florida State. Wonder if we will ever start a series with someone who could become our rivals one day and play that game for a trophy or something. Who are your ideas for the team that would spark a rivalry with UT?
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WE use to play KY for a trophy. ( beer barrel?) I expect they would, under your guidelines, be a rival not just on the football field but at the school, sports, all things Vols verses Cats.
 
#106
#106
kyvol98 said:
I do love wearing my orange to work after a game and seeing the eye rolls I get. Rupp is about 4 miles down the road from me.
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We were in Lexington for my husband’s work and I felt like I would be taking my life into my own hands if I did that 😂
 
#108
#108
ThreatLevelOrange said:
Kentucky and Vanderbilt despise us. It’s not our fault they suck.
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I think it also has to do with the closer you are proximity wise to a team the more they dislike you esp if you have to compete for recruits or they have to see and listen to your fans all of the time 😂
 
#109
#109
VOLywood said:
Just a thought, but seems like we're headed for a major rivalry with UGA.

Who is their main rival? Ga Tech? They're in the same boat as us with Vandy.

UGA has The cocktail party with UF, but they are not UF's main rival, FSU is. UGA has a permanent cross divisional game with Auburn, but they are not Auburn's main rival, Bama is.

I think UGA's recent success and our recent ascension will lead UGA vs UT as the biggest rivalry game for both of those teams.
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For Georgia, Florida and Auburn follow Ga Tech in the rivalry pecking order.

We will drop annual game with UGA when division go away in 24. Then it will be rotational, about every other year game.
 
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#110
#110
I have been living in the Birmingham area for eight years. I have people tell me all the time they hate Tennessee. After this year it has only gotten worse. Believe me, Alabama considers us a rival.
 
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#111
#111
I think UK is closest but it's football primarily. In basketball it has been Louisville. UK and UL compete for fans in state and both have multiple Men'sBB titles whereas UT has 0. Basketball runs that state.

I think in football UKs top rival is Tennessee. But I expect that match up goes away when TX and OU join and divisions go away. I suspect we will have 2 permanent rivals, UA and VU. If there are 3 permanent I don't think we get UK because football runs the SEC and people will say our schedule is too easy. Kinda like uga schedule this year and next year...

Auburn will be the loser because regardless of 2 or 3 permanent opponents they are getting bama and georgia.
 
#112
#112
Tennessee and Kentucky used to have a trophy for the winning team, a beer barrel if I remember correctly. I think they quit doing that the last few years.
 
#113
#113
If you have “The Rival”, then you don’t have so many various opinions. I have googled college football main rivalrues have never seen Tennessee vs xxxxx listed. It is always Army/Navy, Ohio State/Michigan State, Alabama/Auburn, USC/UCLA and a few others.
Here is an interesting article I pulled up about Alabama/Auburn

2. Alabama vs. Auburn
Some say that college football is like a religion in the American South, and two of its grandest cathedrals are at the University of Alabama and Auburn University. The rivalry, known as the "Iron Bowl," has been in place since 1893, with the Alabama Crimson Tide currently leading the Auburn Tigers by 48-37-1.
While many rivalries start because of geography, the Iron Bowl originated with a political spat. A 19th-century dispute over the location of the new land-grant college that would become Auburn University — whose funding the University of Alabama had hoped to win for Tuscaloosa — became the Iron Bowl.
 
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#114
#114
I’ve always felt our rival was determined by their play. Each year we have the big 3 on our schedule. Georgia, Alabama and Florida year in and year out have rotated importance based off their performance. Florida back in the 90’s was the game, then Alabama took over the role and now it’s Georgia since they are at the top.

I’ve always figured each year our team would practice a game plan that would beat our toughest opponent. Since our toughest opponent can change from year to year, our biggest rival would change too.
 
#115
#115
northknoxvol said:
We have teams that share dislike for each other, but if you ask Alabama they will say Auburn, Florida will say Florida State. Wonder if we will ever start a series with someone who could become our rivals one day and play that game for a trophy or something. Who are your ideas for the team that would spark a rivalry with UT?
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And GA Tech is GA’s rival and KY’s rival is Louisville and ……
 
#116
#116
northknoxvol said:
They may have reignited some hate for us but it will never be close to the Iron Bowl.
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Auburn has been playing well over their athletic mean for far too long. They’re a weirdly named school. Not even a state flagship. They shouldn’t even be in the SEC. The Vols were always bama’s primary rival because we used to be the top 2 in the sec. I think Heupel restores the rivalry.
 
#117
#117
northknoxvol said:
We have teams that share dislike for each other, but if you ask Alabama they will say Auburn, Florida will say Florida State. Wonder if we will ever start a series with someone who could become our rivals one day and play that game for a trophy or something. Who are your ideas for the team that would spark a rivalry with UT?
Click to expand...
If you ask Vandy, they will say UT. And maybe so will Kentucky.
 
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#120
#120
Buzzbait said:
How can so many not remember the “Beer Barrel “? With beer sales in stadiums, it should no longer be politically incorrect.
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Because Kentucky lost some players to alcohol and they don’t want anything to do with it. I don’t hold that decision against them.

We have to respect that decision especially considering how people feel about alcohol related deaths in vehicles these days
 
#121
#121
northknoxvol said:
We have teams that share dislike for each other, but if you ask Alabama they will say Auburn, Florida will say Florida State. Wonder if we will ever start a series with someone who could become our rivals one day and play that game for a trophy or something. Who are your ideas for the team that would spark a rivalry with UT?
Click to expand...
Kentucky and Vanderbilt feel disrespected
 
#122
#122
KTrain said:
I'll ask this question. Which SEC team would UT fans rather beat than any other team.
Someday I'd like to see a poll % wise.
My guess would be.
Alabama 40% mostly older fans
Florida 35% mostly post Spurrier/Urban timeline fans.
Georgia 25% mostly college and under 30 fans
now if you asked these 3.
Alabama 100% Iron Bowl
Florida Spurrier always said Georgia @ World's biggest cocktail party.
Georgia I'd say its split between UF45%/Auburn35%& UT 20%
Regrettably, Vanderbilt 100% wants to be the Vols more than any other team, but we do not reciprocate % wise.
We actually do not have a rival that exclusively hates us more than any other team, and vice a versa.
I know we do not like to hear that, but it is true.
Click to expand...

If it is Basketball, Kentucky is near the top. Rivalries transcend multiple sports.
 
#123
#123
I remember the beer barrel.....but it was never in doubt who was getting that as I was growing up. We beat Kentucky like a drum and they would occasionally make it interesting, but never win. The barrel was retired long before they beat us. Teams that are on the schedule and we dislike are not really "Rivals" just teams we would like to beat imho.
 
#124
#124
Vol865 said:
Win enough and I promise their answers will change. Also we're probably disliked by more teams in the SEC than most
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I’d began to believe so in the last few years but after this season I’m convinced Tennessee is one of the most hated programs in college football.
 
#125
#125
northknoxvol said:
We have teams that share dislike for each other, but if you ask Alabama they will say Auburn, Florida will say Florida State. Wonder if we will ever start a series with someone who could become our rivals one day and play that game for a trophy or something. Who are your ideas for the team that would spark a rivalry with UT?
Click to expand...
Things may have changed in the last few years, but Tennessee and Alabama have been staunch rivals for over 100 years. Kentucky and Vanderbilt fall into the same category even though they have not been very competitive for a number of years. Still, they are rivals because we have played them more than 100 times and they would rather beat Tennessee more than any other school they play. On the few occasions they do happen to beat us, we are totally embarrassed and take out all the stops to try to make sure it doesn't happen again. Next to Alabama, Tennessee is the team everyone else wants to beat.
 
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