Pregame Jaws
Florida is 23-4 in the third game of the season since 1980. The losses were at Tennessee in 1998, at Mississippi State in 1992, at Syracuse in 1991, and to Alabama in 1986. So, in general Florida does not lose the third game of the year if it’s at home.
Florida and Tennessee began playing each other the third game of the season in 1993, at which point UF went on a 5 game winning streak. Florida again won in 1999 and 2000. In 2001, the Tennessee had been scheduled for the third game, but was postponed to the end of the season due to 9/11. In 2002 and 2003, Florida did not play Tennessee until the fourth game because those were the trial years of the 12-game schedule, and Florida added Miami to the usual two “exhibition” games at the beginning before conference play. In 2004, Tennessee was again scheduled to be third but it was actually played as the second game due to a Hurricane Francis postponing the Middle Tennessee State game. Tennessee returned to the third spot on the schedule in 2005.
Urban Meyer Fanfare
Urban Meyer has never lost the third game of a season, going a perfect 6-0. At Bowling Green, he defeated Temple 42-23 and Kansas 39-16 in 2001 and 2002. At Utah, he defeated California 31-24 and Utah State 48-6 in 2003 and 2004. At Florida, he has defeated Tennessee twice, by scores of 16-7 in 2005 and 21-20 in 2006.
Orange and Blue
Or in the case of this weekend, just blue. Urban Meyer has requested all Florida fans wear blue to drown out the Tennessee orange. It should create a cool orange and blue effect in the stands, and it will only add to the atmosphere of the Swamp. Urban said it will be for recruiting purposes, and I think he’ll get the impressive atmosphere he wants.
Men of Florida
Tim Tebow and again Brandon Spikes and Dustin Doe were the real Men of Florida last week. Tebow put up over 300 yards of total offense himself, and is running the offense at very high efficiency. Spikes lead the defense with 9 tackles and a sack if memory serves me correctly, and Doe had 9 tackles, one for a loss, and a fumble recovery. Those three men will be the most important players on the field for Florida because the offense must score a lot since Tennessee will, and the linebackers will need to step up in run coverage because the defensive line is getting no push this year.
Chimes/Alma Mater
For details in this category, see the prior post called The Florida-Tennessee Relationship.
Boys March
The boys of old Florida should be doing a lot of marching up and down the field. Percy Harvin is the healthiest he’s been this year, Cornelius Ingram is catching everything thrown at him and always getting yards after contact, Kestahn Moore has shown some flashes of being a feature back, Riley Cooper will be going deep, and Tim Tebow is the straw that stirs the drink. Fans of Neanderthal offense or Big Ten offense (is there a difference?) should avert their eyes and watch Notre Dame – Michigan on ABC instead.
Gators Spell Out
G: Gaines, Antonio
Antonio Gaines, one of Tennessee’s starting cornerbacks, is out for the season now with a torn ACL. That’s a blow to the already shaky Volunteers’ pass defense.
A: Andre Caldwell
Yes, Florida lost Andre Caldwell for the game, but Florida has more offensive weapons than Tennessee has pass defenders, and the Vols are already 86th against the pass this year. Still, the loss of his senior leadership on the field could hurt. Don’t worry, though, he’ll be very involved on the sideline.
T: Tennessee Fans
Tennessee fans are coming to town this weekend, and it’s not going to be pleasant. While there are some perfectly reasonable Vols out there, they are not the ones that you notice. You notice more the jerks that drive laps through campus blaring “Rocky Top” out their windows shouting “Go Vols!” at 8:15 in the morning (which I personally witnessed in 2003). Wear sunglasses at all times to avoid scarring from Tennessee orange.
O: Offense
The Florida offense has a chance to put up a lot of numbers in a legendary performance this Saturday. Or, it can sputter like it did in the third quarter against Troy as a young unit seizes up in its first true test against a conference rival. Which will happen? I am leaning towards the former, but the latter is definitely not out of the question.
R: Rush Defense
Florida’s rushing defense will have a severe test this week, facing Arian Foster, Montario Hardesty, and the now-healthy LaMarcus Coker. Phil Fulmer said that he is going to try to run the ball, as he always does, and if the Gator defensive line can’t get any more push up the middle than it has gotten in the last two games, Tennessee could control the game if it can get its running game working well.
S: Shootout
Everyone is saying it, and it will probably be true: this game will be a shootout. It definitely is a shootout on paper, but I have a feeling that this is a case when the conventional wisdom is so overwhelming that it can’t possibly come true. Then again, there’s not much either defense has done that inspires confidence.
Suwannee
Brandon James flowed right through the Troy special teams coverage live a river last week, but he tweaked his ankle in the process. Florida really need him to be healthy to help in the field position battle because Jarred Fayson has been awful as a return man and Chris Rainey won’t see the field as long as he keeps fumbling.
Tunnels
Tennessee is coming in confident in the way its offense matches up against Florida’s defense, and Phil Fulmer needs to make a statement that he can beat Urban Meyer. Florida is coming in looking to prove itself against real top competition and show that it deserves its top ten ranking. Also, there is still an element out there looking to see if Urban Meyer’s “real” spread option offense can work in the SEC since we still haven’t seen it against SEC competition yet. All in all, it should be one of the best games in the series we’ve seen yet.
Posted by year2 
