Our Future Three Permanent SEC Opponents

With OU/Tex coming in 24 now and the SEC apparently doing away with divisions while giving each team three permanent opponents, who should our three be? Someone correct me if I’m wrong here, but I believe the 3 opponents will be applied across all sports, not just football.

In a perfect world I think you go Alabama, Vandy, and Kentucky. People out there in our fanbase that have lobbied recently(especially before last fall) to ditch the TSIO tradition are both insane and cowardice to me. I can’t accept a world where Alabama is not on the schedule every year. Tennessee football having to always measure themselves against Alabama is a matter of fact reality our program faces that I don’t ever want to lose, no matter how difficult of a challenge that game typically is for us. Vandy and UK would give us two easy SEC wins perennially while preserving really old historic matchups. Plus the Kentucky basketball rivalry is worth clinging to.

Only thing that would really sting about this scenario as a 90s kid would be the annual Florida rivalry. There was a time when Florida, and not Alabama, was the game for Vols of my generation. We all learned quickly once Saban’s reign of terror took hold exactly what the older Vols meant when they would tell us young ones that Alabama was always enemy #1, but still hating Florida is a lot of fun despite all the misery they have caused us most of my lifetime. Outside of Florida, Auburn would be a dark horse contender I could live with replacing either Vandy/UK just because of how that series used to be an annual one that served as the foil Florida did before the creation of divisions 30 years ago.

Was wondering what everyone else’s thoughts were on who the 3 should be if they were given the power to personally choose.

 

I am good with your 3. Re: football, that is 1 hard (bama), 1 medium (uk), 1 easy (vandy). Our tradition with all of them is deep.

Of course, we know that Slive will wait for Saban's "guidance" on the topic.

 

I think they give us Vandy, Bama and UF.

I think they give all the historically good teams at least two historically good teams.

Like UGA gets AU and UF
UF gets UT and UGA
LSU gets Texas and Arkansas?
Bama gets AU and UT
Texas gets OU and LSU
OU gets Texas and Arkansas?
AU gets Bama and UGA

Only real rivalry that goes is LSU/Bama

Arkansas hasn’t been historically great in the SEC, but they were good in the Big 8.

 

Alabama, Vandy and Kentucky

[uck fay] Florida

 

I don’t think they will make it that easy on us.

 

Alabama and Tennessee is the SEC football rivalry

Vandy is in-state

Tennessee and Kentucky is the biggest basketball rivalry

 

Purely speculation, but I’d be surprised if Alabama/Saban desired ditching the Tennessee game. Saban can be a traditionalist stickler, but who knows ultimately with him. I do however generally sense the feeling is very mutual between both schools and fanbases with the desire to uphold the TSIO tradition. You just can’t abandon the century old series between the two SEC programs solely responsible for building Southern college football. Both Auburn and Tennessee games matters a great deal to Bammer imo.

 

I’m rolling with those three as well…but ya, [uck fay] Florida every day of the week. That’s why I’d miss playing them annually. Being programmed to be a Gator Hater day dreaming all summer about the Florida game has been a critical part of my Tennessee Vol experience. It will take me years to adjust to not seeing them on a sweltering September Saturday each year.

 

Unfortunately, basketball isn’t moving this needle. Or should I say fortunately?

 

Alabama, [uck fay] Auburn and Vandy.

Because I don't give a crap about basketball.

 

I think Tennessee is a mortal lock to get Bama, Vandy, and Kentucky. As for everyone else, I came up with this:

Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee, MS State
Arkansas: Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri
Auburn: Alabama, UGA, Ole Miss
Florida: UGA, SCar, LSU
Georgia: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina
Kentucky: Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Missouri
LSU: Florida, Texas A&M, Ole Miss
MSU: Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Missouri: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky
Oklahoma: Texas, Missouri, Arkansas
Ole Miss: Auburn, LSU, MS State,
South Carolina: Florida, UGA, Vandy
Tennessee: Alabama, Kentucky, Vandy
Texas: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M
Texas A&M: LSU, MS State, Texas
Vandy: Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina

 

I hope you are right. I just think the rest of the SEC will be up in arms that we get UK and Vandy as permanent wins…. I mean opponents

 

Texas/A&M is going to be fun to watch as a casual sports fan once that rivalry is restored. Really all the old Big 8 schools now in the SEC basically round robinin each other makes a lot of sense. You have to maintain games like the Red River Rivalry.

Personally I am also cheering for a Tennessee-Texas hate fest to develop over the years so we can constantly remind their overrated asses that the original UT is nearly a century older than the faux UT. And that they would likely be the University of Northern Mexico had it not been for the efforts of the original Tennessee Volunteers like Crockett and Sam Houston.

Also really hope we don't see them do something incredibly dumb like stick us with someone lame such as South Carolina like they randomly did with the current basketball scheduling.

 

Kentucky and Vandy really have no actual meaningful in conference rivalry except with us. Feels like the SEC has to give us both of them.

Which brings me to my next point that Vandy should be an independent that no one ever thinks about and Kentucky should be in the Big 10 playing Iowa to 9-9 ties in football.

 

The SEC powers can abandon the TSIO, but they shouldn't. I hope they don't. It is a tough road playing them every year. But I grew up with it and I like it.

I "think" our football games vs Kentucky have been a pretty long standing contest. I'm too lazy to Google the # of years.

I would think school proximities would also be a logical factor in setting 3 permanents. Not the main one, but a factor to consider.

My view is, we play bama, uga and uf every year and have for quite some time. We have nowhere to go but an easier road.

Change of subject:
It still pizzes me off that both uga and uf haven't had to play Bama every year.

If you get a chance to go to Austin for the Texas game, Austin is worth the visit. I lived there for the last year of my military service. We saw the ZZ Top Barn Dance & BBQ concert in the Longhorn stadium.

 

The only thing that justifies Vandy sticking around is the fact that they were a founding charter member of the SEC. Otherwise you are right, they serve no actual purpose within the SEC. We aren't talking about academics here (which btw Vandy academic prestige is vastly overrated-had a few friends who attended UT only to transfer over to Vandy to finish undergrad that swore to all of us that UT was much more rigorous and challenging than Vandy because of how they pathetically hold your hand in the classroom there and dish out automatic As similar to Ivy League schools), we are talking sports! Even their own University doesn't really give a shit about the well being of their athletic department which is highly unbecoming of an SEC school.

 

Kentucky indeed is our oldest rivalry based on pure number of games played between the two. Vandy 2nd oldest. Both of which started on a virtual annual basis in the early 1900s. We didn't really get the Alabama series rolling into high gear the late 20s/early 30s. All 3 series overall makes the most sense really when you factor in all the historical and geographical considerations.

And whenever we play @Austin, I definitely am planning on being there come hell or high water. Have heard nothing but good things about all you can do there when visiting Austin for a weekend. Plus, I wanna be there proudly decked out in my glowing Tennessee orange amongst a sea of dirty brown orange SadHorns as we restore a little bit of cosmic justice by exorcising some Alamo demons when we inevitably whip their overrated egomaniac asses all up and down the field.

 

Growing up in Middle Tennessee and being a legacy UT alumnus.

[uck fay] Vandy.

 

Also people talking about voting certain teams off the island.... If I had the power I would just trade out Missouri for Nebraska right now. Both are equally non-natural SEC fits geographically sure, yet at least Nebraska cares about their football in way very similar to us SECers . We also would get to restore some really badass rivalries like OU/Neb. Nevermind the fact Nebraska's hardcore loyalty deserves to be rewarded more than Mizzou's apathy by how they would benefit greatly from their natural recruiting bases finally being restored. Would also supply the conference with a far more enriching trip to visit Lincoln on a gameday every now and then as opposed to ever having to go play in the soulless rock filled wasteland that they call a football stadium in Colombia, MO.

 

I honestly could care less less if we lose Kentucky as a permanent rival. I just don’t want UK and Vandy as permanents. That just sucks. With a 12 team playoff coming up we can afford to lose two games (maybe 3) a year with a legit permanent rival like Florida. Kentucky hasn’t never done it for me in football.