Should Missouri Be The Cats SEC Rival

[John Henry]

I admit picking rival for Kentucky in the SEC is a challenge. The natural rival should be Tennessee but in football the series is too lopsided to consider them a rival. Tennessee fans put much more importance with Georgia, Florida and Alabama than UK. Even Vandy is more of a rival to them.

So Kentucky is the odd man out but with newcomer Missouri we might want to try to start one with the Tigers. Some pros. They are a border state. They are a Union state with a history and people much like Kentucky. They are fairly equal in ability and are always a good opponent in basketball as well as football. They are geographically pretty even, both being Northern SEC schools with similar weather, etc. They are in our East division. Now for some cons: They are new to the league and we really have not built up an issue with them over the decades. We have no "hatred" for them. We do not share the same recruiting base. I guess there are others I have not mentioned.

It is hard to find a rival for our team that works both ways. I still want to beat Tennessee above all others but Tennessee does not feel that way about us. Maybe we can cultivate that with Missouri.

 

[kyboy1998_rivals34276]

Both fence riders during the war of Northern Agression. You make a case but I doubt they'd put anymore energy into cultivating a rivalry than we would.

 

[Ukbrassowtipin]

The series with miss state is tied I believe

 

[jnewc2_rivals30628]

For us to have a rivalry with any school whatsoever we have to hold up our end of the bargain and be a semi-competitive team on a regular basis..Louisville is our biggest rival but even with them we've been so bad for so long that not even that game is a rivalry anymore because Louisville is such a superior program..if we become consistentently competitive in the SEC everything else will take care of itself

 

[Robcatt24]

SEC is pushing for Missouri and Arkansas to develop into a border rivalry.

 

[WildCard]

The series with miss state is tied I believe

I think the Cats took the lead yesterday??? Regardless, their rival is unquestionably Ole Miss.

As far as "rival" goes, I think it is only a true rivalry when both sides consider the other a "rival" vis a vis "just another team". On that point, I'm not sure that TN considers UK a rival anymore than they consider Vandy a rival; they simply expect to win. I think the most likely SEC rival for the Cats is SC. Both have similar football traditions and their big rival lies outside of the SEC. JMO.

Peace

 

[mdlUK.1]

You don't manufacture a rival after 4 games. Who gives two sh$ts if they were a union state?

Only real natural rival is Tennessee or vandy. Ut owns us and doubt they consider us a rival.

Vandy, on the other hand, always expects to beat us, just like we do them. And we lead the series by one or two games.

No one cares about Missouri except the op.

 

[ORCAT]

I'd have to go more with Vandy or SC as a rival. Both are more similar to UK's program and we don't seem to care much for each other. On that last point, SC seems to fit the bill better. I know they have Clemson and we have UL as in state rivals but I'm talking more as SEC rivals.

 

[Anon1660081258]

Rivalry will happen, or won't, naturally within the division. The only purpose for flagging a game as a rivalry game is to designate your annual inter-division opponent. We are in a balanced series (all-time) with as natural a match as we might get in MSU, considering we have somewhat similar programs historically. If we get more competitive, watch what happens with UK-UT...

 

[BoulderCat_rivals187983]

I agree that our designated rivalry with MSU has worked out pretty well. We've actually been able to be competitive with them. As for Mizzou we play them every year anyway. What develops remains to be seen. Beating them again this year would help.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Why is Miss St considered a UK rival?
Geographically it makes no sense yet we play them every yr.

 

[K_TIME]

Why is Miss St considered a UK rival?
Geographically it makes no sense yet we play them every yr.

Honestly..the East vs. West permanent rivals placed the stronger programs together and sort of fell into UK/Miss St.

- Bama and UT have a long stranding rival game
- UGA and Auburn have a long history as well
- LSU and Florida aren't natural rivals but both were strong programs when we started matching teams

Then the rest sort of fell in place due to how strong each team and since UK/Miss St are about the last/2nd to last in each respective conference...they become permanent rivals.

 

[WildCard]

Honestly..the East vs. West permanent rivals placed the stronger programs together and sort of fell into UK/Miss St.

- Bama and UT have a long stranding rival game
- UGA and Auburn have a long history as well
- LSU and Florida aren't natural rivals but both were strong programs when we started matching teams

Then the rest sort of fell in place due to how strong each team and since UK/Miss St are about the last/2nd to last in each respective conference...they become permanent rivals.

I agree. The divisional set up in the SEC (including paired opponents) has proven to be amazingly "equitable" over the years. Basically been very balanced with top vs top, middle vs middle and bottom vs bottom over the years. I don't know how long this "drought" in the SECE will continue. I really thought it would be over by now but it is worse this year than ever. In the West, AL has become so damn good that they are making a once powerful conference look like AL and "others". JMO

Peace

 

[John Henry]

You don't manufacture a rival after 4 games. Who gives two sh$ts if they were a union state?

Only real natural rival is Tennessee or vandy. Ut owns us and doubt they consider us a rival.

Vandy, on the other hand, always expects to beat us, just like we do them. And we lead the series by one or two games.

No one cares about Missouri except the op.

My concern for Missouri is no greater than any other SEC school. I just want someone to consider us a rival. Do you really want to consider Vandy a rival? It is an elite private university with a very limited fan base. UL may have more fans than Vandy, but on second thought I doubt it. I am not optimistic Missouri will ever become a rival of ours but since we do not have one now I threw them out for consideration. We are pretty much alone now and no one circles our name at the beginning of the year as a team they want to BEAT. They don't want to lose to us but they sure do not get excited when our name appears on their schedule. I would like for that to change but I seriously doubt it will in football. Basketball is another animal though. Everyone wants to beat Kentucky in BB. I dream of the day that becomes the reality in football.

LSU and Arkansas have been rivals for decades and once the governor of Louisiana said Arkansas could never beat LSU because Louisiana has more paved roads than Arkansas has. Do we have more paved roads than Arkansas? I hope so.

 

[serdi]

The rivalry with Tennessee would be rekindled easily if UK started winning 40-50% of the time...back in the day, with Bryant and Neyland and Curci and Majors....it was a rivalry.

Missouri like Kentucky had duel membership in the Confederate States Congress and the United States Congress. The bootheel of Missouri is very southern in culture unlike the rest of the state.which is not...the bootheel is the part that borders Kentucky. Missouri's rival is Arkansas. Fayetteville can't be more than 20 miles from the Missouri border. They have a rivalry with A&M also because of their former ties with the Big XII .

I think it is stretching to think that Mizzou-UK would ever be a big rivalry.

 

[Anon1660081258]

If we get to the point where we take 3 from UT in a decade, it will be "On Like Donkey Kong" from that point, as long as we hold that 1 in 3 pace or better. Hell, just let us take 2 in a row, and the tone will change.

 

[Goingfor9]

Vandy is the rival in the sec. we are neck and neck in football and between both sports they give us the most fits on the hardwood

 

[John Henry]

Tennessee is by far my first choice but like many have said we must compete and win to be taken seriously. I wold like to start this year. I remember when it was and we won. Thank you Lou Michaels

 

[seccats04]

Honestly..the East vs. West permanent rivals placed the stronger programs together and sort of fell into UK/Miss St.

- Bama and UT have a long stranding rival game
- UGA and Auburn have a long history as well
- LSU and Florida aren't natural rivals but both were strong programs when we started matching teams

Then the rest sort of fell in place due to how strong each team and since UK/Miss St are about the last/2nd to last in each respective conference...they become permanent rivals.

It's all about $ and TV ratings. The SEC set up natural rivalries like Ala-UT, Aub-Ga, Fla-LSU, etc. That's how we fell into MSU.

 

[GhostVol]

Bring back the Beer Barrel and we Vols will take y'all serious again. Until then we'll treat you like we treat Vandy.

 

[NavyCat88]

Serious FB schools don't give "rivalry status" to bottom feeders as close-to-equal status is a necessary element to a rivalry.

SEC teams by and large don't see us as a rival because we have little to no recent or relevant history of winning. They don't see us as equals. Even if SC (with our recent wins) is developing some hate.....they won't admit it unless we develop into a team that is consistently ranked. Vandy likely doesn't care because as the lone private school....they don't expect to win much anyway--although they'll celebrate the occasional victory or good season when them come.

We have no heated-rivals except UL IMO, and the heat of the UK/UL rival stems from BB and spilled over into FB when they started getting notoriety. In-state hate is long lasting.

 

[BARRYBLUE1]

Can't be South Carolina. We have dominated them for the last 3 years.
I think if CM Newton hadn't done away with the beer barrel, the rivalry would still be strong. The Vol poster above seems to agree. Another reason Newton's name should be taken off field.

 

[stucknbig10country]

Why is Miss St considered a UK rival?
Geographically it makes no sense yet we play them every yr.

It's a "rivalry of convenience" for the SEC. When setting up the perma-games, Bama-UT and Auburn-UGA were historic rivalries that were to be preserved at all costs. UF-LSU was earmarked as permanent b/c of some history and to maximize competitiveness (i.e. both are top-tier programs, so it seemed fair). Arky-Mizzou are border states. Ole Miss-Vandy has some history and have played a lot.. Hence, you had UK and Miss state left over. Not sure why the SEC paired USC and A&M except it was what was left over.

 

[John Henry]

Bring back the Beer Barrel and we Vols will take y'all serious again. Until then we'll treat you like we treat Vandy.

I am very sorry we did that. The barrel was the glue that held the "rivalry" together and gave our team something to savor in victory (as rare as they were). But we had an AD, C.M. Newton, who had no interest in moving our football program forward and was so consumed with political correctness he couldn't see across the street. We are stuck with him forever now as his name is on our stadium. The AD office has not been the same since Bernie Shively retired.

 

[EliteBlue]

http://www.barstoolsports.com/barst...B&utm_source=BarstoolFB&utm_medium=Socialflow

This is what happens when you try to invent a rivalry with no history to back it. This is a hilarious move by UCF.