KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Florida fans calling for true freshman quarterback Treon Harris got their wish Saturday.
The Gators, in turn, got a huge victory.
Harris replaced starter Jeff Driskel late in the third quarter -- with his team down two scores -- and promptly led UF on a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives to surge UF to a stirring 10-9 comeback win over Tennessee before more than 102,000 bummed out, Big Orange fans at Neyland Stadium.
"Really proud of our football team," UF coach Will Muschamp said. "Wasn't always pretty, but we did what we had to do. Down nine on the road in the fourth quarter, we make a quarterback, and our guys didn't blink. They responded."
Senior Austin Hardin's 49-yard field goal with 6:20 remaining proved to be the difference in UF's lowest-scoring victory in 46 years.
Make that 10 straight wins for the Gators (3-1, 2-1) in their series with the Volunteers (2-3, 0-2) and a key mark on the "W" side in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division standings.
"A win is a win," sophomore lineback Jarrad Davis said. "In this league, you take 'em all however you can get 'em. We earned this one."
Harris completed just two of four passes for 17 yards, plus 24 yards rushing on four carries, but he led the Gators on their lone two scoring drives of the day -- in a very hostile setting -- and no doubt became the instant equivalent of, say, Russell Wilson in the eyes of the Gator Nation.
Driskel, meanwhile, struggled for his second straight game, going 11 of 23 for only 59 yards and three interceptions. Two of those picks came in the third period, which was enough for Muschamp to turn to Harris, the 5-foot-11, 190-pounder who led mighty Miami Booker T. Washington to a pair of state championships. Harris' introduction to SEC play came under fortuitous circumstances after classmate Jalen Tabor, a true freshman who made his first career start, sacked, stripped and recovered a fumble by UT quarterback Justin Worley at the Tennessee 30.
Harris led UF on a five-play, 30-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 2-yard run from Matt Jones, as the Gators made it a one-score game.
And, yes, Harris did throw a pass on his series; a nice 12-yard completion (with touch) to Jones for a first down.
"I didn't even know Treon was in the game at first," said junior offensive tackle D.J. Humphries, part of a line that was operating mostly on signals because of the crowd noise. "By the time we scored, I definitely knew then. I went up to him, patted him on the back and told him that's how you step up."
On the second Harris series, after a Vols punt, he marched his unit 49 yards in eight plays, with a 32-yard run by Jones, who had 114 yards on 23 carries, the big play. It gave Hardin a chance to give his team the lead with a career-long field goal attempt.
He piped it.
"I knew I'd make it," Hardin said.
So did his teammates.
"We believed. He makes those in practice all the time," sophomore safety Kean Neal said. "After that, it was the defense's game to win."
Sure enough, Tennessee had a chance to drive to the winning score, but Neal's diving interception with 51 seconds to play preserved the victory and capped a spectular overall effort by the UF defense. A week after Tennessee went to Georgia and rolled up 401 yards in a 35-32 loss, the Gators held the Vols to just 233 yards -- including just 29 on the ground -- and sacked quarterback Justin Worley six times to go with two interceptions. Four times UT penetrated the UF 20-yard line and came away with three field goals to show for it.
"We take great pride in scoring touchdowns and we weren't able to do that," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. "I think that's pretty much the storyline."
"It hurts a lot considering we had control of this game most of the time," Worley said after hitting 26 of his 39 throws for 205 yards. "Not being able to finish it out really hurts."
Three Aaron Medley field goals, including a pair of 39-yarders in the second half, had Tennessee in front 9-0 in the third period, with one of Driskel's two picks in the quarter setting up Medley's second field goal.
UT added its third field goal behind a 47-yard, eight-play drive late in the period.
Florida, meanwhile, was limited to just 145 yards on 54 plays until Harris entered the game and breathed life into the dormant Florida offense.
Before Harris, the Gators had gained just 155 yards on 55 plays -- 2.7 yards per play -- and were shut out in the first half for the first time in the series since 1955, a run of 32 games.
With Harris, Florida gained 19 yards on 85 plays: 4.5 per.
And yet Muschamp cautioned after the game that no decision about the future of the UF quarterback position (as in next week at home against LSU) would be made following such an emotional win.
"We're going to go home, we're going to watch the film and find out why we're not doing some things we feel like are there," he said.
They'll also enjoy a really nice win.
