Florida football: Ranking Florida’s 2022 Opponents
By Sean Doty
Florida football opponent rankings: Tennessee Volunteers (9/24)
Metric Score: 5
From an objectionable point of view, the 2022 Tennessee Volunteers could be the most dangerous Tennessee team that any current college undergraduate student in the southeast has seen in their entire lifetime.
Despite finishing 7-6 last season, the Vols’ offense ranked 3rd in the SEC and 9th in the country, averaging 474.9 yards and 39.3 points per game. The only other SEC program to average over 450 yards of offense and 38 points per game last season was Alabama, led by eventual Heisman trophy winner Bryce Young.
The Vols’ offense returns its top three playmakers from last season, starting with quarterback Hendon Hooker. The former graduate transfer was one of the nation’s most efficient quarterbacks in 2021, throwing for 2,945 yards and 31 touchdowns, all the while completing 68.2 percent of his passes and throwing only three interceptions. Hooker also managed to rush for 620 yards and five scores last season too.
The Vols also return their starting running back and top wide receiver from last year.
Junior running back Jabari Small ran for 792 yards and nine touchdowns in 2021. Meanwhile, redshirt senior Cedric Tillman led the team last year in catches (64), receiving yards (1,081) an,d touchdowns (12). Tillman was also named preseason first team All-SEC wide receiver.
The Knoxville crowd will be playing its part to make it a hostile environment for the Gators at the end of September. Especially considering the Vols have experienced victory only once in this rivalry in the past 17 years.
From a short-term perspective, this game is important for the Gators because it will be their first road game in the Billy Napier era. It may also determine which SEC East team is better equipped to challenge Georgia for the divisional crown this season.
From a long-term perspective, a victory against a pesky rival like Tennessee in year 1 under Napier would make this rebuild on the surface look less extensive than it needs to be.
As mentioned before the Gators are 16-1 against the Vols since the beginning of the Urban Meyer era. This means that three of Florida’s last four coaches were at least 4-0 against the Vols during their tenure. This includes Dan Mullen, who held the Vols offense to just 14 points last season under the bumbling guidance of Todd Grantham.
Both football programs have struggled to find their way back to the SEC mountain top, though Florida’s struggles have gone on less than half the time of Tennessee’s.
Though this rivalry has lost a great deal of luster due to it being a one-sided affair, these are still the two schools that serve as the biggest potential threats to Georgia’s reign in the SEC East (at least until the conference realignment in 2025).
Second-year head coach Josh Heupel will likely have the Vols in a position to be one of the highest scoring offenses in the SEC again this year. If both Napier and defensive coordinator Patrick Toney want to make a huge statement, pulling off a road win against Tennessee while simultaneously holding the Vols to under 21 points for a sixth straight season would speak volumes.