The orange-suited one and his evil minions pay a visit to the O’Dome today. As Florida readies for what many assume will be a surefire loss, an entire Nation holds its collective breath.

If UF somehow pulls out the upset after 40 minutes, they make the tournament no matter what they do. Simply put, they notch up a second marquee win on their schedule, but not just any marquee win. It’s a marquee win against a probable NCAA #1 seed; so if they’re able to beat Tennessee, who’s to say that they can’t beat anyone else in the Big Dance?

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Congrats to Tennessee, a powerful team that is simply better and more experienced than our Gators right now.

I don’t care for the final score of 104-82. It does not express the true character of this game, which is that our guys hung tough and fought tooth and nail in a hotly-contested game for 36 minutes. When Chris Lofton sank a trey to make it a 14-point lead with 4 minutes and change remaining, it looked an awful lot like our kids gave up, which was disappointing.

But don’t forget, they had a road game at Arky, recuperated Sunday, practiced Monday then had to be in Knoxville for the 9 o’clock tip Tuesday night. That’s an extremely short turnaround for two road games and I think the game got out of hand when the Gators simply ran out of gas. I realized how tired they were when a wide-open Nick Calathes airballed a 3-pointer late in the second half.

Most expected Florida would go 1-3 — or 2-1 at best — in the three game stretch which included Vandy, Arkansas and now Tennessee. The 1-2 scenario held.

I think we’ll be okay. We’ve got a three game stretch coming up which offers the Gators a strong chance to go 2-1 or even 3-0. Georgia and LSU both come to visit and then it’s off to Nashville to take on Vandy in their ass-backwards gym.

That’s followed up by a home game against South Carolina — always a dangerous team, but it should be a W — which could be Florida’s 3rd or 4th win. That’d have the Gators notching 21 or 22 wins with games remaining @ Georgia, Mississippi State (home), Tennessee (home) and the season-ender @ Kentucky. If we go 2-2 in that stretch we’re at 24 wins. Win an SEC tourney game and we could have 25. We’re going to go dancing this year and we’ll have a decent seed to boot, so overall I’m still really happy with this team and how they’ve matured throughout this season.

Don’t forget that some pundits were predicting Florida couldn’t win 20 games this year. Donovan has done a marvelous job with this group.

That still gives me goosebumps. It’s better than Gene Hackman in Hoosiers, better than Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday. Definitely better than anything Bob Knight ever served up. (Good riddance!)

Unfortunately, an impassioned pre-game speech by Donovan is unlikely to be enough to span the distance necessary between a very good Tennessee squad and our young team. At least not on the road. The Vols are beatable, but it will take a perfect game from the Gators to do it.

If Florida leaves it all on the court and plays hard for forty minutes, I’ll be happy.

Prediction: Tennessee 71, Florida 60.

Florida stays in the ESPN/USA Today poll at #22. That’s either a sign of respect for this team or for Arkansas (or both) because they sure didn’t look like they belonged in the Top 25 last Saturday.

The Vols are up next. I’m not predicting a victory, but I wanna see ‘em play hard. Tennessee looks too tough to handle right now.

Cheer up, Phil… it’ll only get worse

While many seem to be looking at this year’s Outback Bowl as another showcase for the SEC versus the Big 10, I wholeheartedly disagree. Vegas might have the Volunteers as more than a field goal favorite, but I’d be surprised if Tennessee was within seven points of the Badgers by the time all is said and done. Don’t get me wrong, I root for SEC teams in all the bowls but if Tennessee wins, I’d be more than pleasantly surprised; I’d be shocked.

Let’s look at this scenario. On one hand we have a young, mistake prone and distracted team in Knoxville facing a slightly more mature, disciplined and focused Badger team. Tennessee is one of the softest teams in the SEC with a porous defense that managed to push the old “bend but don’t break” cliché to the very limit. The Vols’ success this season rested entirely on the production and leadership of senior quarterback Erik Ainge and the offensive mind of David Cutcliffe. Ainge will enter a game a seasoned veteran but will also be thinking about his NFL future while Cutcliffe is coaching his last game with the Vols before taking over the head coaching position at Duke.

Fulmer found himself under the gun all season by those who dearly wanted this to be his swan song. Several other coaches could end up leaving for new opportunities after this bowl game much like rats jumping from a sinking ship as the closure of the Fulmer era seems to be more a matter of “when” than “if“. Given all this staff turmoil Tennessee has also seen two starters from its much maligned and suspect defense suspended with four other players also deemed academically ineligible. On the flip side, rumors from Madison are that PJ Hill, one of the nation’s top and most physical running backs, will be able to play in the game. (more…)

As we lead up to Kentucky’s impending beatdown at the hands (claws?) of our beloved Florida Gators on Saturday, it’s important to remember our less fortunate SEC brethren. These are teams who were passed up by CBS for their Game of the Week, passed up by ESPN’s College Gameday and even missed out on the CSTV liferaft. Yup, Tennessee takes on Alabama on the lowest common denominator and worst time slot in all of college sports: Lincoln Financial’s 12:30 noon siesta kickoff, announced by the Triple Daves.

Not that this game isn’t important. Oh, no. No no no no no. Gator Nation would like to extend a hearty Roll Tide to our T-Town cousins. We want to get Tennessee’s second SEC loss over with sooner rather than later, so please remember that “there ain’t no lower class than Tennessee trash” as we cheer the Fightin’ Sabans on to victory over the Ainge Mange.

Trivia note: the guy in the car is Phil Fulmer’s brother! *

* Looks like him anyway.

We’ve all seen the headlines with pictures of Tennessee defenders lying on the ground like so many dead carcasses while opposing players run through on their way to touchdowns.  Tennessee is ranked 11th in the SEC in both passing and total defense, 9th in rushing defense and 12th in scoring defense.  Opponents are averaging 37.5 points a game against the dreaded Cream Kleenex defense and their average points allowed in SEC play (albeit just one game) is a paltry 59 points.  It’s hard to imagine that the defense could be much worse if Phat Phil waited for the Ringling Brothers Circus to come to town and forcibly pressed the show’s clowns into service as Volunteer starters.  At least in that scenario all eleven defenders could escape from angry fans in Knoxville in just one car.
 
This looks to be a record breaking season in Knoxville.  I don’t know if any SEC team has allowed 50 points per game but if there was ever a group assembled to establish that kind of record, this is it.  Tennessee is truly the one team in the land feared most by SCOREBOARD OPERATORS who cower in terror wondering if their equipment can handle the stress of near-constant score changes and the massive accumulation of statistical data.  In fact, I don’t know if any scoreboard in the country has been designed to show 4 digits for the calculation of an opponent’s offensive yardage but this might have to be addressed if Tennessee finally allows a team to amass MORE than 999 yards in a single game.
 
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) has always been known as a league of top athletes and stout defense.  So how does the mighty cream and tangerine compare nationally?  Well how does 110th out of 119 in terms of scoring defense grab ya?  Behind such traditional defensive juggernauts as Idaho, Temple, Tulane and Stanford.  What about Total Defense?  An impressive showing of 95th nationally.  Just ahead of the top flight defenders of Troy and Oklahoma State while falling just behind the stalwart defensive presence of Tulane, Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee State.  How about making plays on Special Teams?  Tennessee is dead last allowing just under 30 yards per punt return.  Perhaps going for it on 4th down isn’t such a bad option after all. 

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Meyer and Tim Tebow are laughing at you, Tennessee.

Sometimes it’s really fun grading out your team. Sometimes it’s painful.

Needless to say, this is a fun one… if you’re a Gator fan.

Running game

Florida picked up 255 yards on the ground. The yardage was distributed between Percy Harvin (75 yards, 8.3 YPC, 1 TD), Tim Tebow (61 yards, 3.4 YPC, 2 TD), Kestahn Moore (48 yards, 4.4 YPC) and Jarred Fayson, who picked up 29 yards on 3 carries — 9.7 yards per carry! Newton, James, Rainey and Walker got 42 yards in mop-up duty.

Urban Meyer yet again shows brilliance through simplicity. Not liking the look of Tennessee’s defensive line, he wore them down by simply running around them. Speed kills, and Meyer knows how to stick the dagger in. Tennessee didn’t have the speed to keep up with Percy Harvin on the perimeter, and the Gators’ ran a simple outside sweep to great effect, usually gashing for 7-8 yards or a first down on every try. If Harvin had the gas to do it, Florida could have run that play all day.

And of course the opportunistic Tim Tebow, the one man play-action, was just as effective as always, picking up yards wherever they were to be found. Final grade: A

Passing game

Deadly. This is what fans envisioned when Meyer left Utah for Florida. Tennessee had no idea how to cover Florida’s speedsters, and with Tim Tebow’s running threat, linebackers and safeties were forced to guess on every play whether they should drop into coverage or press the line of scrimmage. Tennessee was rarely able to get a stop on Florida after the first quarter, and their confusion on defense was evident. Little Timmy scorched the Vols’ secondary for 299 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT, again competing over 73% of his passes. He also threw several 40+ yard bombs and averaged 15.7 yards per reception… (!) His sole interception, a pick-six, came due to Riley Cooper’s errant route behind a cornerback. Final grade: A

Rushing defense

What more can you say when your first string holds Tennessee, whose chief pride is the ability to pound the football, to 22 total yards of rushing? Tennessee got zilch, nada, zero. Tennessee OC David Cutcliffe abandoned the run on third and short in the second quarter, electing to pass on 3rd down — even 3rd-and-one. Now that’s a scary good rush defense. Bonus: Dustin Doe scooping up Arian Foster’s fumble in Tennessee territory for a TD. Final grade: A+

Passing defense

Florida allowed Tennessee QB Erik Ainge to complete 63% of his passes for 261 yards and a TD. Considering that the Gators’ front line never really pressured a very accurate senior quarterback, that’s pretty impressive. A hallmark of Florida’s defense under Meyer is ‘bend don’t break’ as opposing teams can progress toward the red zone but rarely score. This defense is similar to last year’s in that the secondary give opponents the underneath passing option all game long, but when the ball gets to the 30, they stiffen and hold. The biggest weakness on defense, perhaps the entire team, is the lack of a pass rush. Overall, though, holding this Vol offense to one TD and two field goals was a great achievement. Final grade: B+

Special teams

Brandon James and the kickoff return team… wow. James scored a TD on his first return, and set up the Gators with great field position for the rest of the day, starting Florida at or beyond their own 34-yard line four out of five times. On the flip side, kickoff coverage wasn’t great, and there were no blocked punts. Still, when special teams puts up a touchdown, it’s hard to give them less than an A.

Coaching

Urban Meyer strapped Phil Fulmer to the operating table, whipped out his scalpel, and proceeded to carve Fulmer’s pride right out of its flabby receptacle. The game plan on offense and defense was a thing of beauty. In Fulmer’s defense, I doubt there’s a team in America that could have withstood this assault, executed the way it was by the fastest team in the country. Meyer and staff are collective geniuses from top to bottom, the best coaches in the business. Getting a 39-point win over your hated rival is a gift to be treasured and cherished. Thank you, coaches, thank you. A+

59-20. BOOM!

Anyone see that coming? Yeah, me neither.

This most glorious of days was historic for many reasons.

1) It’s the most lopsided Vols loss in the series.

2) Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin’s Heisman campaigns were launched.

3) Florida will never again ‘rebuild.’ We reload.

The defense, comprised mostly of freshmen and sophomores, was far better than anyone expected. The Vols were stuffed for 37 rushing yards (17 of which came against the second team in garbage minutes) and held to one offensive touchdown and two field goals. They were also held to multiple 3-and-outs, a 4th-down stop and made their footsteps felt by UT’s receivers.

The offense? Best we’ve seen since #7 last lined up under center.

Maybe — dare I say it — better.

Folks, this team isn’t about being ready for another title run next year. They’re about winning it again now.

The gulf between Tennessee and Florida is huge.

Tennessee’s junior defensive tackle, Demonte Bolden said it all after the game.  From InsideTennessee.com:

“Our pride was left on that field,” said Bolden, who was visibly shaking. “My pride was hurt. My pride is hurt – period. I hate losing. I came to Tennessee to win. Coaches get me prepared to win. I came here to win, man. I want to win. I’m sorry. That’s all I’ve got to say.”

He stopped briefly, but couldn’t hold back.

“I hate (bleeping) losing, just to be real honest,” Bolden fumed. “I hate (bleeping) losing. I can’t lose no more.”

Ouch.  My heart goes out to the kid.  Sort of.

Anyway, I expect we’ll see similar disparities when Florida plays Georgia and South Carolina.

This team is good, folks, on both sides of the ball. Scary good.

We are just beginning to scratch the fine surface of domination, as Trev Alberts said. More breakdown of the game later.

You think of the Tennessee-Florida game and you never think “easy victory.”

But did you know that Florida’s 30-year record over Tennessee is not too far behind their ‘total ownership’ of the Georgia Bulldogs in the WLOCP (World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party) series?

The Gators have won 15 games to Tennessee’s 6 in that span. (1990 marks the first year that the series was played annually.) From ‘76 to ‘85 the Gators won all four of the rivalry’s matchups. And from 1993 to 1997, at the height of Steve Spurrier’s demented powers, the Gators rolled Smokey uncharitably, winning games by lopsided amounts (31-0 in 1994 and 62-37 in 1995) before losing an OT game in Knoxville, 20-17, in 1998. The win fueled the Vols’ championship run of that year.

But in ‘99 and ‘00, the Gator victories continued. Coming into the 2001 matchup in Gainesville — postponed to early December due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks — Phil Fulmer had only managed two wins over the Gators during his tenure at Rocky Top. But he managed to send Steve Spurrier to the NFL on a sour note, winning 34-32. Fulmer also exorcised some Tennessee demons by providing the Vols with a win in the Swamp for the first time since 1971.

In 2002, Ron Zook shocked the Volunteer and Gator Nation alike by beating the highly ranked Vols in Knoxville. But in ‘03 and ‘04, the Zookified Gators dropped two consecutive games to Fulmer. Two wins in a row over Florida was a first for the Big Guy in Orange, and Tennessee fans ate it up like Phat Phil on a Krispy Kreme bender.
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