I’ve only been to Baton Rouge once for a Gator game and the fans we encountered at pre game tailgating through the leaving town process were hospitable and friendly. But we weren’t around the students. That is where the disrespect and vulgarity usually occurs at most venues. Tallahassee is by far the worst, judging from my experiences.
I parked near a student housing area for UK game in Lexington a few years ago. They were pretty nasty. I was a little surprised considering we had a 31-1 winning streak against them at the time.
We cannot beat uga often enough, nor by too many points. If F$u never wins another game, ever, that is fine with me. Then you have other sec schools like the vollies, auburn, bama, lsu, etc.
We attended the 2007 game in Lexington. It was a 3:30 kickoff and we stayed Fri and Sat nights at the Holiday Inn within walking distance of the stadium. We took a shuttle to the game which we won against an undefeated UK team that had beat LSU the week prior. The employees at the hotel had told us we should avoid walking back down a certain street because students lived along that street and the week prior police had to be called to quell a big disturbance that occurred there with UK students and LSU fans walking back to parking and the hotel. It’s almost always the students or young adults that start these disturbances. BTW, a side note: the employees at the desk of our hotel mentioned that the LSU fans pretty much beat the daylights out of the UK instigators.
Last year at the Tennessee game, my son was sitting in the end zone and this huge black guy that was a Tennessee fan was getting a bunch of shit from about 15 drunk Florida students. We started kicking their ass and they started running their mouth even more and the Florida student was poking his finger at the dude and accidentally poked him in the face. My son said he was gonna fight on the Tennessee guys side because the students were such assholes but the guy would beat the shit out of them and he wouldn’t have had to help.
Unfortunately we parked near there, so we had to walk back after they beat us in 2021. Fortunately we beat most of them there since they were still whooping it up in the stadium and we got out of there unscathed. I would have loved to have been at that 2007 game...what a QB duel that was.
It was. And as worried as I was, when you have a guy like Tebow leading your offense I had a sense we would prevail. I do believe this is the game he took a shot to the shoulder that hampered him some second half. Can’t blame this one on Stoops, though it is his modus operandi, Rich Brooks was the UK coach then.
Rather than ranking, I think tiers make more sense for something like this. Tier 1 1. FSU: Our brother/sister school. We compete for the same players, the same students, are both public universities, and are close geographically. 2. Georgia: Florida-Georgia war. World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville. Close Geographically. Always seems like one team dominates rivalry for an extended period of time until the pendulum swings. When head to head against FSU, most of the time people will root for Georgia because we share a conference and our strength of schedule is one thing we have on FSU, and it’s proven correct when Georgia crushes them on the field. Did that happen recently? Tier 2: Miami: In some ways, less likable than FSU. Private university (less like us), nasty fanbase in football that includes many people who have no connection to the university. But we don’t play enough for them to really be too high on a rivalry list like this. LSU: Also, rough fan base. But just such a fun game. Always feels like two big dogs battling in that game and it’s a blast to attend in Gainesville or Baton Rouge. It’s a rivalry, but it doesn’t have the typical elements of a rivalry. It’s more like a big game that both teams circle every year. Auburn: Feels like a conference brother in many ways. Closest geographic school in the SEC. Often compete for the same players. But don’t play enough to be higher than this. Tennessee: Not that old of a rivalry. Largely based on the big games from the 90s, one-liners from Spurrier, and our more recent winning streak against them. Otherwise, kind of like LSU in that it’s a big game both teams circle every year. This one just has a lot of historical drama, and Tennessee at their best is an excellent SEC program. Tier 3: Alabama: Whenever we’re good, we seem to meet them in the SEC Championship game. Saban ended Tebow’s hopes at a third championship. Great games, but they’re more of a team we happen to play a lot when we’re competing for championships than a rival.
I so very much appreciate these replies. Tiers do make a lot of sense here. My favorite daughter instantly became anti-LSU last season (football season) when their band starting playing over the Tom Petty tribute. Geez! And yes she is my one and only daughter. She's been a student-season-ticket holder her whole time there ('22 and '23 seasons), and loves going out to cheer on the Gators at BHG stadium!
I agree with much of this. Except LSU did take on typical rivalry status following the hurricane game and their band playing over the Petty tribute intentionally. At that point, we all hated the corn dogs from red stick!
