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It’s time to be a hater
Arkansas’ youngest Dick brother steps ahead of senior sibling
CommentsThe SEC has it right. Get all those other pesky games out of the way, and hold a massive slate of rivalry games on the final weekend of the regular season.
The following is a ranking of the rivalries that will be played Friday and Saturday. The criteria is limited to Intensity (how much the schools plain don't like each other) and Importance (How much the outcome matters nationally and in the SEC).
1. Auburn-Alabama: This might rank in hatred alongside Duke-North Carolina basketball. Imagine if both teams could get it going in the same season.
2. Florida-Florida State: Normally there is more at stake nationally in this game than the Iron Bowl. But there isn't as much visceral hate.
3. South Carolina-Clemson: It has a lot in common with Auburn-Alabama, except it's in a slightly smaller state, and the teams have lacked the success of Florida and Florida State.
4. Mississippi-Mississippi State: Another game that divides a state, turns brother against brother, etc., but with little interest outside the state.
5. Georgia-Georgia Tech. People outside the state tend to overrate this rivalry. Inside the Peach State, Tech doesn't enjoy widespread popularity, and Bulldog fans tend to look forward to other games (Florida, Auburn, Tennessee and USC, in that order).
For it to gain steam, Georgia Tech needs to start winning (it has lost seven in a row). Saturday's game will be the first time since 2000 both teams are ranked in the top 25.
6. The rest. LSU-Arkansas needs more sizzle. Vanderbilt-Wake Forest, well they're hardly even trying. And Tennessee is looking to beat Kentucky for the 24th year in a row and extend the nation’s longest Football Bowl Subdivision winning streak.
What now for Fulmer? The more than 17-year reign of Phillip Fulmer as Tennessee's coach ends Saturday. But could we see the 58-year-old manning someone else's sideline in the near future?
Fulmer won't rule it out.
"When one door closes, another opens. There's a lot of things out there to look at and consider," Fulmer said after last weekend's victory against Vanderbilt. "Just have some quality time with my family. They've paid a dear price for me to do this job for a long time.
"I may coach again. There are some opportunities to look at there. Everybody advises me to take my time and think about it and kind of get out of the stress. But I love the game. I love to win the games, I guess is the best way to say it."
Um, pass the yams? Think you might have some awkward family moments at the dinner table today? How about Thanksgiving with the Dick family, where Casey, an Arkansas senior, has lost his starting quarterback role to brother Nathan, a freshman.
"We're still brothers," Nathan Dick said after his 333-yard, three-touchdown pass debut as the starter. "He encouraged me every time I came to the sidelines, patting me, saying, 'Good job,' or when I threw that pick he said, 'You can't worry about that. You gave him a chance.' He's just really encouraging me right now."
Casey was unavailable for comment, unless someone wanted to stake out the family dinner table today.
Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.
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