Game Day: Florida at Vanderbilt, noon (ESPN)

Saturday, October 13

Nashville, TN

12:00 PM

Florida Gators

Vanderbilt

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The Gators are in Nashville in search of their 14th consecutive win at Vanderbilt. (File photo)

Game Day: Florida at Vanderbilt, noon (ESPN)

Saturday, October 13, 2018 | Football, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Earlier this season, the longest-running winning streak by one FBS program over another came to a crashing halt when Kentucky stopped its 31-game skid against Florida with an upset win at Gainesville. It was an historically dark day for the Gators, but they have since answered with four straight wins, while the Wildcats have proven a formidable player in the Southeastern Conference East Division.

There was once a time, not so long ago, that Florida enjoyed a considerably lengthy domination of Vanderbilt, another SEC East foe. The Gators had a run of 22 straight wins in the series when the Commodores came to town in 2013 and left with a 34-17 road win, an outcome that was part of a seven-game UF death spiral that ended with the team's first losing record since 1979.

The point?

As it hopes to do with Kentucky next season, Florida already has begun a new streak against Vandy, which is a trend that must continue if the program is to return to its status as an annual conference contender. In addition to four straight wins in the UF-VU series, the Gators (5-1, 3-1) have strung together four consecutive wins since that record-breaking loss against UK, and with a road win Saturday against the Commodores (3-3, 0-2) at Vanderbilt Stadium will remain very much a player in the 2018 SEC race.

[Read senior writer Scott Carter's comprehensive "Opening Kickoff' preview here]

Should UF take care of business at Vandy — the Gators have won 13 straight in Nashville, dating to 1992 — it will have an open date next week to further polish and fine tune before the Oct. 27 showdown against rival and currently No. 2 Georgia at Jacksonville, a game that would have huge league ramifications; certainly more than seemed likely a month ago when the Gators sat 0-1 in SEC play after that UK disappointment.

The Gators celebrated a 13th straight win at Vanderbilt in 2016, though by a narrow 13-6 score. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)

The talk in the Florida meeting rooms and on the practice field this week has been about continuing to build on the positive forward steps on display in Coach Dan Mullen's first season, a progression that last week reaped a huge 27-19 defeat of fifth-ranked LSU at Spurrier/Florida Field. In that one, the Gators had to come from behind in the fourth quarter with a clutch Feleipe Franks-engineered touchdown drive — one series after the Tigers took the lead and seemingly seized momentum — then leaned on a defense that forced a pair of interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) on LSU's last three possessions to ice the outcome.

A similar formula of mistake-free offense (UF is tied for third in the SEC in fewest turnovers with six) and opportunistic defense (the Gators lead the league in takeaways with 17) will serve Florida well on the road against a Vandy team that has struggled thus far in conference play but certainly is capable of putting things together for an afternoon.

Quarterback Kyle Shurmur (1,400 yards, 9 TDs), 4 INTs, tailback Ke'Shawn Vaughn (439 yards, 5 TDs) and wide receiver Kalija Lipscomb (SEC-best 45 catches, 6 TDs) are the playmakers on the league's eighth-ranked offense (398.7 yards per game) that will draw the most attention from UF's fourth-ranked defense (321.1 ypg).

On the other side of the ball, Franks (1,122 yards, 13 TDs, 4 INTs) needs to continue his incremental improvement, make the most of the UF running game (181.5 ypg) and keep capitalizing on field position (92 percent scoring efficiency in the red zone). When the offense bogs down, punter Tommy Townsend has been a tremendous bail-out weapon with both big and pin-point kicks, especially paired with the play of the defense.

For now, this season, this is the Florida blueprint for success.

And it's tough to find fault with the results.

Kickoff is set for noon on the ESPN, with Dave Pasch on play-by-play, Greg McElroy providing analysis and Tom Luginbill working the sideline. Replays will air Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN and 5 p.m. on SEC Network, then again Monday at noon and Thursday at 1 a.m., all on the SEC Network, plus also be available on the ESPN app and WatchESPN.com.

Click here for for a station list of the Gator IMG Sports Network broadcast, with pre-game coverage starting at 1 p.m.

Finally, follow senior staff writers Scott Carter and Chris Harry on Twitter (@GatorsScott and @GatorsChris) for commentary and analysis throughout the game. FloridaGators.com will have fresh coverage content late Saturday night and Sunday, as well. Click here for information to all Gators social media platforms.