A Year Later, Hail Mary Stirs Emotions in Gators-Vols Rivalry

Tyrie Cleveland heads to the locker room after his game-winning touchdown catch against Tennessee last season at the Swamp. (Photo: Matt Stamey/UAA Communications)

A Year Later, Hail Mary Stirs Emotions in Gators-Vols Rivalry

Wednesday, September 19, 2018 | Football, Scott Carter

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The images still resonate a year later. Depending on your allegiances, they stir very different reactions.

Flashback to the late afternoon of Sept. 16, 2017, and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium swirled as a whirlpool of emotions after Gators receiver Tyrie Cleveland hauled in a 63-yard touchdown catch from Feleipe Franks on the game's final play.

In an instant, a dramatic ending to a football game between Southeastern Conference rivals caused an eruption that littered Florida Field with human bodies.

Brandon Powell, standing over Cleveland, tugging at his teammate's jersey as Cleveland clutched the ball in the end zone. Nearby, Tennessee safety Micah Abernathy on both knees, overcome at the realization of what had just happened. In the immediate aftermath, pockets of similar scenes unfolded all around the field.

The Gators charged from the sideline to dogpile atop Cleveland, with punter Johnny Townsend taking a huge leap into the fray. Franks ran to the end zone in search of anyone to embrace. Tight end C'yontai Lewis flopped down and spread his arms out, staring toward the sky. Meanwhile, in one of the most memorable images of defeat, a Tennessee staffer crashed to the field along the Volunteers' sideline, his head buried into the ground.

Vols sideline (UF-Tennessee 2017) — A Tennessee staff collapses to ground at end of last year's Florida-Tennessee game. (File photo courtesy of Knoxville News Sentinel.

"It still gives me chills,'' Franks said this week.

In Knoxville, where the Gators and Vols tangle once again on Saturday at Neyland Stadium, the sentiment is of a different sort.

"I remember that moment vividly. It's a heartbreaking feeling,'' Tennessee offensive lineman Ryan Johnson told reporters this week. "It really is."

Franks' pass to Cleveland gave the Gators a 26-20 win, their 12th victory over the Vols in the last 13 meetings. In a rivalry game that served as early-season positioning in the national championship race in the 1990s, last season's game stands out primarily for the way it ended and how it shaped both teams' seasons.

For the Gators, it was their first win of the year and a large dose of false hope. They won just three more times and by the end of October, had an interim head coach following the departure of Jim McElwain. Tennessee's season spiraled downhill afterward, as the Vols lost eight games in a season for the first time in the program's 121-year history and finished winless in the SEC for the first time.

As interim coach Randy Shannon led the Gators to close the season, Brady Hoke did the same for the Vols, replacing fired head coach Butch Jones with two games remaining. Former Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt took over the Vols after the season.

Among the 22 players on the field for the final play, Franks remains the most polarizing for Florida fans. His heave showcased the possibilities he brings to a position that has troubled the Gators this decade.

Facing pressure on the play, Franks escaped to his right, then threw a strike 70 yards in the air that landed perfectly in Cleveland's arms.

"He can throw the ball very far,'' Abernathy told reporters Monday.

Instead of Franks' coming-out party, the play resulted in what is his career highlight for the moment.

Franks endured an up-and-down season in his first season as Florida's starter, losing the job twice but regaining it because of injuries to Luke Del Rio and Malik Zaire. However, three games into Dan Mullen's tenure as head coach, Franks is off to a promising start. He has already thrown nine touchdown passes – matching his total from a season ago – and his quarterback efficiency rating (148.81) has jumped considerably (113.32).

Still, Franks doesn't want to be remembered for one pass.

"Hopefully there's a lot more good plays to come," Franks said Monday. "This is definitely one of the tops for now."

Mullen offered another strong endorsement of Franks after Saturday's 48-10 win over Colorado State. Franks missed on his first six passes and threw an interception, but he completed eight of his final nine throws with two touchdowns mixed in.

In dissecting last year's win over the Vols, Mullen told the Gators they should never have been in that situation considering they led 20-10 late in the game before the Vols came back to tie the game.

"He was watching the game and he was just like, 'you could have finished the game and wouldn't be in that situation,' '' receiver Josh Hammond said. "Obviously, the point of emphasis is don't get in that situation, put the game away when you have the chance and you don't have to worry about throwing Hail Mary's to win the game."

Gators cornerbacks coach Charlton Warren, Tennessee's secondary coach at the Swamp a year ago, had no interest in revisiting what happened earlier this week with Florida beat reporters.

The play remains painful for those who were on the visiting sidelines.

"It was not a Hail Mary. They were trying to get a field goal,'' Warren said. ". It was not a Hail Mary. Let's talk about Florida."