Florida Gators vs Tennessee Volunteers: Gators Come Back to Take Vols 10-9

After a sloggy first three quarters where  Florida  struggled to move the ball, the Gators  got a spark from their freshman quarterback Treon Harris to take the lead late and upset the Tennessee Volunteers 10-9 in Knoxville.

While Harris’ play gave the Gators some desperately-needed mojo on offense, the story of this Gator victory is the defense. Harris took the field down only nine points because off a hungry Florida defense kept a talented Tennessee offense from closing the deal in three trips to the red zone.

Apart from a few 20-something yard pass plays, the Tennessee offense struggled. Volunteer quarterback Justin Worley was frequently under pressure. And when he had time, he was often forcing tight throws into coverage. Gone were the missed tackles and open receivers that plagued Florida against Kentucky and Alabama. Time after time today, the Gator defenders dropped Vols where they stood.

Gators Own the Ground

At games end, Harris’ passing numbers don’t fully tell the story of his contributions, as he went 2-4 with 17 yards. Overall, the Gators had only 76 yards passing offense, a total which would have trigger visor tossing of record proportions in the Steve Spurrier era.

But against Tennessee on Saturday, it was the rushing effort from the Gator QBs that made the difference. Despite his troubles, Driskel was Florida’s second leading rusher with 30 yards. Harris added 24 on four carries. The quarterback running helped stretch the Tennessee defense, creating holes for Gator running back Matt Jones, who had 114 yards on 23 carries.

Worley finished the game with 206 yards passing and two interceptions. Defensively, the Gators held the Vols to just 28 yards rushing, accounting for the 45 yards lost on the six sacks of Worley.

Downer for Driskel

Coming into the second half, Gator QB Jeff Driskel was under pressure to improve the offense from the first half, which had some success on the ground, but only 48 yards passing. Driskel struggled in the second half, throwing two interceptions and otherwise posing little threat to the Tennessee defenders. On one series, Driskel slightly under threw an open receiver that could have been a big play. He followed that play with a pass that bounced off tight end Clay Burton’s hands, right to a Tennessee defender.

Harris Gets His Shot

As the third quarter wore on, Gators fans on Twitter were ready to see Harris get the start. But Muschamp kept sending Driskel to the game when the Gators had a long field ahead of them.

Perhaps Muschamp felt Driskel’s mistakes were as much the result of the rest of the offense or perhaps he waiting for the right time to get Harris into the game. If that was the case, he found it.

Late in the third quarter, Worley was sacked while trying to again avoid the tenacious Florida rush, losing the ball and setting the Gators up with the ball in Volunteers territory.  Harris came in and promptly added some juice to a Gator team that couldn’t find their way on offense. He started by hitting a swing pass to pick up a first down, as the Gators used a mixed balance of run and pass to set Gator running back Matt Jones up for a 2-yard touchdown run — the only one of the game.

Sack Attack

Midway through the third quarter, Worley hit on another long pass of 27 yards after clearing some space with a pump fake, again putting the Vols in the red zone. But once again, the pass rush got to Worley, as Brian Cox Jr. sacked the Volunteer QB on third down, again holding Tennessee to a field goal. Cox had three sacks on the day.

It was the Gator defense that ruled the day in Knoxville. After the Gators took the lead on the field goal, Worley faced a crucial third-and-10, when the defense line just enveloped the Tennessee offensive line and dropped the helpless quarterback to the ground, forcing another punt. In addition to their 6 sacks, the Gator defensive line kept Worley under pressure all game.

Strong Drive, Big Kick

After holding the Vols following their score, Harris came in for his second series, but this time he was taking snaps in his own territory. But Harris kept the Gators in gear, mixing passes and runs to methodically lead the Gators downfield. Harris made a clutch third down throw from his own 30 to get the first down. From there, Matt Jones, who had a solid day running, broke a run to the Vols 38. That set up another great effort from the special teams, when Austin Hardin drilled a 49-yard field goal to give the Gators a 10-9 lead they would not relinquish.

Clutch or Nah?

Still, Tennessee had a chance. With a little under 3 minutes left, Worley came in to do his best Peyton Manning game-winning drive impression. But he must have been watching too much tape of playoff Peyton.

Worley looked legendary to start the drive, hitting receiver Pig Howard on a critical fourth-and-10 after buying time with his legs. But on his next snap, he overshot a receiver, only to have defensive back Keanu Neal make the game-saving interception to end the Vols threat with less than a minute to play.

Vols-In-Tears

With only a kneel down left to seal the victory, Tennessee tried the ‘ole hit-the-center’s-arm-before-he-snaps-it play to try to force a turnover. It worked! But…it’s against the rules and not at all cool. So of course that was a penalty and the Gators were able to successfully kill the clock, somehow. (Driskel took a surprisingly hard hit for a kneel down effort.)

The Vols fans must not have taken too well to the loss, and started started a chant that included a word that starts with  an F and a word that sounds like U and the word Florida. That may have been why Head Coach Will Muschamp told the SEC Network after the game: “It’s great to see all of these people getting disappointed. I love it.” Me too!