When the SEC expanded in 2012, it made a concerted effort to try to build up at least one rivalry game for the new members. After a couple of years to get used to the new number, the conference moved LSU-Texas A&M to Thanksgiving week and switched up cross-division games so that Missouri would play Arkansas every year.
The former solved two problems, as LSU had been without a clear No. 1 rival in the league since Tulane left. The Tigers have some real enmity with Alabama and Ole Miss, but those teams’ top hates will always be Auburn and Mississippi State.
The latter even introduced the a new rivalry totem, the Battle Line trophy. Neither is all that hot of a rivalry yet, though former Mizzou head coach Barry Odom’s return as Arkansas defensive coordinator might help juice it a little.
The first time the SEC expanded, it accidentally created an intense rivalry right off the bat. It wasn’t the South Carolina-Arkansas annual series, which began in ’92 and was so beloved that the league killed it in 2014 to make the Battle Line series.
No, it of course was Florida-Tennessee. The teams faced each other just 21 times before 1992, playing on average two or three times a decade from the 1910s to ’80s. UT still has more games against Ole Miss and Auburn in its history than against Florida.
The teams both being good in the ’90s had a lot to do with it. The first ten SEC Championship Games had either Florida or Tennessee coming out of the East division.
More than that, there was a real Old Money vs. New Money dynamic to the series.
Tennessee was one of the old guard elite programs of the SEC. As of ’92, the Volunteers had won or shared 11 of 59 conference titles in football. General Robert Neyland was one of the earliest legends of the league, and people still memorize his seven maxims of winning to this day. He was second only in stature to Bear Bryant in SEC lore.
Florida had just one SEC title officially from 1991, with its 1984 crown stripped and 1990 team ineligible. Steve Spurrier, a Tennessee native, brought the UF program to prominence with an innovative passing game, which was a real shock to a run-and-defense conference. He didn’t care about maintaining a public appearance of collegiality, as he’d drop tweaks and insults to teams he vanquished.
Spurrier’s quips and jabs really got to the thin-skinned Phillip Fulmer, who took over at Tennessee during the ’92 season. Even one similarity they had furthered the general storyline. Fulmer ended up embracing the pass a few years in, but he did it with a quarterback with the bloodlines of an SEC royal in Peyton Manning (who’s still 0-4 against the Gators).
It was a perfect storm of factors to ignite a truly passionate rivalry. By now, that passion is running on fumes.
You know all of the Vols’ struggles by now. They’ve won one game over Florida since 2005. They haven’t beaten hated Alabama since 2006. They’ve been through four coaches since Fulmer was pushed out after 2008, and they might get their fifth soon.
Tennessee right now is a bit like where I thought Florida was after 2016. The coaching staff as composed was clearly not going to get the Gators to the level of play they wanted. However, too much churn in the coaching ranks was part of the problem. The program needed stability. Of course, that was after a second consecutive SEC East title for the Gators. Both years were weak Easts, but someone had to win it, and UF was that someone.
UT hasn’t been to Atlanta since 2007. It’s now being compared to Nebraska as a fading power with little in-state talent that may never get back to its glory days.
I actually don’t think it’s quite as dire for the Vols as it is for the Huskers. High turnover among ineffective administrators is the root of their issues, and it still is something that needs to be fixed. Fulmer’s reported short list for head coach after taking over as AD was the most unimaginative possible: Saban assistant, former Saban and then-Kirby Smart assistant, current Clemson assistant, and former Clemson assistant. Trying to hire the secret sauce away from elite programs has set back program after program in the past decade-plus, especially those off the Saban tree. Only two have worked out so far, and one left FSU a smoking wreck.
Getting a solid AD and a coach who’s good at player development would go a long way in Knoxville. They almost had one of the latter in 2017. In fact, they definitely would have if Florida had beaten LSU and Texas A&M that season instead of losing by a combined three points. I can’t imagine Jim McElwain inventing fake death threats during the off week and giving Scott Stricklin reason to can him if he’s 5-1 instead of 3-3. Instead, Stricklin did fire Mac and swooped in and hired Dan Mullen out from under the Vols’ noses. The rest is history.
Until Tennessee can find itself again, Florida-Tennessee won’t be much of a rivalry. The embers will begin to glow again if both teams are good concurrently, but it won’t be the same.
UF is, if not Old Money, one of the SEC’s elite. Eight conference and three national titles in 30 years will do that. One of the main dynamics that created the white hot Florida-Tennessee rivalry is gone and will never come back.
I am of the generation that grew up on Spurrier football in the ’90s, so I’ll always see Tennessee as a rival. My father, who attended UF in the ’70s, puts Georgia far above them in a way I don’t. Younger fans than me can have head-knowledge of the UF-UT rivalry but missed the window to really experience it.
Never is a long time, but I think there’s a good chance that the Florida-Tennessee series will never again be what it was. Too much winning from Florida, both over the Vols and in general, killed it.