Latest Tennessee bowl projection has Vols renewing rare regional rivalry
Things are trending down for the Tennessee Volunteers after a 36-7 defeat at the hands of the Missouri Tigers on Saturday. Gone are the hopes for a first trip back to the SEC Championship game since 2007, as are a repeat appearance at a New Year's Six bowl game. With Georgia coming to town on […]
Things are trending down for the Tennessee Volunteers after a 36-7 defeat at the hands of the Missouri Tigers on Saturday. Gone are the hopes for a first trip back to the SEC Championship game since 2007, as are a repeat appearance at a New Year's Six bowl game. With Georgia coming to town on Saturday, the Vols are staring an 8-4 regular season record squarely in the face.
However, that's not to say that there might not be some intrigue remaining once the bowl season rolls around.
ESPN released its bowl projections on Sunday, with writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach pitting different destinations for the Vols. Bonagura continues with his prior projection of the Vols taking on Greg Schiano's Rutgers Scarlet Knights, which was previously mentioned by us as one that would cause quite a fervor among UT fans and those in the media that blame the Vols' fan base for the school's refuse to hire the former Penn State assistant under Joe Paterno.
However, the other has the Volunteers facing a foe who's divided the loyalty of northeast Tennessee for decades: the Virginia Tech Hokies. Mark Schlabach projects the Vols and Hokies to square off in the Duke's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, NC on Wednesday, December 27.
Virginia Tech and Tennessee are the two most prominent programs among fans in northeast Tennessee. From firsthand experience growing up in the Tri-Cities area, there are Tennessee and Virginia Tech license plates (and sometimes both on the "house divided" plates), car decals, and flags waving all over the place. If it's not one, it's the other.
The schools haven't played all that much with just nine meetings in their history, but fans show up and show out when they do. The 2016 Battle at Bristol was a game that had been talked about for decades. When it finally came together, it certainly did not disappoint from an interest perspective, as 156,990 fans jammed into Bristol Motor Speedway for a rare spectacle, which Tennessee won 45-24. Needless to say, it was the biggest crowd in college football history, and it's an event that should absolutely happen again.
For now, a chance at some bragging rights for years would be on the line among the schools. For those fans living near the Tennessee-Virginia border, that's not an insignificant thing.
Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz makes a harsh but fair comment after crushing Tennessee
The Tigers’ head coach sprinkled a little salt in the Vols’ wound after a 36-7 thrashing
