The last several years have been an emotional roller coaster ride for the University of Tennessee football program and its fans. That emotional roller coaster is coming to boiling point this weekend as they host the Florida Gators in Knoxville. The program and its fan base is going all in on this game – and that’s both a great indication of things to come and a dangerous proposition.
Tennessee Goes All In Against Florida
The road to this moment has been long and hard. We’ve covered the painful past previously in this column, but to recap: four straight 7-loss seasons, four different coaches in six seasons, attendance woes, and financial concerns in the athletic department. All of that coincides with nine straight loses to SEC East rival Florida. Needless to say a once proud fan base is starved for a return to better days.
Enter Butch Jones. Jones has revitalized the football program and, with new Athletic Director Dave Hart, has helped revitalize the entire Tennessee Athletic Department. Jones was a welcome addition to Knoxville after the tumultuous split between Tennessee and Phillip Fulmer, the Baltimore Colt-esque midnight departure of the current Alabama offensive coordinator, and the ultimately unsuccessful Derek Dooley years. Jones has brought energy to the program and has brought in incredible talent to the program in his two years of recruiting; even more impressive for program with the aforementioned four 7-loss seasons. Tennessee fans love Jones and are salivating at the idea of the talent he could recruit at Tennessee with eight, nine or ten wins.
Jones’ energy, recruiting efforts, and coaching has translated into a much improved team. Tennessee’s performances in their Week 3 match-ups from 2013 to 2014 – where they were totally outclassed against Oregon and played competitive against Oklahoma – coupled with a near defeat of Georgia in Athens last week has caused the fan base to accelerate their expectations. The fan base is no longer interested in close wins or moral victories. They see the potential for wins against quality opponents like Florida, South Carolina or Missouri. Jones has also landed two 5-star high school recruits this week in addition to an already Top 5 class, just in case the fan base wasn’t fired up enough already.
The energy has translated to Game Day as well. Tennessee is trying to #CheckerNeyland this week. Their Circle of Life and Third Down for What game day additions have fired up the crowd. The student section is responding to Jones’ challenge to show up early and show up loud. The Vol coaching staff spends so much time on social media one is left to wonder when they find the time to recruit all of these talented high school players. Even Lil’ John asked the program to “holla at your boy” on Twitter this weekend.
Enter Florida. Coming off Tennessee’s near defeat of Georgia – a game they easily could have won – the fans are rabid with an expectation to beat Florida. While Tennessee’s historic rivalry is with Alabama, Vol fans have a special dislike for Florida. It started when a hometown Knoxville kid named Steve Spurrier went to Florida and won a Heisman. Many Tennessee fans think Tennessee would have won one or two more national championships in the 1990s were it not for the September tilts against Florida. And Tennessee hasn’t beaten Florida in nine years.
This weekend puts the past right next to present. The Tennessee program, along with its fan base has went all in for this game. It seems that everyone, coaches, players, and fans are completely emotionally invested in this game. They’ve spent the early part of the season establishing their identity – the performance against Georgia went along way to accomplishing that – and they seem ready to take the next step.
But with great opportunity comes great risk. If Tennessee can defeat Florida, not only will they exorcise some past demons, but they will set themselves up for a strong finish to the season. With UT-Chattanooga coming in the following week, a win against Florida should put the Vols a the mid-season with a 4-2 record. They would only need two victories against Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina to become bowl eligible and could be competitive against Ole Miss. A win against Florida puts a 7-5 season with a bowl berth in play. A loss, however, is devastating. Not only would it be ten in a row against their primary SEC East rival, but it wouldn’t help the recruiting in Florida. It would put the Vols at the mid-season mark at 3-3 and require wins against Vanderbilt and Kentucky and an upset against either Missouri, South Carolina, or Ole Miss just to get to 6-6 and into a bowl.
Tennessee has thus far shown that they know how to play in the SEC. Saturday, we will see if they can learn how to win. This game will be as much about Florida as it is about Tennessee. Both teams are talented and both teams have the ability to win this game. Tennessee comes in with tons of emotional energy and momentum. Florida travels to a tough environment with pressure on the offense, especially quaterback Jeff Driskel, and a cloud over head coach Will Muschamp. In college football, things like this still matter. Add to it a noon start on the road and Florida looking down the barrel at a schedule of LSU, Missouri, and Georgia following this game. A Florida loss here with that upcoming schedule and the Gators could easily be staring 2-5 in the face come November.
Considering all this, it’s not hard to see how the Vols will have the advantage in this game. But they must leverage that advantage and get off to a fast start. Allowing the Gators to hang in the game until the fourth will bring back some very bad memories for Vol fans. Saturday will be a day where Tennessee either keeps walking in the shadow of the past few years or takes the step forward towards the future of the program that players and coaches and, especially, fans have been waiting for for several years. Expect Tennessee to be waltzing towards success when the clock hits zero.
Prediction: Tennessee 31, Florida 20
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