How About an Intersectional Rivalry for Tennessee?
by NorCalVol on Sep 6, 2010 6:06 PM EDT
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PrintThe Oregon Ducks come flying into Knoxville for this week's entry into the history of intersectional Vol games. It brings a lot of memories, for we have faced our share of formidable programs from outside the South: Notre Dame, Southern Cal, UCLA, Cal, Iowa, Pitt, and many more. I have special memories of the two games the Vols played against Penn State in the early 1970s. Those were classic games, and important as college football was beginning to become a dominant sport for national television. [and important in the lore of Southern football: Paterno didn't like the idea of coming South to play football because it was too hot - so we had lights installed at Neyland Stadium!]
There are a ton of interconference rivalries; the South is full of them (Ga-Ga Tech; Fla-Fla State; etc). But there aren't any true intersectional rivalries other than Southern Cal - Notre Dame. They have been going at it annually (except for three years during WWII) since 1926 when the wives of prominent figures from both schools decided a home-and-home series would be a good idea. It is a special part of the annual college football calendar.
As a college football fan, I love intersectional games. As well as winning national and conference championships, I think they are important to the maintenance of a program's visibility/marketability. And, they give your squad and coaching staff a special challenge in preparation, especially when your school goes across country for the game (think Eugene in 2011).
But what would you think about taking it a step further...
If you had the power to wave your wand and click your heels, would you favor Tennessee playing the same intersectional foe every season, to create an intersectional rivalry?
And if so, what school would be your top choice?
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Absofreakinglutely
And give me Michigan every season.
Two of the nation’s oldest and winningest programs.
Two of the nation’s biggest stadiums.
8 hour drive up I-75 between the two cities.
"I condone fun things" ~~ Cortland Finnegan
Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me.
VolBrian just wants to stack the deck. Meeeeshigan. Haaa!
How about USC in the Chik-fil-a Bowl? /oh, wait…
The COEXIST bumper sticker is ridiculous. How are people supposed to get along when one side is flying planes into tall buildings or wearing sweater vests full of C4 and nails? The faiths are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.
What about Buffalo?
….
I’ll see myself out, thanks.
Simulated Gameday Experience - just like the real thing, only we have smoke machines.
o.o
I’d be divorced by the end of the 3rd match up.
BloodSpite
"Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football." John Heisman
by Joseph Stanley on Sep 7, 2010 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions
I like the way you think
…wait a second
Simulated Gameday Experience - just like the real thing, only we have smoke machines.
by Chris Pendley on Sep 7, 2010 9:51 PM EDT up reply actions
I vote no
I’d rather not lock up a spot in our schedule for a game like that. I like the flexibility of scheduling teams like Oregon, Cal, UCLA. If we play a team like Michigan every year it wouldn’t be as interesting. Plus, who the hell wants to go to Ann Arbor every other year?? I just can’t think of a school outside of the south that I would want.
Washington...
Or some team that at least makes a little sense… only two fanbases who do boatgating.
Can imagine some fans attempting to make the entire trip by water.
Good god that would be one hell of a boat trip
My sentiment is more or less the same as golfballs03. I like the flexibility of being able to schedule a variety of teams. It allows our fanbase the ability to experience a wider selection of college football venues while still benefiting the program in terms of national exposure and marketability. I love the fact that we have tOSU and Nebraska on our upcoming schedule. Besides the best intersectional rivalries out there all have plenty of history or some significant story or geographical reasoning behind them.
Some of the other games I’d like to see would be UT-Michigan (the battle of the big houses) and UT-Texas (the without us you’d all be speaking Spanish game).
Neyland Stadium-It goes to eleven.
I like the flexibility as well
And if there were a permanent one, it’d be nice if it were a cool place to visit. Boulder, CO is awesome, but the football team isn’t good enough. Michigan would make sense football-wise, but Ann Arbor? Really? Washington is actually not a bad choice if we wanted to do this.
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 7, 2010 3:07 AM EDT up reply actions
Another good game would be against Virginia Tech
The proximity of the campuses makes that a pretty reasonable choice. Plus I know for years both fanbases were pining for a neutral site match up to be played at Bristol Motor Speedway (it would set some crazy attendance record). I think that has since fallen through but it shows that the fan interest is definitely there on both sides.
Neyland Stadium-It goes to eleven.
Forgive the self-promotion...
but I wrote a post about a ‘rivalry’ with Va Tech, which I would love to see happen.
Agreed
But VT isn’t intersectional.
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 7, 2010 4:29 PM EDT up reply actions
Although...
…when I lived in New Orleans years ago, the locals called people from Mississippi “yankees”. Perhaps we could similarly gerrymander Virginia into a northern state and call UT-VT intersectional. :-)
Apoligies to Will ;-)
But then the real intersectional game would be UT/UVA
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 7, 2010 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions
In Texas
anyone north of Tennessee is a yankee.
What do we do if somehow Colt McCoy ends up on an NFL team starting against Vince Young?
Kentucky and West Virginia are redneck, not southern.
What do we do if somehow Colt McCoy ends up on an NFL team starting against Vince Young?
Of course
If they didn’t secede, they aren’t southern (exceptions made for places that weren’t states at the time). West Virginia broke off with Virginia for the purpose of not seceding, so they’re as anti-Southern as they come.
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 8, 2010 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions
UW would be a great place to visit
I have been to Seattle a few times and my uncle is a doctor at the UW Hospital. I’ve been in their stadium and it’s a beautiful view. Plus if we were to go there in September the weather there is gorgeous. Seattle is a great town and UW is a really pretty campus.
However, I’d much much more be in favor of a closer rival. I’m thinking either an old SEC school (Georgia Tech) or two football schools stuck in the ACC (Virginia Tech or Clemson). I’m partial to Clemson being an alum and all..but any of those 3 would be a great match-up. Heaven forbid we have to face..shock..two tough out of conference teams a year!
by Solid Orange on Sep 7, 2010 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions
What about a biannual (or some other intermittent schedule) arrangement?
I could see having a set series that plays once every other year, or maybe two years on and two years off. That would still give some room for other OOC games.
Maybe even just two years on and four years off. Just enough to make it kind of interesting in a rivalry sense, but not enough to get tired of it or to step on other possible matchups.
This idea I like a lot better
Actually, if we did a two and four thing, we could have two rotating intersectional rivals and then use the other time for random games. Using two of my favorite suggestions, we could do something like this:
Year one: @Michigan
Year two: vs. Michigan
Year three: @Washington
Year four: vs. Washington
Year five: @Texas/UCLA/Notre Dame/Miami/whoever
Year six: return leg
Year seven: repeat with @Michigan
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 7, 2010 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions
UCLA...
probably comes the closest to that already, and we’ve probably played Notre Dame the second-most times in recent memory (since the late seventies).
We already have a history with UCLA (beginning in the ’65 game at Memphis) and that might be a good choice.
Mizzou!
Just because I could see our boys more often :)
BloodSpite
"Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football." John Heisman
What if we scheduled a home-and-home
With a Shared-Border to Tennessee, someone like, oh, I don’t know … North Carolina?
______________________________________________
I will give my North Carolina for Tennessee Today. Apparently.
not in sight.
______________________________________________
I will give my North Carolina for Tennessee Today. Apparently.
Pah. Let's try ...
[/rage] not in sight.
______________________________________________
I will give my North Carolina for Tennessee Today. Apparently.
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