Etienne, Gators, 'Swamp' Come Alive in Upset of No. 11 Vols

during the Gators' game against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, September 16, 2023 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. / UAA Communications photo by Ashley Ray

Tailback Trevor Etienne (7) outruns the Tennessee defense on the way to his 62-yard touchdown dash in the first quarter.

Etienne, Gators, 'Swamp' Come Alive in Upset of No. 11 Vols

Sunday, September 17, 2023 | Football

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida's mastery over Tennessee is still a thing.

And so, clearly, is "The Swamp."

Sophomore tailback Trevor Etienne rushed for a career-high 172 yards, including a 62-yard touchdown dash that awakened the Gators and their home field advantage Saturday night and set in motion a 29-16 upset of the 11th-ranked Volunteers and provided an orange-and-blue shot in the arm to a head coach, a program and rabid, success-starved fan base in search of a victory exactly like this one.

Make that 17 wins over the last 19 games in the the series, including a run of 10 consecutive UF home victories dating to 2005. In the bigger picture, the triumph gave Napier, in his second season, his first in five cracks against a so-called rivalry opponent, as well as first true signature win in the Southeastern Conference. The Gators (2-1, 1-0), who looked nothing like the disorganized mess that showed up for the season-opening loss two weeks ago at Utah, fell behind early, retook the lead right away, then established the game's pace and tempo against the mile-a-minute, high-scoring Volunteers (2-1, 0-1), who pride themselves on dictating tempo.

"It validates your plan, what you're selling to a degree," Napier said. "Success is a dirty process, right? And, ultimately, it's rewarding. You have to go through some ups and downs along the way."

Quarterback Graham Mertz passed for 166 yards, threw for a score and ran for another to help UF open a 19-point halftime lead on the strength of touchdown drives on four consecutive possessions spanning the first and second quarter. Mertz, the fourth-year transfer from Wisconsin, completed 19 of his 24 passes, and did not turn the ball over.

The true heroes of the night, though, were Florida's defensive players. First, they limited Tennessee to just 122 yards of offense through the first two quarters, then turned the Vols away three times on downs in the second half, including a last-ditch drive — with a chance to close UF's lead to a single possession — that ended with four straight incompletions by UT quarterback Joe Milton III from the Florida 25-yard line inside three minutes to play. Milton finished 20 of 34 attempts for 287 yards and two touchdowns, but it was his one interception — the only turnover of the game by either team — that proved to a big difference-maker.

Tennessee finished with 393 yards of offense, but was penalized 10 times for 79 yards, including four false-start flags, courtesy of the deafening crowd.

"Man, it got loud," Mertz said. "I was on the sideline and I couldn't hear my coach [right] in front of me. It was rocking. They truly affected the game."

The Gators surrendered 271 yards in the second half, but only nine points. Florida managed just three second-half points (from a new, battlefield-promoted kicker), but it was enough.

Quarterback **Graham Mertz**, fired up here, completed 19 of his 24 passes for 166 yards and touchdown, while also rushing for a score and not committing a turnover. (Photo: **Emma Bissell**/UAA Communications)

Florida took the opening kickoff and drove to a first down at the Vols' 26, then went backward with a couple negative plays before bringing on Adam Mihalek for a 46-yard field-goal attempt. The kick not only wasn't close, it was well short and UT took over at its 29. After the fifth play of the drive Milton dropped and found wideout Squirrel White running free up the left sideline for a 41-yard gain to the Gators' 11. On the next snap, Milton lobbed a fade route to Ramel Keyton over cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. for the touchdown and 7-0 lead at the 5:33 mark. The drive, 71 yards in six plays, took just 2:01.

UF then demonstrated some quick-strike capability of its own when Etienne broke through the line, ran through two tackles at the second level and sped away from the defense for a 62-yard touchdown run. Mihalek's point-after attempt was blocked, leaving the score at 7-6 with 4:10 to go in the first period.

"It was a critical point in the game I feel like," Etienne said. "I feel like we needed a big play to get the offense going, and it just happened to be me that made the play."

After the UF defense forced a punt, Mertz overcame a 7-yard sack on first down with an 18-yard completion to Kahleil Jackson on third-and-12. A couple more first downs had the Gators inside the UT 15 and facing a third-and-7. This time, it was Mertz firing a swing pass to motioning Ricky Pearsall for a 9-yard gain to the 4. Montrell Johnson Jr. scored on the next play to give the Gators the lead. A two-point conversion attempt failed, but Florida was up 12-7.

Soon it was 26-7.

"Extremely disappointing start to the football game, the first half. Not very good in any sense of the way," said UT coach Josh Heupel, whose team began the night averaging 44.0 points and 491 yards per game over his three seasons in Knoxville, with the 19 points the program's third-fewest in that span. "Offense had the one drive and the defense got the one stop. Other than that, not the way you want to start."

Linebacker Scooby Williams (17) celebrates a big defensive stop. (Photo: **Lorenzo Vasquez**/UAA Communications)

On Tennessee's second snap of the team's third series, 435-pound nose tackle Desmond Watson blew up the pocket and bear-hugged Milton as he was trying to throw a bomb down the middle of the field. The ball went about halfway and into the arms of cornerback Devin Moore, who returned the play 39 yards to the Tennessee 18, with a late-hit flag on the Vols at the end of the play putting the Gators in business at the UT 9. On third-and-goal at the 1, Mertz snuck into the line for the touchdown and Mihalek's replacement, Trey Smack, rammed the PAT for a 19-7 lead with 7:20 left in the first half.

Then came another Tennessee punt, followed by another Florida touchdown.

The Gators went 55 yards in seven plays in 3:30, with Mertz dumping a screen in the right flat to Johnson, who ran through a shoe-string tackle attempt by linebacker Keenan Pili, cut inside and walked into the end zone for a 19-point lead at the 2:22 mark that wrapped the first half scoring.

"I'm proud of how we executed in the moment when you needed to make the play," Mertz said. "Coach always talks about make the play. And I think across the board we saw guys from — young guys, old guys, across the board, guys were just making that play. So I'm definitely proud of this group."

UF out-gained UT 281-122 in total offense in the first half, including 135-30 in rushing yards and scored on all three red-zone possessions. Mihalek's kicking woes were the lone negatives of the first two quarters and he was promptly replaced.

Tennessee narrowed the lead on the opening drive of the third quarter, but in an un-Tennessee fashion. The Vols needed 14 plays to go 46 yards — and burned two timeouts because of the crowd noise — before settling for Charles Campbell's 42-yard field goal to make it 26-10 at the 9:31 mark.

The ensuing UF drive ended with the Gators' first punt of the game. So did the next drive. Fortunately for the home team, the Florida defense got off the field by setting the Tennessee offense down on downs on consecutive possessions.

Mertz engineered a nine-play 46-yard drive that stalled at the Tennessee 10 and led to a 27-yard field goal by Smack and 29-10 lead with just under 10 minutes to play. UT, though, quickly got back on the scoreboard when Milton rocketed a 55-yard scoring pass (the two-point try failed) with 8:41 remaining to make it 29-16.

On the next UF possession, the Gators lined up on fourth-and-1 from their own 34, presumably to try and draw the Vols offside. They did. Defensive tackle Kurott Garland jumped, extending the Florida drive another (and needed) two and a half minutes before UF did UT a favor with a measly 24-yard punt with 3:49 to go.

Milton hit three straight passes for 42 yards to quickly get the Vols to the UF 25. His next four passes, all under pressure, were incompletions, touching off emotional celebrations on the field, the sidelines and deep into the stadium grandstands.

"We'll celebrate tonight, I promise you," Napier said.

Justifiably so.