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I would expect Florida to be aggressive in coverage and play some more man coverage. Looks like he will play today against Tennessee. Gain of 18 yards. After Peyton Manning and several other star players moved on to the NFL after the season, most preseason prognosticators saw Tennessee’s squad as taking a step backward from championship contention. Warren 87 TE.
– Florida vs. Tennessee – Game Summary – September 24, – ESPN
UF had an interception return for a touchdown. Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson has completed He has three rushing touchdowns. Billy Napier is trying to become the fifth first-year Florida head coach in a row to beat the Vols in their first attempt. UT hasn’t won against a first-year Gators coach since toppling Steve Spurrier in a win in Ron Zook started the current run in with a win.
Urban Meyer kept it going with a win in that began the stretch of 16 wins in 17 games for the Gators against the Vols. Catch made by K. Zipperer at TEN Gain of 44 yards. Point After TD Hooker pass complete to FLA 1. Catch made by B. McCoy at FLA 1. Gain of 1 yards. Hooker pass complete to FLA Catch made by J. Small at FLA Gain of 16 yards. Richardson rushed to TEN 1 for 0 yards.
Tackled by J. Banks at TEN 1. The Replay Official reviewed the runner broke the plane and the play was overturned. Missed Two Point Conversion Richardson steps back to pass. Richardson pass incomplete intended for FLA. Richardson pass complete to TEN 3. Catch made by R. Pearsall at TEN 3. Gain of 3 yards. Thrown 1 0 Punts – Avg Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN. Offense Defense Special Teams. Richardson 15 QB.
Etienne 7 RB. Wright 5 RB. Johnson Jr. Shorter 4 WR. Pearsall 1 WR. Henderson 3 WR. Zipperer 9 TE. Whittemore 14 WR. Zanders 18 TE. Chiaokhiao-Bowman 16 WR.
Torrence II 22 S. Burney 2 LB. Miller 51 LB. McClellan 7 DL. James 6 LB. Dean III 0 S. Johnson 16 S. Reese 4 LB. Williams 17 LB. Boone 12 DL. Umanmielen 33 DL. Watson 21 DL. Dexter Sr. Sapp 94 DL. Wilson 5 S. Moore 28 CB. Marshall Jr. Powell-Ryland Jr. Cox Jr. Mihalek 49 K. Crawshaw 26 P. Hooker 5 QB. Small 2 RB. Wright 20 RB. McCoy 15 WR. Keyton 80 WR. Hyatt 11 WR. Warren 87 TE. Fant 88 TE.
Hadden 5 DB. Banks 33 LB. McCollough 2 DB. Flowers 1 DB. Charles 14 DB. Thomas 21 DL. Young 6 DL. Beasley 24 LB. Simmons 51 DL. Terry 95 DL. Bumphus 11 DL. Mitchell 10 LB. Harrison 30 DL. Eason 20 DL. Rucker 28 DB. McDonald 12 DB. Baron 9 DL. Bailey 90 DL. Garland 15 LB. Josephs 19 DL. I answer those questions in the video below. The Gators are a bigger underdog in this game than they have ever been to Tennessee this millennium, basically, and there are good reasons for that.
I would expect Tennessee to win, but Pitt gave a bit of a blueprint on an effective way to play the Vols. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.
Stories Schedule Roster. Filed under: Florida Gators Football. Florida vs. Tennessee: Can the Gators slow down the high-flying Vols? Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email.
This one is still important. Tennessee live Date : Saturday, September 24 Time : p. Tennessee: Need to know Anthony Richardson’s performance: Which version of Florida shows up depends in large part on which version of Anthony Richardson shows up. Featured Game Tennessee Volunteers vs. Florida Gators. Eddie Robinson Jr. Pitt RB breaks Tony Dorsett’s rushing record vs. Alabama vs. Five Gators to watch against Tennessee.
Dijuan Black recovers onside kick to give Florida one final chance, but Anthony Richardson throws interception as Tennessee rushes him with six defenders. Montrell Johnson 2-yard TD run cuts Tennessee’s lead.
UF goes for two-point conversion but doesn’t get it. Florida Gators score: Down with left. Vols were short on touchdown, but unsportsmanlike penalty on Napier makes it first down instead of 3rd down for Tennessee, Jabari Small scores on a one-yard TD to put Tennessee up on Florida.
The touchdown came after Gators go for it again on 4th down rather than settle for FG. Another coverage bust by Florida defense. RB Jabari Small wide open for Tennessee for an easy touchdown. UF vs Tennessee score: The Volunteers lead
Tennessee football vs. Florida: Score prediction, scouting report.
AP Despite an upper-body injury and the absence of his favorite target, Hendon Hooker was at his best Saturday night. The Tennessee quarterback threw for yards and two touchdowns and ran for yards and a score to lead the No. It was Tennessee’s second win over Florida in the last 18 meetings and snapped a six-game losing streak in the series. The win gave the Volunteers their first start since That is Rocky Top.
It’s what we built. Tennessee , Southeastern Conference took control in the fourth quarter when it traveled 87 yards for a TD after a fumble by Gators , quarterback Anthony Richardson. Richardson had a career-high passing yards and two touchdowns and ran for 62 and two scores in a raucous Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee led at halftime following a first half loaded with big offensive plays on both sides. Hooker, who shook off the injury, threw for yards, including a yard connection with Bru McCoy for the Vols’ longest play from scrimmage this season.
McCoy, a transfer from Southern California, stepped in for the injured Cedric Tillman left leg with five catches for yards and a TD. A yard drive that ended with a one-yard pass from Hooker to McCoy, gave Tennessee the lead 7 seconds before the break.
Richardson had a career-high passing yards by intermission and connected with his first TD pass of the season.
Keon Zipperer broke three arm tackles on his way to a yard score. It’s a blessing. The left leg injury that forced Tennessee WR Cedric Tillman to miss a good deal of the Akron game caused him to be held out. Vols WR Jimmy Calloway couldn’t play in the first half against the Gators because of a team suspension after being ejected last week for punching an Akron player. LB Ventrell Miller, who missed last week’s game with a right foot injury, started.
Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker had a string of 14 consecutive pass completions, including 12 against Akron, before a misfire. In back-to-back second-quarter plays, Richardson threw his first TD pass of the season, for 44 yards to Keon Zipperer, before Hooker’s yarder to McCoy.
Midway through the second quarter Richardson had thrown for yards, a career high. Florida had just three sacks in its first three games. It had three Saturday. Florida was five of six in fourth-down conversions. Florida: In order to have success in the remainder of their SEC games, the Gators will need to add a dimension to their offensive attack. Once defenses focus on containing Richardson in the pocket, the variables in the offense are limited.
Richardson was able to avoid the pressure and has been sacked just twice this season. Having that weapon available is key to giving LSU, Alabama and Kentucky something to game-plan against. Florida: After playing three ranked teams in the first four weeks of the season, the Gators get a break by hosting Eastern Washington Saturday. ML: Drive Chart.
Hooker sparks No. Key Players. Full Play By Play. Field Goal McGrath 32 yard field goal attempt is good Center-M. Salansky Holder-P. Touchdown Richardson pass complete to TEN Catch made by K. Zipperer at TEN Gain of 44 yards.
Point After TD Hooker pass complete to FLA 1. Catch made by B. McCoy at FLA 1. Gain of 1 yards. Hooker pass complete to FLA Catch made by J. Small at FLA Gain of 16 yards. Richardson rushed to TEN 1 for 0 yards. Tackled by J. Banks at TEN 1. The Replay Official reviewed the runner broke the plane and the play was overturned.
Missed Two Point Conversion Richardson steps back to pass. Richardson pass incomplete intended for FLA. Richardson pass complete to TEN 3. Catch made by R. Pearsall at TEN 3. Gain of 3 yards. Thrown 1 0 Punts – Avg Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN. Offense Defense Special Teams. Richardson 15 QB. Etienne 7 RB. Wright 5 RB. Johnson Jr. Shorter 4 WR. Pearsall 1 WR. Henderson 3 WR. Zipperer 9 TE. Whittemore 14 WR. Zanders 18 TE. Chiaokhiao-Bowman 16 WR. Torrence II 22 S. Burney 2 LB. Miller 51 LB.
McClellan 7 DL. James 6 LB. Dean III 0 S. Johnson 16 S. Reese 4 LB. Williams 17 LB. Boone 12 DL. Umanmielen 33 DL. Watson 21 DL. Dexter Sr. Sapp 94 DL. Wilson 5 S. Moore 28 CB. Marshall Jr. Powell-Ryland Jr. Cox Jr. Mihalek 49 K. Crawshaw 26 P. Hooker 5 QB. Small 2 RB.
Gators vs tennessee.Tennessee football score vs. Florida Gators: Live game updates from Neyland Stadium
Florida and Tennessee were placed in the SEC’s East Division and have met on a home-and-home basis every season since. Their rivalry quickly blossomed in intensity and importance in the s and early s as both programs regularly fielded national championship contending teams under coaches Phil Fulmer of Tennessee and Steve Spurrier at Florida.
Tennessee dominated the rivalry’s early years, winning the first ten meetings and holding a 13—2 lead in the series after beating the Gators in Florida has held the advantage since then, especially since the schools became SEC East rivals in Florida and Tennessee’s football teams first met in , when both schools were members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Despite these common affiliations, a true rivalry did not develop between the programs for a long time because they played so sparingly. For many years, the SEC allowed schools to arrange their own conference schedules, which sometimes resulted in unusual or imbalanced conference slates that varied according to traditional opponents and each athletic department’s travel budget. The University of Tennessee is located in Knoxville and the University of Florida is in Gainesville , which are approximately miles apart.
Between the cost and time required to travel by train and the fact that the SEC did not require members to play each other very often, the two schools met on the gridiron only thirteen times between and Of those thirteen games, seven were played in Knoxville, two were played in Gainesville, and four were played in other locations in Florida.
The SEC became a member league in the lates, and a new scheduling system had the Gators and Vols play seven times over the next 21 seasons. The SEC became a member league in and split into two divisions. Florida and Tennessee have played on the third Saturday of September almost every year since , giving the rivalry its nickname.
In many seasons, it has been the first significant challenge of the season for one or both teams and has given the winner a head start in the race for a berth in the SEC Championship Game. Notable exceptions to the usual scheduling came in , when the game was postponed until December 1 due to the September 11 terrorist attacks , and in , when the COVID pandemic delayed the start of the season and shifted the Florida—Tennessee game to December 5.
As long-time members of the same conference, Tennessee and Florida have long competed in many other sports besides football. Men’s basketball in particular became a heated rivalry for a time in the mid- to lates, when coach Bruce Pearl ‘s Volunteer squads challenged coach Billy Donovan ‘s national championship-winning Gator teams for supremacy in the SEC’s Eastern Division. In general, it has been the schools’ football rivalry which has consistently received more attention from fans and media over the years.
Tennessee dominated the early series, winning their first 10 meetings with Florida over a span of 37 years — The highlight of this period was a season-ending matchup between undefeated squads in Knoxville that the Volunteers won 13— Florida finally beat Tennessee in , winning 14—0 in Knoxville, but Tennessee won the return visit to Gainesville the following year, which was the first time that the teams played at Florida Field.
Florida and Tennessee would not meet again for fourteen years, the longest gap in the series. They next faced off in the Gator Bowl. In that highly unusual post-season matchup between conference foes, Florida won , then hired away the Tennessee’s head coach, former Gator quarterback Doug Dickey. Tennessee won their first two clashes against Dickey’s Gators, and Florida won the next two, including a victory in Gainesville that was their first home win against the Vols in four tries.
Dickey resigned as Florida’s coach after the season, ending a largely disappointing tenure at Florida and eventually returning to Knoxville in to become Tennessee’s athletic director.
Florida ran their win streak over Tennessee to four games over nine seasons with wins in Knoxville and Gainesville in and as they topped the SEC standings in both years. Though SEC’s executive committee had initially ruled that Florida could keep their first ever conference championship, the university presidents later overturned the decision and vacated the title.
Florida President Marshall Criser and the university community were incensed by this reversal, and many blamed the University of Tennessee for leading the movement to strip UF’s first conference championship. Tennessee and Florida rotated back onto each other’s schedule in , which was coincidentally the same year that former Florida quarterback Steve Spurrier returned to Gainesville as the Gators’ new head coach.
Spurrier had spent most of his youth in Tennessee, and his return to the state was marred by a Vols rout in , the largest margin of victory in series history.
Florida won the return game in Gainesville in on their way to their first official conference championship. One result of the SEC’s expansion and split into divisions was the beginning of an annual match-up between Florida and Tennessee at a time when both programs rose to national prominence. As a result, Florida and Tennessee have met on a home-and-home basis every year since Under head coaches Steve Spurrier and Phillip Fulmer , the Gators and Volunteers were annual contenders for conference and national championships, with both teams usually fielding wide-open offenses led by top quarterbacks such as Danny Wuerffel and Peyton Manning , among many other highly decorated players on both sides of the ball.
Their first match-up as permanent opponents in helped to sow the seeds of rivalry, as the underdog Vols beat the defending SEC champion Gators in Neyland Stadium. Fulmer had been serving as UT’s interim head coach while Johnny Majors recovered from heart problems, but his team’s upset of the Gators helped to secure him the permanent position and brought about a decade of games in which the rivalry was one of the key match-ups of every college football season.
The Gators turned the tables and upset the Volunteers in , with true freshman Wuerffel outplaying Heisman trophy candidate Heath Shuler in a 41—34 win that was Fulmer’s first loss as Tennessee’s head coach. The rivalry held national championship implications over each of the following seasons, with both teams entering the contests ranked in the top 10 every year.
Though they were not always the favorite, Florida won five straight against Tennessee from to , winning four SEC titles and a consensus national championship in The , , and contests featured match-ups between starting quarterbacks Danny Wuerffel and Peyton Manning, who never beat Florida during his celebrated college career. Tennessee broke Florida’s winning streak in with a 20—17 overtime win and went on to win their second straight SEC championship and a national championship.
In , Florida upset the Vols in Gainesville to close out the decade. During the s, Florida and Tennessee combined to win eight conference and two national championships, and either the Gators or the Volunteers represented the SEC East in each of the first ten SEC Championship games. Both teams were ranked in the top 10 for eight out of their ten contests during the decade, and neither team ever entered their rivalry game ranked lower than No. Florida held a 7—3 record against Tennessee from to Florida began the next decade with a 27—23 victory in Knoxville in front of a national record crowd of , fans.
During the following season, the September 11, terrorist attacks postponed all NCAA Division-I football games that were scheduled to be played on the following Saturday. The Florida and Tennessee match-up was rescheduled for December, and the Vols upset the Gators in Gainesville, winning on Florida Field for the first time since Steve Spurrier left Florida for the NFL after the season, but two trends in the rivalry continued in both teams were ranked in the top 10, and new Florida coach Ron Zook led the Gators to another win in Knoxville.
The contest would be the last time to date in which both schools would enter their annual clash ranked in the top For the first time since the division rivalry began 11 years earlier, the match-up featured UF and UT teams that were each ranked out of the top 10 UT No.
Tennessee pulled away in the second half to win 24—10 for their second victory in Gainesville. The Vols were victorious against Florida again in for their 2nd straight win against Florida and their third victory in four meetings. Ron Zook was fired during the season, and new Gator coach Urban Meyer put an emphasis on defending their home turf.
Florida’s 16—7 home win over Tennessee in helped to revive the program and started a Gator win streak in the rivalry that would span over a decade. Florida won 30—6 in Knoxville in on their way to another SEC and national championship season.
After Tennessee recorded its second losing season within a four-year span, Fulmer resigned as the Vols’ head coach.
Lane Kiffin replaced Fulmer as Tennessee’s coach in He verbally sparred with Gators coach Urban Meyer in the months leading up to their first meeting, but the Gators beat the Volunteers in Gainesville in , and Kiffin left Tennessee after the season.
Urban Meyer left Florida after the season, and while the program suffered through sub-par seasons under coach Will Muschamp who was the Gators’ coach from to their win streak over Tennessee continued during the first half of the decade.
The Volunteers simultaneously suffered through some sub-par seasons of their own under coaches Derek Dooley Tennessee’s coach from to and Butch Jones who arrived in The Gators ran their series win streak to eleven with a 28—27 comeback win in Gainesville in , the first year under newly appointed head coach Jim McElwain. The and would also feature second half comebacks. Tennessee came back from a first half deficit in to beat the Gators and end Florida’s series-long winning streak at 11 games, and Florida won in with a Hail Mary pass on the last play of the game.
While the rivalry was still important to both schools, it lacked its previous national impact and attention during the first half of the decade. In , both Tennessee and Florida failed to qualify for a bowl game during the same season for the first time since In and , both teams came into their game unranked, something that had not happened since the s. Both programs showed glimmers of improvement in the middle of the decade under coaches McElwain and Jones.
However, both the Gators and Vols faded to losing records in , and both programs dismissed their once-promising head coaches before the end of the season. Florida’s series win streak grew to five before Tennessee won in Knoxville in in what marked the first time in six years that both teams came into their rivalry game ranked in the AP top Though it is common for college coaches to switch allegiances as their careers progress, Tennessee and Florida’s football programs have had a remarkably complicated web of personnel connections over the years, mostly centering around Doug Dickey.
Dickey was raised in Gainesville, where his father was a professor at UF, and he walked on to Florida’s football team under head coach and athletic director Bob Woodruff , who had played football at Tennessee under coach Robert Neyland. Though Dickey began his college career as a reserve defensive back , he was named the Gators’ starting quarterback before his senior season of and led the team to their first bowl victory.
Graves was born and raised in Knoxville and was named captain of Tennessee’s team under Coach Neyland. Woodruff returned to Tennessee after leaving Florida and became UT’s athletic director in following the death of Neyland. One of his first major decisions was to hire his former player Doug Dickey as Tennessee’s head football coach.
Dickey enjoyed several years of success at Tennessee, leading the Vols to two SEC championships and five straight bowl appearances. He controversially returned to Gainesville after accepting an offer to become Florida’s head coach only days after the Gators and Volunteers met in the Gator Bowl.
In , Doug Dickey gave Steve Spurrier his first opportunity to coach when he hired the former star player as an offensive assistant. However, Dickey was unable to maintain the same level of success at Florida as he had at Tennessee, and Graves fired him after the season.
Dickey retired in , after which he returned to Florida to live near family in Jacksonville. Coming into their regular season finale, the Gators under head coach Charlie Bachman held an 8—0 record and had outscored their opponents by a nation-leading margin of — In what would become a trend in the series, controversy swirled around the contest. By all accounts, the playing surface had been a muddy mess. Some form Florida claimed that the home team had watered down the field in an effort to slow down the speedy Gator stars, including halfback Red Bethea , quarterback Clyde Crabtree , and ends Dutch Stanley and Dale Van Sickel , who was the program’s first All-American.
The teams would not become regular opponents for decades, and the Gators would not earn its first victory over the Vols for nearly a quarter century. In the final game in the playing career of Volunteer quarterback and future Hall of Fame coach Bobby Dodd , Tennessee defeated Florida in Jacksonville, 13—6.
Buddy Hackman scored both of UT’s touchdowns, one on a trick play devised by the senior quarterback. When the ball was snapped, it was placed on the ground unattended. The players ran in one direction. Then the center returned, picked up the ball, and waltzed to the winning touchdown.
However, they were invited to play in the Gator Bowl , setting up a rare all-SEC bowl matchup and the only time the squads have faced off outside of the regular season. The expected high-scoring battle featuring UF’s “Super Sophs” passing attack against UT’s powerful ground game led by quarterback Bobby Scott never materialized, [16] as both defenses were superb in the Gators’ 14—13 win. Quarterback John Reaves connected with wide receiver Carlos Alvarez for the Gators’ only offensive touchdown, and the Gator defense stopped the Vols at Florida’s one-yard line late in the game to preserve the victory.
Fittingly, the game’s MVP was a defensive player — Florida linebacker Mike Kelley, who had an interception, a fumble recovery, a blocked punt recovered for a TD, a sack, and 17 tackles.
The Gator Bowl is remembered less for the actual game then for the coaching changes and rumors of coaching changes that surrounded the contest. Throughout December , rumors had been circulating that Florida’s head coach and athletic director Ray Graves , who had been the captain of Tennessee’s football team, would retire from coaching at the conclusion of the season to become UF’s full-time AD.
The situation intensified in the days preceding the game when word leaked out that Vol head coach Doug Dickey , who had been Florida’s starting quarterback in the early s and had grown up in Gainesville, planned to leave UT and replace Graves at UF after their respective teams met in the Gator Bowl.
O’Connell continued to deny that personnel changes were imminent, with Graves stating that “there is utterly no truth to the rumor. The teams did not meet very often in the SEC schedule, but following Georgia Tech’s departure, the regular season rotation coincidentally had them facing off in Knoxville the following October.
UT fans, who denounced Dickey as a “traitor”, eagerly anticipated the match-up and were not disappointed, as the Vols beat his new Florida squad 38—7 behind quarterback Bobby Scott’s then-school record passing yards. Steve Spurrier returned to his alma mater in to become the Gators’ head football coach. In yet another link between the programs, Spurrier had been a star quarterback at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee during the early s.
Although Knoxville is nearby, he did not seriously consider attending UT because he was an excellent passer and the Vols ran a single-wing offense at the time which featured a running quarterback.
Although Tennessee and Florida did not appear on each other’s schedule during Spurrier’s college playing career, he had returned to Knoxville as a head coach in , when his Duke Blue Devils upset the Vols 31— Florida was 5—0 and ranked No. The game began as a defensive struggle, with UT holding a slim 7—3 lead at the half. However, the Vols’ Dale Carter returned the second half kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown, igniting the home crowd at Neyland Stadium.
The opportunistic Vols took full advantage, turning Spurrier’s homecoming and, coincidentally, Tennessee’s homecoming game into a 45—3 rout, the largest margin of victory in series history. In the week before the game, media reports began circulating that former UT assistant coach Jack Sells, who had been fired before that season for his role in recruiting violations, had allegedly faxed information about the Vol’s offensive gameplan to UF defensive coordinator Ron Zook , himself a former Tennessee assistant.
At first, Zook denied receiving any information, but he soon clarified his statement and said that Sells had sent him a fax of “newspaper clippings” about the upcoming game. Florida won the contest 35—18 behind yards and three touchdowns from Gator quarterback Shane Matthews and five Vol turnovers, but the “faxgate” controversy continued after the final whistle. The employee had saved the fax cover sheet, which detailed a transmission sent three days before the UF—UT game by a “Jack Sells” to a “Ron Zook” at a Gainesville telephone number.
Head coaches Johnny Majors and Steve Spurrier downplayed the incident, and although Tennessee athletic director and former Gator quarterback and head football coach Doug Dickey expressed concern about Sells’ actions, Spurrier later said that he and Dickey spoke about the incident on the phone and “laughed about it”.
For his part, Fulmer later admitted that the UT staff had copies of the Gators’ offensive playbooks at the time.
Jack Sells, the person at the center of the incident, left the coaching profession and successfully sued Kinko’s for privacy violations, though he temporarily moved out of the state of Tennessee after being assaulted by an angry Vols fan in Chattanooga. He was reluctant to talk about “Faxgate” during his tenure at UF —04 , though when asked, he admitted that Sells’ infamous transmission had actually been a set of hand-drawn Volunteer offensive plays.
However, Zook insisted that they “were so immaterial, and it made no difference and had no relevance, it was nothing.
For the third time in five seasons, the No. The squads featured talented young quarterbacks in UT sophomore Peyton Manning and UF junior Danny Wuerffel , and many pregame prognosticators accurately predicted an offense shootout, with Sports Illustrated planning on putting Manning on the cover of their magazine the week after the game.
The Vols struck quickly. On the first play from scrimmage, Manning connected with receiver Joey Kent for a yard gain.
On the next play, Manning threw a touchdown pass to Marcus Nash , giving UT a 7—0 lead only 15 seconds into the game. That would be the beginning of a historic run, as Florida scored 48 straight points despite a torrential second half downpour and won in a 62—37 rout.
Many records were broken in the game: Wuerffel threw an SEC record six touchdown passes; Tennessee set school records for most points scored in a loss and most points given up in the modern era. Florida would go 12—0 through the regular season and the SEC Championship Game and played for the national championship in the Fiesta Bowl , losing in a blowout to Nebraska.
Tennessee would not lose another game all season, finishing 11—1 after a Citrus Bowl victory over Ohio State. The schools finished No. The Coaches’ Poll was another cause of controversy. Two coaches had voted the Gators out of their top ten, allowing the Vols to slip above them in the final rankings. Since the ballots were submitted secretly, the coaches in question were never identified, but some in the UF program suggested that UT’s coach Fulmer had purposely skewed his ballot to improve his team’s ranking at the expense of their rival.
Fulmer insisted that he had not voted Florida out of his top ten, but did admit that he had ranked them behind his own team. Once again, the late September matchup between Tennessee and Florida found both teams ranked in the top 5, with the Volunteers ranked No.
The game was played in newly expanded Neyland Stadium, and an NCAA record crowd of over , were in attendance for one of the most highly anticipated games of the college football season.
The tone for the game was set on the Florida’s first possession, when the Gator drive stalled and they faced a 4th down and 10 from the UT 35 yard line.
Not wanting to attempt a long field goal in the steady rain, and, spurning the punt team, coach Steve Spurrier decided to leave his offense on the field. On the ensuing play, quarterback Danny Wuerffel connected with Reidel Anthony on a post route over the middle for a touchdown that put the Gators up 7—0 and stunned the Volunteer crowd. UF doubled its lead in a second stretch early in the 2nd quarter, as Ike Hilliard and Jacquez Green became the third and fourth different receivers with touchdown receptions on the afternoon, sandwiched around a James Bates interception of Manning.
Anthone Lott’s yard fumble return stretched the lead to 35—0, before Manning finally got UT on the scoreboard before halftime on a yard strike to Peerless Price. With the Gators switching to a more conservative game plan in the second half, Tennessee cut the lead to 35—22 with 8 minutes left with 2 more touchdown tosses, including a second to Price.
Andy McCellough’s yard reception brought the Vols within 35—29 with 10 seconds left, but Florida recovered the ensuing onside kick to secure the six-point victory. Manning threw for passing yards on 65 attempts both school records and four touchdowns on the day, but also tossed four interceptions.
During the mids, the second highest ranked SEC squad was usually invited to play in the Citrus Bowl after the season. If they can maintain a high standard of play, this is a Volunteer team that can be very dangerous. The numbers confirm the eye test for both teams. Florida has really struggled with consistency through the first quarter of the season. The Tennessee offense is top 20 in yards per play, available yards percentage, and explosive plays. For Florida to win this game, they will likely need to extend drives.
The Gators will also need to get the Tennessee offense off the field when the opportunity arises. Long drives coupled with that high pace will lead to a very tired defense in the fourth quarter. Third down will be extremely important this week. Florida has struggled with third downs on both sides of the ball so far this year. Surprisingly, the Tennessee offense has not been stellar on third downs — but their defense has been lights out. Florida is, on average, starting the ball on its own Tennessee, on the other hand, starts on average at around its 33, which is the top third nationally.
A lot of these numbers tie into each other, but average starting field position may be a good metric to follow this week. If Florida wins that battle, then maybe the defense forced some three-and-outs, maybe the offense put some drives together, or maybe a Tennessee turnover gave Florida a short field. If you want your best 11 in on offense, you probably need to put the guys wearing No. I would imagine we see a good bit of man coverage from the Tennessee defense.
If you can, I tip my cap to you. In their game against Pitt, Tennessee was in man on Tennessee also blitzed on I would expect the Vols to stay aggressive against Florida. As far as counters are concerned: Maybe we see a screen early from Florida to try and slow down this Vol defense and take advantage of the man coverage?
The Tennessee offense has its roots in the Briles system. They love to push the ball down the field vertically. But there is also a pretty good run game almost hidden in there. That split was also seen for the Vols last season: In their seven wins, Tennessee ran the ball for yards per game, while in losses, the Vols ran for I would expect Florida to be aggressive in coverage and play some more man coverage.
Another interesting wrinkle to follow is how much Tennessee uses motion. They have been using motion on only 10 percent of snaps this season, which is well below the national average.