Game Day: No. 11 Florida vs Tennessee (ESPN), 7 pm

Florida and Tennessee will renew their big (and now lopsided) SEC East rivalry Saturday night at the "Swamp." The two teams have met every year since 1990, with the Gators leading the all-time series 30-20, including 15 wins in the last 16 meetings.

Game Day: No. 11 Florida vs Tennessee (ESPN), 7 pm

Saturday, September 25, 2021 | Football, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — 'Twas a time when Tennessee was Florida's biggest foil. Not Georgia. Not Florida State.

Yes, the Volunteers, losers of 15 of the previous 16 in the series.

Hardcore UF fans will recall those two ugly, lopsided road trips to Knoxville back in the early 1990s. Steve Spurrier took two of his first three teams to Rocky Top and got paddle-wheeled in his home state both times; 45-3 in 1990 and 31-14 in '92. After that, the Gators strung together a five-game winning streak in the series, capturing four straight Southeastern Conference titles along the way, before the Vols enacted a mini-run of vengeance that — to this day — stands as their modern-era glory years, not to mention some of the darkest days for Gator faithful.

After that five-game run by Florida (which, incredibly, coincided with four Peyton Manning seasons in Big Orange), Tennessee put together a string of four wins over seven seasons, with two of them serving as absolute daggers to the heart of Gator Nation. Consider the pain (remember it, if you were around; imagine it, if you weren't) when 11th-ranked Florida (2-1, 0-1) and Tennessee (2-1, 0-0) renew their 105-year rivalry Saturday night at Spurrier/Florida Field to open SEC East Division play.

[Read senior writer Scott Carter's pregame "Opening Kickoff" breakdown here]

Down come the goal posts at Neyland Stadium, following Tennessee's epic 20-17 overtime defeat of Florida in 1998, a win that catpulted the Volunteers on their national-championship run.

To refresh:

* Tennessee 20, Florida 17 (Sept. 20, 1998) — The Vols snapped that five-game skid by beating the Gators in the first overtime game in either program's history. UF had a huge hand in the outcome, what with five turnovers (to UT's none) and an infamous missed field goal of just 32 yards by Collins Cooper in the extra period. Vols fans stormed the field and tore the goal posts down. Tennessee (again, the year after Manning left) went on to finish 13-0 and beat (get this) Florida State in the national-championship game. Ugh.

* Tennessee 34, Florida 32 (Dec. 2, 2001) — The game was supposed to be played two months earlier, but was postponed due to the 9/11 attacks. The No. 1-ranked Gators, with the nation's most explosive offense, hit a speed bump midseason at Auburn, but behind quarterback Rex Grossman had the inside track to a berth in the Rose Bowl national-championship game; if they could win the SEC, that is. Enter the fifth-ranked Vols, who got 227 rushing yards from tailback Travis Stephens and defended a two-point conversion with just over a minute left to snap a seven-game losing streak in Gainesville that dated to 1971. The loss was just the fifth at home in Spurrier's 12 seasons and turned out to be his final home game on the UF sidelines. After smashing Maryland in the Orange Bowl, Spurrier bolted for the NFL.

* Tennessee 24, Florida 10 (Sept. 20, 2003) and Tennessee 30, Florida 28 (Sept. 18, 2004). The Vols' first two-game win streak in the series came in Coach Ron Zook's final two seasons. UT scored on a deflected "Hail Mary" pass at the end of the half and never looked back in the '03 win. A year later, James Wilhoit bombed a 50-yard field goal with six seconds left to give the Vols a win at Knoxville.

Five weeks after that '04 loss, Zook was fired effective at the end of the regular season. In December, Florida hired Urban Meyer, by way of Utah. In 2005, the Gators embarked on their current run of UT mastery under four different head coaches, including Dan Mullen, who hopes to improve his record to 4-0 against the Vols with a win Saturday night. The lone loss was UT's 38-28 home victory in 2016, but Coach Jim McElwain and the Gators still went on to win the SEC East that season.

**Josh Heupel**, the Heisman Trophy-runnerup quarterback in 2000 at Oklahoma, went 28-8 in three seasons at UCF, including a 12-0 regular season in 2018 that ended with a loss to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl.

Tennessee has a new coach in Josh Heupel, by way of UCF, and a pair of non-FBS victories against Bowling Green (38-6 to open the season) and Tennessee Tech (56-0 last week) bracketed around a 41-31 loss to Pittsburgh, all at home. Mullen hopes the Vols' first road trip will bring about at atmosphere in the "Swamp" akin to what greeted top-ranked Alabama a week ago — one of the venues most electrifying in the last decade — in what eventually became a 31-29 defeat.

In his inaugural 2018 seasons at UF, Mullen's squad had a tough loss to Georgia and moped enough the following week to get drilled at home by Missouri. The one loss, he said, turned into two. That's been a point of emphasis all week.

Can the Gators bounce back after last week's close call? Can quarterback Emory Jones build on the finest performance of his career? Can both lines of scrimmage be as physically dominant as they were against the mighty Crimson Tide. And what of Anthony Richardson's availability?

All those questions will be asked, along with another.

Will it be 16 out of 17?

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN, with Joe Tessitore on play-by-play, Greg McElroy providing analysis and Katie George working the sidelines. For radio and television broadcast info, click here. The game will be replayed Sunday day at 4:30 a.m., Monday at 9 p.m., and Tuesday at 9 a.m., all on ESPN.

Also, check out the "1st & 10 Pre-Game Show," hosted by Jeff Cardozo via the Florida Gators Facebook page, starting at 2:30. This week's lineup includes chats with Mullen, as well as a wide receiver Trent Whittemore, center Kingsley Eguakun and UT radio's Bob Kessler, as a "Mic'd Up" segment with tailback Dameon Pierce.

Finally, follow senior staff writer Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) for commentary and analysis throughout the game. FloridaGators.com will have complete coverage content from the game late Saturday night and fresh content Sunday, also.