🏈 Vols coach Butch Jones on Alabama-Tennessee: 'I think it's the best rivalry in the (SEC)'

[BAMANEWSBOT]

"To be able to maintain that rivalry is something that we are very excited about."

From AL.com—Read More Here...

 

[bamaraider]

Best rivalry in the SEC? Maybe when both teams are good, but I still wouldn't consider it the "best rivalry" in the SEC. I mean you can make a case for it because both teams are both powerhouses within the SEC historically. Plus being border states, it intensifies it even more. But still, I don't consider it the best rivalry in the SEC by any means. Either the Iron Bowl or the barner-Georgia rivalry would be the best for me. If we're including teams with rivals outside of the SEC, I would say the most fun to watch for me is the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry, or the Florida-Florida State game at the end.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Hasn't been lately. It's been pretty boring, honestly. Sure, it's fun to destroy them but it hasn't been a contest in a long time. Iron Bowl, especially as of late, is far more entertaining. And I definitely agree with Clemson-South Carolina, that's up there for me.

 

[TerryP]

Best rivalry in the SEC? Maybe when both teams are good, but I still wouldn't consider it the "best rivalry" in the SEC. I mean you can make a case for it because both teams are both powerhouses within the SEC historically. Plus being border states, it intensifies it even more. But still, I don't consider it the best rivalry in the SEC by any means. Either the Iron Bowl or the barner-Georgia rivalry would be the best for me. If we're including teams with rivals outside of the SEC, I would say the most fun to watch for me is the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry, or the Florida-Florida State game at the end.

Living around that rivalry...I can tell you they think it's as good as Bama vs AU. They'd think and say it's a lot bigger game than Bama vs UT.

However, the ratings for the Bama vs UT game are always on a different level that UofSC vs Clemson—a lot more viewers.

 

[bama alum]

Jones is doing what he can to keep his fan base a bit energize, esp. after what SOS said about this rivalry earlier this week.

 

[bamaraider]

Living around that rivalry...I can tell you they think it's as good as Bama vs AU. They'd think and say it's a lot bigger game than Bama vs UT.

However, the ratings for the Bama vs UT game are always on a different level that UofSC vs Clemson—a lot more viewers.

I experienced one of their games. The atmosphere is just surreal. I can't describe it, but there is so much tension. All I can say is I don't think its like the state of Al where you'll have one side of your family 'Bama, the other barn. Or you'll have friends who you like to argue with constantly about the game. Its like two different countries in one state that hate the living hell out of each other. As far as intensity, I think the game matches the hatred between UA and AU. But as far as the actual game itself? Probably more along the lines of something like when Auburn and LSU play each other.

That's just my opinion. Its a fun game to watch and look forward to, but its not bigger than the 3rd Saturday in October.

 

[psychojoe]

I have always thought that any discussion of the best rivalries in the SEC had to include Florida and Georgia. Neutral field, tickets split 50/50. Much of what made Alabama/Auburn so special when it was at Legion Field. I have been to a few of those at Legion Field, and you could almost feel the electricity in the air.

I hope that Tennessee regains some prominence in the football world. I think it was Frank Thomas who said that you played the first half of the season, then you played Tennessee to find out how good you were. I would love for this rivalry to return to that status.

 

[bama alum]

I have always thought that any discussion of the best rivalries in the SEC had to include Florida and Georgia. Neutral field, tickets split 50/50. Much of what made Alabama/Auburn so special when it was at Legion Field. I have been to a few of those at Legion Field, and you could almost feel the electricity in the air.

I hope that Tennessee regains some prominence in the football world. I think it was Frank Thomas who said that you played the first half of the season, then you played Tennessee to find out how good you were. I would love for this rivalry to return to that status.

You are correct. I do, however, like that when they are down, recruiting there gets easier. I think even Shula had a little more success there in his waning days.

 

[mhardiman]

I'm from Tennessee and I am married to a Tennessee fan, so this rivalry has always meant a lot to me. More so than the Iron Bowl until I moved to Alabama in 2004 and begun to experience why Bama fan hate the goat humper's so bad. The problem with the 3rd Saturday in October is that we haven't been good at the same time in over two decades; we were down for a decade starting in the mid-nineties while they were really good, then they fell off the relevance map as fast as we returned. Historically the rivalry has been the most important in the SEC; for many years it's determined the SEC champ more than any other SEC rivalry.

 

[ElephantStomp]

Me personally I hate Tennessee with every fiber in me, so it doesn't matter to me that they're down and we are up. I want to see them lose at checkers, tic tac toe, whatever it is I want them to lose and lose badly. The only team close to them on my hate scale is the Yankees, but even as a die hard Red Sox fan I would root for NY 1000 times before I would root for Tennessee to win anything much less a game against us, so from that perspective the third Saturday is the biggest rivalry game to me, but UF/UGA, FSU/UF, UA/Auburn are pretty good games.

I don't have near the same hate for Auburn as I do Tennessee. That's not to say I don't want us to whip Auburn every chance we get, but I don't hate them.