With all apologies to George Orwell, imagine that the year is 1984.  The date is November 24th.  I haven't the faintest idea what the weather was like in reality - though I welcome somebody to clue me in - but it seems like it should be gray, cold, and dreary.  The 3rd best Kentucky team of the last 50 years (UK went 11-1 with a loss to UT in 1950, 10-1 with a loss to Baylor in 1977) comes to Knoxville with a 7-3 record to take on the 6-2-1 Vols.  Big Blue contains the Vols that day, leaving Knoxville with a 17-12 victory.  With 4 wins in the last 9 games of the series (also '76, '77, and '81), the Cats and their fans probably don't think too much about the triumph as they head north on 75.  Obviously, they should have spent a lot more time savoring this particular moment.

The Sugar Vols smoked UK in 1985 and brought the Beer Barrel back to Knoxville.  If it still existed, the Barrel's residence in Knoxville would exceed mine.  I was born in March 1986, at which point the Vols had a one game winning streak over their northern neighbors.  18 years later, when I graduated high school in 2004, the Vols still hadn't lost to UK since 1984.  When I graduated college in 2008, the Vols still hadn't lost to UK since 1984.  Now, here we are in 2010, and the story remains unchanged.

It's really sort of difficult to comprehend 25 straight wins.  While there have been a number of strong UT teams in the last 25 years, you would think the odds would be against such a streak.  But even the worst UT teams of my life (2005 and 2008) have beaten Kentucky by a combined score of 55-18!  The level of domination has been simply astounding.  I'm not overlooking the fact that there have been some nervous moments...but c'mon, we've beaten them by 517 points over the last 25 years!  That's an average of almost 21 a game!  Consider my mind officially boggled.

Given that there are no losses to revisit...let's get on to the wins!

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Sorry for the late posting!  Life got in the way this week...

Respect is really the key to a great college football rivalry.  We certainly don't like Alabama, but for the most part, we respect their program.  With Vanderbilt...there's no respect.  There's not even any big brother, little brother rivalry going on for Vol fans...we are supposed to beat Vanderbilt and it shouldn't even be close.  Sometimes the 'Dores refuse to comply and they make it unnecessarily stressful, but at the end of the day, the outcome is generally the same...no matter how plucky or feisty Vandy is, the Vols (almost) always win.

I think the above is the prevailing sentiment among the majority of the UT fanbase.  For me, though, it was always a bit different.  My mom went to Vanderbilt, and while this didn't make me bleed black and gold by any stretch of the imagination, I would quietly root for them when they played Alabama, Florida, and other teams that I despised.  When the Vols and 'Dores played, though, my loyalties were never in question.  I can't say the same for my mother, however.  I distinctly remember sitting next to her during one of the Peyton Manning games (1995, I think) and SCREAMING at her, somehow convinced that she was secretly cheering for Vandy and keeping it close (while Peyton was famously unable to beat Florida, he struggled badly against Vanderbilt, too).  She would always assure me that she'd been to many more UT games than Vanderbilt games, but I'm not sure I believed her!

The subliminal mind tricks might not have worked on football, but they did on me.  When it came time to pick a school, I went to Vanderbilt. Adding Vanderbilt as my other team was convenient in some ways (I could still hate all the same teams I grew up hating), but it made me feel much more conflicted on that one November Saturday for one simple reason: Vanderbilt students/fans really despise UT.  While I think I understood this at a high level before going to Nashville, I'm not sure I internalized the intensity of the ire until I got there.  Believe me when I tell you that it's serious!

Anyway, now that you know all about my life, let's move on to some specific games!

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Ole Miss occupies a curious spot in the list of opponents I've reviewed.  I've looked at teams with whom we have a long, fierce history (Alabama); I've looked at teams with whom we haven't shared anything special (Memphis, South Carolina); and I've looked at some opponents in between those two extremes.  What we haven't really seen yet, though, is a team with which we had a rather established history that has sort of fallen off over time.  Ole Miss definitely falls in this bucket (Auburn would, too, but I paid Cam Newton to keep the Tigers off the schedule this year).

In my lifetime, the teams have played 11 mostly forgettable games.  I was surprised to learn when looking at the historical results that UT and Ole Miss have actually met 63 times before!  The Vols and Rebels played 49 of a possible 58 times from 1927 to 1985 (the Vols fielded no team in 1943), but the matchup has tailed off in my lifetime.  We haven't seen them as often on our schedule, we've rarely been good at the same time, and the Vols almost always win (remember my mantra: rivalry fierceness is directly correlated with the number of losses).  Given these facts, I haven't directed a lot of ire toward Ole Miss.

Hopefully last year wasn't the first step in changing that...

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The artist formerly known as Memphis State (a.k.a. Tiger High) doesn't really have much to boast about when it comes to sports.  They have an unbearable superiority complex when it comes to basketball which is utterly baffling, really.  They trail our all-time series 13-8, 2 of their 3 Final Four appearances have been vacated, and they have exactly as many championships as we do, which is to say...zero.  We have a much larger and well-deserved complex when it comes to football.  It's quite simple: 21 out of 22 times we play Memphis, we win.  And if replay existed in 1996, maybe it's 22 out of 22 (note to any Memphis fans: I said MAYBE...I'm not blaming the loss entirely on that one play, but it was a big one).

We usually win, but that's not to say there haven't been some scary moments.  1999 was horrifying (example #4,479,315 why we shouldn't go with the orange on orange combo), 2000 was close, 2005 was in doubt to the very end, and the list goes on.  It's rarely enjoyable to watch, but I guess you can't really complain about 21 wins in 22 attempts.

On to the specific memories...

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Just like with Alabama, I wrote a rather involved post on last year's South Carolina game that touched on a) how awesome we were in that game (I still think that was sickest spin move I've ever seen), and b) how I don't like Spurrier.  Regardless of the outcome of this week's game, those things will still be true.  I'm running a bit low on optimism this week, but maybe this is the week that we find an offense and play 60 minutes...on the road...against the team that beat the team that just beat us 41-10.  Hmm, perhaps it's more dire than I wanted to admit, but hey, there's a reason they play the games!

It's difficult to reflect on many meaningful moments from a "rivalry" that has only been an annual occurrence since 1992.  We're 15-3 against USCe in those 18 meetings and 22-4-2 against the Gamecocks all-time.  To put it in perspective, Vanderbilt's winning percentage against UT (.262) is almost twice as good as South Carolina's (.143).  Historically, we own these guys.  But there is the not insignificant matter of Spurrier, who in all likelihood will get the Gamecocks to .500 against the Vols under his reign.  Blah, the last thing I need is another team in the SEC I have to worry about us losing to on a regular basis.

And off we go into the games...

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As I perused Wes Rucker's Twitter feed earlier this week, I came across this "probably shouldn't have said that" gem from Nick Reveiz: "When I was a kid, I didn’t really realize it was a rivalry, because we just beat Bama every year."  As I've previously alluded to, I largely felt this way growing up, too (which might be because I'm only 2 years older than Reveiz).  My Dad's displeasure with the 24-19 loss to Alabama in 1991 will forever be burned in my brain (was there a fatal Andy Kelly interception in there?), but by the time I knew what was going on, I didn't have years of baggage associated with the Tide.  I was 9 when Peyton Manning found Joey Kent for 80 yards on the first play from scrimmage in '95 and thus spent my formative years watching us beat Bama.  It's hard to consider it a rivalry when one team wins all the time.

Sure, Alabama spanked us in 2002, but we returned to our winning ways in 2003 and 2004.  As these teams are wont to do, the Vols had gone streaking for 9 out of 10 against the Tide.  The tipping point for me was 2005.  Not only did we lose in painful fashion, but my ex, an Alabama fan, had the nerve to call me as soon as the game was over and pretend like she just wanted to chat.  I was so pissed...and every Alabama fan has been painted with a broad, crimson brush of hate since then.  I don't like Alabama.  I detest their coach.  And I especially loathe that stupid cheer about a newspaper and a bird.

Alabama is distinct from the other opponents I've reminisced about in that there is a long, established history of disdain and respect.  This Saturday will mark the 82nd time in 83 years that the Big Orange and the Crimson Tide have met on the gridiron, creating loads of opportunities for highs and lows.  Without further ado, here are mine.

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As I explained when looking at Florida, there is one, primary driver in determining the animosity I feel toward other teams: losing.  During my formative years, we didn't do any of that to Georgia...so I didn't feel strongly toward the them.  It was just one of those series where you expected something good to happen for the Vols, something terrible to happen to the Bulldogs, and that was that.

Unfortunately for us as fans, that all changed in 2000.  We lost to Georgia for the first time since 1988.  And then we lost again in particularly terrible fashion.  That was followed by another loss...and another one.  All of a sudden, we could no longer count on beating up on our neighbors to the South.  It was a shock to the system and my view of UGA has been tainted ever since.

Fortunately for the sake of this post...4 straight losses + some difficult relatives = instant rivalry!  Put simply: I don't like Georgia at all.  I'd put them in my top 3 with Florida and Alabama for most despised teams despite the overall win-loss record in the last 20-ish years.  There have been more good moments than bad in my lifetime, but some of the bad ones have been really, really bad.  My highest and lowest moments can be found below the jump.

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I have a hard time placing LSU.  We don't see them every year.  I don't have a strong animosity towards them.  Their recent success hasn't led their fanbase to become any more boisterous than they already were.  That being said, they are responsible for the single most painful loss in my lifetime.  I'm sure we can all go back and forth endlessly, but the 2001 SEC Championship Game (which we'll get to in a minute) has to be viewed as the tipping point of the Fulmer Era.  Plain and simple, LSU brought our mini-dynasty down.  Ugh...

LSU is a long-time SEC compatriot that we haven't played that many times.  They weren't in our core rotation pre-expansion, they didn't become one of our permanent West opponents post-expansion, and even the latest reordering of the schedule means we only see them in the regular season twice every five years.  In recent times, though, when we do get together...it's entertaining.  It's not always pleasant, but it's entertaining.

All time, we are 20-7-3 against the Bayou Bengals.  Prior to 2000, though, we were 18-3-3 against LSU...so it's been a rough decade.  While I don't expect that to change on Saturday, I like to believe that the cathartic process helps us move past the pain of the past and sets us up for success...so let's get to it.

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So here I was, all prepared to draw insightful parallels about how our games against UAB have represented the peaks and valleys of our program in the last 10+ years.  But then the local sportswriters beat me to that punch.  It's like they get paid to think up things like that...who knew.

Unfortunately, I can't even provide meaningful, in-depth comments based on a first-hand experience with UAB.  I wasn't at any of the 3 games!  And I didn't even get to watch 2 of those 3...so I guess I'm kind of depending on you guys to help me out here.

What do you all remember about UAB?

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WARNING: I love to ramble and could talk all day about Florida.

Finally!  A familiar, formidable foe with whom we have ample - albeit not always pleasant - history.

Our rivalry with Florida is unique in its recent rise to prominence.  The Vols and Gators first played each other in 1916 and then helped form a little conference called the SEC in 1933...maybe you've heard of it.  Or, if you're a college athletics history buff, maybe you've heard of the earlier conferences Florida and Tennessee were members of, the Southern Conference and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association!  No?  Didn't know that UT was 2-0 against Florida when both were members of the SIAA?  Well...me either.  But now we do!

Despite having a history that stretches back almost 100 years, the two teams have played only 39 times.  More than 50% of the games have occurred since the series became an annual affair in 1990.  Things haven't really gone that well in those two decades, which is one of the key reasons I believe Florida to be our second biggest rival.

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Of Hamilton's many sins as AD,  foremost among them for me is that he had the nerve to schedule back-to-back opponents that we have no history with.  How am I suppose to relive past glories and pains when they don't exist?!  Thanks a lot, Mike!  Real considerate!

So, for the second straight week, that leaves me searching for alternative methods of transportation down memory lane.  Last week we explored the "season opener/overmatched opponent" angle for UTM.  For Oregon, I've eschewed the "hideous uniform/avian mascot" approach in favor of the "other Pac-10 teams" approach.  It seems appropriate given that we've played quite a few teams from the Left Coast over the years.

Read on!  Be prepared to laugh, cry, swear, throw things, sigh dramatically, or maybe even learn something as we revisit memorable moments against previous games against Pac-10 teams.

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So I had this idea to do a little write up on each of our opponents focusing on my most poignant memories of the encounters that have happened over the last 20-ish years.  I'm a rather sentimental person by nature, and I enjoy reliving memories...both the fond ones and the painful ones.  I also like hearing other perspectives on the same event, so this seemed like a great idea.

Of course...the best laid plans often go awry, so here we are looking at consecutive weeks of playing opponents with which we have no prior history.  I'll try to switch it up a bit these next two weeks in hopes that we can still take some sort of journey down memory lane.  For the game against UT-Martin, there are two possible approaches: season/home opener and inferior opponent.

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The more they stay the same.  Yes, I think we can all agree that this phrase is trite.  However, I find it to be particularly applicable to the festivities in Lexington last Saturday.  The Tennessee program has certainly gone through tremendous upheaval over the last year.  We've seen the ouster of a lifelong Tennessee man, the arrival of a brash/arrogant/inexperienced coach who rattled everybody's cage, a promising opening game, a depressing stretch of 4 games, an encouraging stretch of 4 games, an unnecessary distraction, a demolition, and a pedestrian performance against an overmatched foe.  That's a lot to have happened in the course of a year.  At the conclusion of 60+ minutes in Commonwealth Stadium, though, I was comforted by the comfortable consistency of one fact: Kentucky remains winless against the Big Orange in my lifetime (plus an additional year just for good measure).

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It really is a lot of fun to do, you know?  I grew up during the development of the UT-UF rivalry in the '90s, a painful time for most of us.  I hated watching us get smoked by the likes of Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel, Doug Johnson, the Bachelor, etc.  On top of all the pain associated with losing, I hated those games because they gave Spurrier a chance to make some snide remark and get away with it.  Trash talking has always irked me, but the only thing you can really do to shut a trash talker up is to beat them on the field.  On a few memorable occasions, we were able to do that to Spurrier-led Florida teams ('98, '01), but more often than not, he got away with his Citrus comments because we couldn't beat the Gators.

Because of those experiences during my formative years, I maintain a healthy dislike for Spurrier (on a completely unrelated side story, my grandfather was an optometrist in Newport and checked Steve Spurrier's eyes once when Spurrier was a kid...I have let him know several times that he could've saved us all a lot of grief with a few carefully placed pokes, but I guess that would've robbed us of a villain, right?).  Because of Spurrier's ability to consistently emerge victorious and his penchant for talking smack after the fact, I have always enjoyed the games where we have been able to return the favor.

Last night was no different.

Continuing in my pattern from last week, below are my observations after watching the game.

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