Rocky Topics: Tennessee's next home-and-home series

In this week’s version of Rocky Topics, Chase Carder and David Bradford discuss which program Tennessee should schedule a home-and-home series with after announcing a series with Oklahoma, which will take place in 2020 and 2024.

Carder: For those who remember college football in the 1990s, Tennessee and Penn State dominated the college football landscape. Since that time, a combination of poor coaching hires by Tennessee and the whole Sandusky fiasco in Penn State has derailed the direction of both programs in recent memory. Now, with James Franklin at the helm and the sanctions behind them, the Nittany Lions are coming off a Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl appearance, proving the state of the program is back on track. Since Franklin embarrassed Tennessee with a 2-1 record against them at Vanderbilt, this would be a perfect opportunity for the Vols to earn a shot at redemption while presenting a matchup against one of the most prolific programs in the history of college football. Imagine a home-and-home series scheduled at Neyland and Beaver Stadium, which are two of the biggest stadiums in college football. Now that would be fun.

Bradford: Penn State is on the rise and would pose an exciting matchup for the Vols, but I’m going with Clemson here. Now, I know Tennessee fans probably wouldn’t want the orange and white facing the two premier programs in college football – Alabama being the other – in the same season twice, but there is some revenge factor here. Dabo Swinney has breached Tennessee’s sphere of influence in Knoxville with the successful recruitment of wide receivers Tee Higgins and Amari Rogers. While you can’t fault Higgins and Rogers for making that pick due to Clemson’s status as Wide Receiver U – a tag Tennessee also held once upon a time – the Vols need to take some scheduling risks for brand purposes. Oklahoma is a great matchup, but Clemson is at another level. If they can compete with the Tigers, and win, then maybe the elite Knoxville skill position players opt to spend their Saturdays in Neyland Stadium.

Carder: You pose a great point regarding the effects on being able to compete with, and even beat Clemson. But what if the opposite occurs and Tennessee proves that they are not yet on the same level as Dabo Swinney’s program? Instead of taking the risk of scheduling one of the most successful programs in recent memory, a home and home matchup with Penn State may provide a more realistic opponent for competitive purposes. Especially since the Nittany Lions are prestigious enough that victories over James Franklin would certainly create intrigue amongst potential recruits. Both of these matchup would present quite a buzz around Knox and both present awesome opportunities. Penn State just may be the more viable option given the state of Tennessee’s program. Like you said, the Vols already have Nick Saban to worry about.

Bradford: Fair points across the board. Regardless, it’s fantastic to see Tennessee schedule challenging opponents such as Oklahoma.

Edited by David Bradford

Featured image by Andrew Bruckse