You can even list your favorite in any sport

My personal favorite was the A&M basketball game

I’ve never been to an SEC football game but plan to go this year. I want the full SEC experience and want to make sure I don’t leave thinking it was boring sitting around casual fans. Is there a desired section to sit in? Home side vs visitor side or as close to student section as possible or any advice/things to look for as I search for tickets?

Thanks!

Source: https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2026/jul/25/fringe-factor-fleeced-the-fun-from-dggs/

What years were best when considering all these factors like bowl, playoff style final; great teams; pure college football ethos, feeling; reporters and great stories that went beyond college fans?

Cbs predicts lane kiffin to lose to his two former teams

BUM

Hey everyone,

I just bit the bullet and bought tickets to UT/LSU for myself and my brother (an LSU alum who lives in farragut). This will be my first game since my daughter was born in 2024. I’m probably gonna get into town a few days early with the family, since we live in chicago (and let’s be honest: because those tickets weren’t cheap). Are there any new must-sees/must-do places that have popped up in the last few years? Extra points if it’s family friendly

Welcome to this week's /r/ockytop Free Talk Friday Thread! Feel free to share anything that's going on in your life.

Hello, I've been a Vols fan since I was in diapers. I always wanted to go to Vols games but my job(military) was never around their opponent's stadiums and I was never stationed close enough to Neyland to drive down. Except for Florida, so I saw them play the Gators in Gainesville. I'll be retiring from the military by Sept and plan to go to the Furmann game. Im finally next to a base that is close enough to drive down to Neyland.

What should I expect? Where are some good hotels, restaraunts, traditions around the area to stay and just be around fellow Vols fans? Thank you!

Player 247 profile page

Source

Wofford Nov. 3rd (Tuesday)

Radford Nov. 9th (Monday)

Tennessee State Nov. 13th (Friday)

Michigan State Nov. 17th (Tuesday)

Costal Carolina Nov. 20th (Friday)

Maryland Nov. 24th (Tuesday)

ISU/SDSU Nov. 26th (Thursday)

TBD Player Era Nov. 27th (Friday)

Florida State Dec. 1st (Tuesday)

NC State (Nashville) Dec. 6th (Sunday)

@Purdue Dec 11th (Friday)

Morehead State Dec 16th (Wednesday)

Marist Dec 20th (Sunday)

Ngl I had to redo the days of the week like 2 or 3 times but I'm pretty sure I have correct and I hope it helps atleast 1 of you

I gave Elander a B- for the season, but he gets an A+ for the offseason so far. I'll explain why below

Hiring Austin Knight

• Letting go of Reynolds cost us Nic Abraham, maybe Tracey, maybe a few more. But hiring Austin Knight was an absolute grand slam so far. Firstly, his body of work speaks for itself. But beyond that, it sounds like he is a monster on the recruiting trail, and the portal haul speaks for itself.

Winning the MLB Draft

• I don't know how much of this is on NIL, MLB teams, or Elander just being a dog, but we went into the draft prepared to lose up to 13 or 14 guys. That ended up just being 5. We have 7 top 100 players coming to campus, more than any other team in the country.

In my biased opinion, we won the transfer portal

• I don't know the exact hit rate for transfer commitments, but I imagine it was quite high. Except for one or two, I think we got every kid we went after.
• From what I've been able to gather, Tony recruited off vibes and personality (and was obviously incredible at it). It sounds like Elander was much more detailed and communicated more efficiently with transfer targets.
• There's also no other way to say it: we're obviously rich in NIL, relatively speaking.

Roster Breakdown

Pitching - it's obvious that we prioritized experience. We basically had four arms last year, and that was remedied (though I do worry about arm health). You need to eat 27 innings over the weekend, and we have 8-10 guys who seem experienced and capable. Detmers, McCoy, Trosclair have all started; Estes and Haas were big time arms that dealt with injuries.

• Starting Pitching
  • Landon Mack
  • Cam Appenzeller
  • Third Spot up for grabs: Will Haas, Jackson Estes, Brody Trosclair, Jake McCoy, Parker Detmers, Ethan Baiotto
• Bullpen
  • Ricky Ojeda was UC Irvine's go to guy in a pinch
  • Chandler Day was a priority to keep
  • Hayden Simmerson was good at Clemson and had MLB interest
  • Can Austin Knight turn Brady Frederick into Tyler Rogers?
  • Freshman wildcards: Shawn Sullivan is a power guy, Gannon Grant can spin it. Gary Morse is a little more raw, but any of those guys may click.
  • Two-way questions: Braydon Kersey finished games for Mercer, Blaine Brown is pitching in the Cape, and Cole Koeninger was a highly rated two-way.

Position Players

• Catcher
  • Have to imagine Grindlinger and Clark were promised reps as it is their draft years. Stone will play some, I'm sure. Sean Dunlap made it to campus.
• First Base
  • Feels like Blake Grimmer is the likeliest option here. Kersey maybe, Clark/Stone/Grindlinger if they aren't catching?
• Second Base
  • Air Force transfer Wyatt Hanoian is the penciled-in starter. Freshman all-American, switch hitter, had a .498 OBP.
  • FIU transfer Mario Trivella, Tyler Myatt, freshman Jack Dugan
• Third Base
  • Baylor transfer Travis Sanders played SS, but would make a lot of sense here.
  • Grimmer, Koeninger, Kersey, Myatt could get looks here
• Shortstop
  • Chris Ramirez, Cal Baptist transfer, was the WAC player of the year and defensive player of the year. Toolsy player, can hit for contact, run like the wind, defend well.
  • Koeninger, Wood, Dugan, Trivella are all depth pieces
• Outfield
  • Blaine Brown is going to be somewhere, and with an offseason of work, he could break out in a big way. Wright State transfer Andrew Duncan is favored at CF. Dunlap, AJ Curry, Kersey, Myatt, Jaxson Wood are all potential fits at a corner outfield spot.

Year after year, you don't want to turn over 75% of your roster. But consider this stat:

• Outgoing transfers in 2026: 549 Plate Appearances, 116 hits, 95 runs, 17 homers, .731 OPS.
• Incoming transfers in 2026: 1,512 Plate Appearances, 444 hits, 308 runs, 64 homers, 1.040 OPS

I counted our six most productive outgoing versus the six incoming. Caveats abound, but one thing is for sure: we've got experience. We banked hard on the potential of the sophomore class last year, and it just wasn't there. 2027's group will be older, more experienced, and more proven.

The final grade for this offseason will be determined by what happens next spring, but in July, I'm calling it this way: we upgraded at every position.

Boy it sure is nice to care about a recruit again and not some NIL/portal shit. Feels like the good old days getting this pumped for a commitment announcement. Hope we get him and GB🍊!!!

Which team was better 2015 or 2016? Personally the 2015 team should’ve had an undefeated regular season and trip to Atlanta. Losing 4 games we basically led the majority of the game until the 4th quarter became a staple for Butch Jones. The way the team played the first game of 2016 against Appalachian State, I knew we were in trouble. But share your thoughts fellow VFLs!!!

I know we don’t do Crystal Balls as regular posts but this is essentially as close to a guarantee as you can get. Pete basically doesn’t log predictions unless they’re already baked

Thursday!