Cooper Mays Jabs at Texas at SEC Media Days

Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee and Texas will not see each other in an SEC football game until at least 2026, but the two certainly don’t have any love lost for one another.

The Longhorns took down the Vols in a pair of contentious baseball clashes in 2021 and 2022, one of which resulted in the Vols’ elimination from the College World Series.

The two have squared off each of the last three years in basketball as well. The Horns won a fistfight in Austin in 2022, but the Vols won the last two, including an ugly victory to send Texas home in the round of 32.

Then there’s the whole “Real UT” debate.

Texas fans have long proclaimed the title of UT as theirs alone.

But Tennessee fans love to remind the fans of the other UT how Texas got its statehood. Vols center Cooper Mays made sure to get that point across at SEC Media Days.

Tennessee OL Cooper Mays on the “real” UT in the SEC 👀 pic.twitter.com/cvopibrwi8

— TexAgs (@TexAgs) July 16, 2024

“All I know is we were going 50 years strong before Texas was a thing,” Mays said. “And then, you know, we had to go down there and save them a little bit.”

Going down and saving the people of Texas is why Tennessee’s nickname is the “Volunteers.”

Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, and John Tarleton are among the names of Tennesseans that helped Texas declare independence from Mexico and enter U.S. statehood.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if chronological order means anything to you, you probably agree with Cooper Mays.