Too bad our football powerhouses come from rural areas too bro. TC has the entire county going there and there aint nobody home on friday nights. South Pitt also closes for game day, these towns do have pep rallies and believe me the whole towns follow these teams. In fact, almost all of region four is this way, even with FCS, he possumtowners are into their sports too. Watertown, Gordonsville, Monterey. Now, with the big schools, with an enrollment that large getting talent shouldnt be a problem, that just comes down to coaching. Sorry, but theres a big ol' in your theory there about rurality hurting ya. Plus, Rocky Top is the definition of rural, the west also gets Memphis and Nashville to play in their side of the brackets. For some reason from Murfreesboro east the football is just better than going the other way.