Hail Florida Hail
Fansided

Florida football: Time set for Florida-Tennessee showdown

By Matthew Clark

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 07: Trevon Grimes #8 of the Florida Gators runs for yardage during the game against the Tennessee Martin Skyhawks at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 07: Trevon Grimes #8 of the Florida Gators runs for yardage during the game against the Tennessee Martin Skyhawks at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Normally, the Florida football game with Tennessee commands a primetime audience. Not this year.

Florida football has no one to blame but Georgia State and Brigham Young.

It’s because those two teams came into Knoxville and caused Tennessee to start the season 0-2 that the match-up between Florida and Tennessee kicks off at noon.

Usually, this is a game that gets some kind of prime time treatment, whether on ABC — if they’re both ranked — or ESPN, or the SEC Network.

Now, the Sept. 21 showdown at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium will kick off at noon and be on either ESPN, ESPN2 or the SEC Network.

It’s a big fall from grace for a game that usually produces a ton of excitement and fandom.

However, the Volunteers, under second-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt, it has been a dismal start.

In the first week, Tennessee was shocked, 38-30 by Georgia State … at home! The Volunteers followed that up with a 29-26 late home loss to BYU last Saturday.

Remember this (watch for language):

Now, they have to right the ship this week as they host UT-Chattanooga at noon Saturday.

The Gators, on the other hand, started the season with a 24-20 win over Miami in Week 0, took a week off then pummeled the UT-Martin Skyhawks, 45-0 last Saturday in The Swamp.

This week, they travel to face an injury-depleted Kentucky Wildcats team in the SEC opener for both squads.

I guess I can’t really blame the conference or the networks for pushing Florida-Tennessee to a noon kickoff.

It’s completely realistic that we have a 3-0 Florida football team facing an 0-3 Tennessee team (hey, the Vols dropped home games to Georgia State and BYU, so losing to an in-state rival is plausible).

At first blush, networks don’t want that kind of a game airing on primetime, especially since you have Notre Dame and Georgia that same week as well as Auburn-Texas A&M — both which, presently, seems way more exciting than Florida-Tennessee.

Now, that’s not been the case in years past as Florida-Tennessee has provided great moments. But, it’s just too big of a risk to think that Tennessee will bring anything to The Swamp but the band.

Next. Top recruits visited The Swamp last Saturday. dark

So, there you have it, noon kickoff, Sept. 21.

Home/Florida Gators Football