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Florida Gators’ Most Important Game In 2016 Will Be Against Tennessee — And It’s Not Even Close

By Trevor Lowry

Dec 5, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain reacts during the second quarter of the 2015 SEC Championship Game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 5, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain reacts during the second quarter of the 2015 SEC Championship Game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Tennessee Volunteers are the team to beat in the SEC East, making them Florida’s most important opponent entering 2016.

The 2016 college football season is less than a month away — and life really doesn’t get much better than that. As for the Florida Gators — and so many other teams in this sport — they will be kicking off their season on Sept. 3 against the Massachusetts Minutemen.

While fans will likely just be happy to see their Gators back on the field (who could blame them?), the contest that everyone should have circled on their calendar is the ultimate showdown against the Tennessee Volunteers (Sept. 24).

In a nutshell, here’s why this is the most important game on the Gators’ schedule — and it’s not even close:

  • Tennessee is being deemed the team to beat in the SEC East.
  • The Volunteers are ranked in the top 10 entering the season.
  • Tennessee is, of course, one of Florida’s biggest rivals.
  • This will be the Gators’ toughest road test of 2016 — well, until they play the Florida State Seminoles in the last game of the regular season.

Needless to say, there will be some serious implications on the line, and it will only be the Gators’ fourth game of the season. SEC title hopes will be on the line, College Football Playoff hopes will be on the line and, who knows, maybe someone will be in the running for the Heisman when these two squads take the field against one another. It will be early on in the season, after all.

To find the last time Florida knocked off Tennessee, you would have to travel all the way back to, well, last year. And what a glorious game it was, might I add. To make a long story short, Florida was down by 13 points in the fourth quarter, and it came back and won by the score of 28-27.

However, this year, the Gators bring a whole lot of questions with them into the season. As usual, one of the main questions will be the starting quarterback position, a position that has been a major question mark ever since Tim Tebow graduated.

The Will Grier era ended before it really could even get started, unfortunately. Nonetheless, Luke Del Rio was named the starter for the season opener, so we will have to wait and see how that plays out.

Not having an answer at quarterback or not, Florida has now knocked off the Volunteers 11 times in a row. To make it 12 victories in a row, the Gators will have to pull off the upset on the road. The winner will instantly be the team to beat in the East, although Nick Chubb (man, it’s going to be great to see him back on the field) and the rest of the Georgia Bulldogs will likely have something to say about that.

Florida will still have to take on the Bulldogs, Seminoles, LSU Tigers and many others, but Tennessee is the Gators’ most important game of the season — well, at least right now and heading into the season, that is.

Nonetheless, college football is almost among us! So get ready to fire up those Gator Chomps early and often in 2016.

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