Bottom 10: Tennessee gets stuck in The Swamp again
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Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior Writer
Inspirational thought of the week:
An old man passed me on the street today
I thought I knew him but I couldn’t say
I stopped to think if I could place his frame
When he tipped his hat, I knew his name
Hello old friend
It’s really good to see you once again
— “Hello Old Friend” Eric Clapton
Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, located in the abandoned Sam Goody’s where Desmond Howard now keeps his ginormous record collection, we have long recognized and appreciated the similarly good feelings that come from the notes of a classic tune that you haven’t heard in a while and recognizing a familiar face of an old friend you haven’t seen in a while.
Just recently, I sent my daughter off to college and people kept saying to me, “It’s such a weird feeling, isn’t it?” But it isn’t. The best part of the Bottom 10 pollster experience is when a longtime resident of these parts moves on, graduating to stand among those who have cashed in their Pillow Fight of the Week frequent flyer card for regular invitations to bowl games.
Occasionally, it’s good to see those old pals pop back in to see us here, getting back to their rotten Bottom 10 roots, such as a couple of teams this week. But it’s still best to see them pop up in the headlines for good reasons. OK, good reasons for them, but not for the ones they tripped up.
Say, our old friends the South Alabama Redundancies …
I assume @ESPNMcGee will mention the South Alabama Redundancies in this week’s Bottom Ten. Perhaps there should be a regular slot to highlight B10 alumni (or escapees?) who’ve done something especially competent. #BottomTenLobbying pic.twitter.com/z16PPjtCEw
— Innocent?Abroad (@JJGass) September 18, 2023
So, that “U-S-A!” chant you hear? That’s not some jingoistic dude waving Old Glory in a hurricane. That’s us. For old times’ sake.
With apologies to Lee Greenwood, Mike Gundy and Steve Harvey, here’s the Post-Week 3 Bottom 10.
1. Arkansaw State Fightin’ Butches (1-2)
The Red Wolves earned their first win of the season, and they did it against Stony Brook. According to the magically and mysteriously accurate ESPN FPI formula, it was the last time they will be favored to win a game this season, averaging a 25.3% chance per game from here on out. Also, according to the magically and mysteriously accurate ESPN FPI formula, there is a 100% chance that Butch Jones will giggle when he sees who is in this week’s Coveted Fifth Spot.
2. Buffalo Bulls Not Bills (0-3)
The Bulls opened the season with a 21-point loss to Power 5 stalwart Wisconsin, followed by a 3-point loss to FCS non-stalwart Fordham, followed by a 28-point loss to non-Power 5/former FCS non-stalwart Liberty. In the words of the couple screaming at Steve Martin and John Candy on the interstate, “You’re going the wrong way!”
3. No-vada (0-3)
The Wolf Pack had a tough weekend. First, they lost to Kansas to fall to 0-3, then they went back to the dorms to watch their former coach Jay Norvell take on the entire Sanders family and end up looking like Eminem the first time he tried to rap battle in “8 Mile.”
4. EC-Yew (0-3)
The Pirates have officially run aground. There’s no shame in losing to Michigan in the Big House. There’s not a lot of shame in losing to Marshall at home. But there is SO MUCH SHAME in losing for the second straight time at Appalachian State, the across-the-state school you’ve been clowning on for a couple of decades for not playing with the big boys.
5. Good Ol’ Rocky Slop (2-1)
The last time Tennessee won in The Swamp was Sept. 20, 2003. The No. 1 film at the box office that week was “Underworld.” Fittingly, a horror action movie.
6. The MCU (1-2)
No, not the one with the superheroes, though this one does include Zips, Golden Flashes and Falcons. This is the #MACtion Cinematic Universe, where seven of the league’s dozen teams stand at 1-2, which, like Thanos and his big gold glove, makes them nearly impossible to separate.
7. UTEPid (1-2)
The Minors are still reeling from their season-opening losses to Jacksonville State (which is not in the Jacksonville you’re thinking of nor is it a state) in the Bottom 10 Waiting Listers’ inaugural FBS contest, then to the defending Bottom 10 champs North by Northworstern. I suppose you can forgive their latest loss at Arizona because they were likely looking ahead to October, when they have the potential to make a failed SpaceX rocket landing Bottom 10 maneuver, as they face FI(not A)U, another FBS newbie in Sam Houston State, We Have Problem, and in between a visit from the team that just beat …
8. Whew Mexico (1-2)
The Lobos fell to Whew Mexico State in the Battle of I-25 as the Other Aggies exacted some revenge for their season-opening loss to …
9. UMess (1-2)
Yes, Massachusetts did knock off Whew Mexico State in Week 1 and this week will host Whew Mexico. If they end up with wins in both of those games, then according to the Bottom 10 Pillow Fight of Year bylaws, the Albuquerque Convention Center must for the next calendar year display the Minuteman statue alongside its statues of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, with the soldier from Lexington Green buying a bag of Blue Sky. Speaking of New England …
10. U-Can’t (0-3)
Hey, Huskies! There y’all … er, yous guys, are! Dropping games the first two weeks to NC State and Georgia State weren’t really Bottom 10-worthy. But losing at home to FI(not A)U in a game where you favored by a touchdown? That’s more like it! In this topsy-turvy college football world where quarterbacks star in national hamburger chain ads and UCLA-Rutgers is going to be a conference game, looking at Thanksgiving weekend and knowing that U-Can’t vs. UMess has the potential to once again be a Pillow Fight of the Century is like a warm blanket. Sure, it has moth holes in it and it’s warm because a husky just peed all over it, but still, it’s a blanket.
Waiting List: Stanfird, State of Troy, Sam Houston State, We Have A Problem, “I’m a man, we just gave up 33 to South Alabama!”, the bottom two-thirds of the AAC, the bottom one-third of the Big 12, No-braska, San No-sé State, internet cowards sending death threats to college football players.
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Adam Rittenberg
The Nebraska–Tennessee football home-and-home football series scheduled for 2026 and 2027 will not be played after Nebraska opted out of the agreement.
Tennessee athletic director Danny White posted on X that Nebraska called off the series and added that Tennessee is “very disappointed” by the cancellation, especially so close to the initial game in 2026. The teams had been set to play in 2026 at Nebraska and at Tennessee the following year.
In a statement, Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen explained renovations to the team’s stadium, which will temporarily lower seating capacity, ultimately led to the decision.
“We are making plans to embark on major renovations of Memorial Stadium that may impact our seating capacity for the 2027 season,” Dannen said. “The best scenario for us is to have eight home games in 2027 to offset any potential revenue loss from a reduced capacity. The additional home games will also have a tremendous economic benefit on the Lincoln community.”
The Cornhuskers announced they will host Bowling Green in 2026 and Miami (Ohio) in 2027 on the dates when it was originally set to play Tennessee. Nebraska has never faced either school. The team will play eight homes in 2027 for the first time since 2013.
The cancellation ends a nearly two-decade process around a Nebraska-Tennessee series, which was originally agreed upon in 2006 and set for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In 2013, the two schools agreed to delay the games for a decade. Nebraska will pay $500,000 to get out of the scheduling agreement.
White told Volquest that the “buyout implications need to be much steeper” with an “old contract,” and the cancellation puts Tennessee in a bind. Tennessee, which opens the 2025 season against Syracuse in Atlanta, had its nonleague schedule set through the 2030 season. The school either must find an opponent who can fill the 2026 and 2027 dates for a home-and-home series, or explore neutral-site options.
“You really can’t pull an audible this late in the game,” White told Volquest.
Nebraska’s stadium renovation, the first phase of which had been set to begin after the 2024 season, has been delayed until after the 2025 season, at the earliest.
Tennessee and Nebraska have played only three times before, most recently in the 2016 Music City Bowl, won by the Vols. Nebraska beat Tennessee in the 1998 Orange Bowl to secure a share of the national title that season.
Tennessee has been on the other side of a similar situation. The Vols in 2021 canceled a game against Army for the next season in 2022 and added Akron instead.
Information from ESPN’s Chris Low was used in this report.
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Jorge Castillo
TAMPA, Fla. — The New York Yankees‘ facial hair and grooming policy, an infamous edict in place for nearly 50 years, was formally amended for the first time Friday.
In a statement, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said the organization will allow “well-groomed beards” effective immediately, changing a rule his father, George, established in 1976.
“In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees — spanning several eras — to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback,” Hal Steinbrenner said in the statement. “These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years.
“Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”
George Steinbrenner implemented the mandate before the 1976 season, leaving players with a choice of being clean-shaven or wearing a mustache. Hal Steinbrenner kept the policy in place after becoming chairman and controlling owner of the franchise in 2008.
Players overwhelmingly obliged with the order over the next five decades, from spring training through October, often before letting themselves go during the offseason, though a few have pushed the limits.
In the 1990s, for example, star first baseman Don Mattingly was fined and benched by manager Stump Merril for refusing to trim his mullet. Four years later, Mattingly wore a goatee for part of his final season in 1995.
This year, All-Star closer Devin Williams, acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in December, reported for his spring training physical with a beard before shaving it down to a mustache for the team’s first workout the next day. On the other end, former Yankees Gleyber Torres and Clay Holmes reported to camp with their new teams sporting full beards.
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