The hatred is intense - well, somewhat. The fire burns deep - sort of. It's blue blood vs. orange blood, right?
It's Memphis vs. Tennessee. Let the verbal onslaught begin. There's only one problem. UT fans aren't showing up for the sparring session. They never have.
The thought of the "Power T" logo representing the Volunteers from the east side of the state is enough to make most Tigers fans cringe.
"It's really ugly," said Lauren McKnight, a freshman majoring in accounting. "That neon orange is the ugliest color I've ever seen in my life."
If there's one thing that is certain in life, according to McKnight, it has to be the loathing that supporters from both schools feel toward one another.
"It's a rivalry and there is a lot of hatred involved," she said. "I think they hate us as much as we hate them."
But is that true? Does the thought of Tiger Blue get the blood boiling in the veins of Tennessee fans?
Marlon Boyd, a junior exercise science major at UT, said Wednesday's basketball game between the Tigers and Vols is a prime example of how one-sided the rivalry really is.
"Nobody even talked about it," he said. "I was asking people about the game, and they would say 'Who did we play?'"
Normally when an unranked opponent squares off against a top-five team, the fans of the unranked team are the ones that get excited. This wasn't the case with No. 4 Memphis and the unranked Volunteers.
"People are walking around here acting like this is a national championship game," said U of M point guard Darius Washington.
If this is a one-sided rivalry, why do Memphis fans care so much when Tennessee fans care so little?
Terrence Payne, a senior English major at UT, thinks he has the answer.
"Memphis people have a chip on their shoulder that they don't get the respect nationally that Tennessee gets, and it's not just in football," he said. "It's in everything."
"They're kind of like a little brother to us," Payne said. "But they aren't really a rival. "UGA, Florida, Alabama, Vandy, they all come before Memphis as far as rivals are concerned. The Tigers are just a notch above ETSU (East Tennessee State University) on our list."
Ouch. That is a slap in the face to Memphis fans. And it also may be stretching the truth to say that beating ETSU means just less to the Vols than beating Memphis.
But to say that The U of M is like a little brother to UT and that that is why Tigers supporters disdain Tennessee so much may not be totally fair to Memphis. After all, the University of Tennessee is not exactly "America's Team." There is just something about that bright orange that tends to get under people's skin.
"Nobody likes them," said Brian Knight, a junior biology major. "It's not just us. Their fans are cocky and arrogant, and they have no reason to be."
