First, I want to than O&B, SWG and IG from the Swamp who were, as usual great hosts and friends!
BDV and I spent some time with Orange and Bew and SaltWaterGator before the game and discussed the state of the world while knocking back some brewskis - Good times!
InvestiGator made his way over for a good chat at halftime
Investi and I lived just a few miles apart when I was in GA and is a good dude
Also, the UF fans this trip were the best I have ever experienced, even post game
Not one chomp in my face and many were willing to discuss things with a VOL fan.
An aside, UF is investing far more in infrastructure than UT even dreams of
Among other things their engineering complex is expanding (again), student housing is being replenished far faster than UT and a lot of other construction that I wasn't close enough to ID (Southside of Museum is now one large construction zone, including where O&B used to tailgate)
We are falling behind
UT has not been keeping up for a long time. Bammer enrollment north of 40K, was only 18K when I was in school. UT still stuck at 28K. As for schollies, I have two nephews that live in Tennessee. Both had 32 ACT scores and excellent grades. UT barely offered them anything. One is at David Lipscomb as a senior now and got pretty much a full ride on tuition, the younger is now a frosh at the University of Alabama at Huntsville and also on a full ride. UT didn't offer them jack shizzle.
So UT is not even trying to keep the in state academic talent at the flagship University. It makes me wonder what's going on up there.
I will venture one guess though. It may be that since UT has a river on three sides and the major east-west route on it's north side, there just isn't room for expansion, perhaps. Which is unfortunate.
But if so, real leadership would find a way to expand south of the river or maybe even into Fort Sanders.
The leadership at UT has been simply awful for over a decade now. I'm hoping the current crew is heading in the right direction. FWIW, I thought Donde Ploughman handled the Pruitt firing well if nothing else.
