National college football reporter takes unnecessary shot at Tennessee Vols
Most Tennessee Vols fans are likely familiar with Sports Illustrated college football reporter/columnist Pat Forde. The longtime college football personality never passes up a chance to take a shot at Tennessee. Forde famously wrote a lengthy column last summer that slammed Tennessee fans for the 2017 coaching search that led to the Vols' hiring of […]
Most Tennessee Vols fans are likely familiar with Sports Illustrated college football reporter/columnist Pat Forde.
The longtime college football personality never passes up a chance to take a shot at Tennessee.
Forde famously wrote a lengthy column last summer that slammed Tennessee fans for the 2017 coaching search that led to the Vols' hiring of Jeremy Pruitt.
Here's a sample from that column.
The final bill is coming due on the fan tantrum that led to the firing of AD John Currie, the hiring of Phillip Fulmer to replace him, and the subsequent decision to bring aboard Jeremy Pruitt as the football coach. And the cost keeps going up. The bottom line: a 16–19 record (which will get worse after the Vols vacate victories) and a whopping 18 NCAA Level I violations levied in a notice of allegations that was delivered Friday.
Good job, good effort. You listen to a fanboy media grifter’s bright ideas on how to run a football program, this is where it leads you nearly five years later.
You disrupted the attempted hire of Greg Schiano, trumping up a dishonest moral outrage. The real issue was whether Schiano could win in the SEC, not what he knew or didn’t know about the monster Jerry Sandusky while on staff at Penn State. You get your way, which only adds to the power trip.
Forde also called Tennessee basketball's Uros Plavsic a "hack" during the NCAA Tournament earlier this year.
I'm not sure what Forde has against Tennessee, but he managed to take another shot at the Vols this week.
Forde wrote a column about the 2024 SEC schedule and he suggested that the conference is operating with a list of eight "A teams" and eight "B teams".
And Forde, unsurprisingly, suggested that Tennessee is one of the "B teams" in the SEC.
From SI.com: Without publicizing a specific breakdown, the league is operating on an eight-team “A” list of more successful teams and an eight-team “B” list. The SEC neatly divided every team’s schedule into four “A” games and four “B” games, two apiece at home and two apiece on the road. It’s airtight (though still subject to debate, of course).
The As: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M.
The Bs: Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt.
At some point you have to wonder if this is just satire coming from Forde.
Because there's no way that he thinks Tennessee, a program that was ranked No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings at one point last season before finishing 11-2 with a blowout win against Clemson in the Orange Bowl, is a "B team" in the SEC.
On what planet is a 5-7 Texas A&M team or a 6-7 Oklahoma team an "A team" over an 11-2 Tennessee team?
And sure, I get that last year's records mean nothing when it comes to the 2023 season and beyond. But the Vols are clearly a program on the rise — something that Forde can't seem to accept — while Texas A&M and Oklahoma are still trying to figure out if they have the right head coach in place or not.
Forde knew what he was doing when he listed Tennessee as a "B team". And he knew the reaction he'd get (I suppose I'm obliging him), but it's such a bad take that it deserves to be publicized.
I don't know who hurt Forde's feelings in Knoxville, but they must have really did a number on that man.
Former ESPN host has the best take yet on Hendon Hooker and the Tennessee Vols’ offense
A former ESPN host had the best take yet on Hendon Hooker and the Tennessee Vols’ high powered offense
Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
