Florida football: Getting to know the Vols from a Tennessee writer
They say keep your friends close and your enemies closer. So in an effort to help Florida football fans better understand the mindset of Tennessee Volunteer fans, we reached out to All For Tennessee writer Caleb Calhoun and asked a handful of questions ahead of Saturday’s matchup in Knoxville.
Florida football: Questions for Tennessee Volunteers writer Caleb Calhoun
Despite being favored and having lots of national attention, is there still an underdog attitude for Tennessee given the series’ history?
CC: Absolutely. Tennessee fans live by two rules. They know they will always beat Kentucky, regardless of how much better Kentucky may be in a given year, and they no they will always lose to Florida, regardless of how much better they may be than Florida in a given year.
When Florida’s dominance first began in this series, that wouldn’t have been the case. Sure, they owned the Vols during the Urban Meyer years, but that was understandable since the Vols were a program on the decline and Florida was at its peak. Honestly, the last four years are understandable too, as Florida has been the better team.
What led to Vol fans giving up on the series was the post-Meyer era. From 2011 to 2017, they should’ve had more than one win. There was no excuse to go 0-4 against Will Muschamp, and that run from 2014 to 2017, when they went 1-3 by blowing two two-score fourth quarter leads and giving up a Hail Mary, validates the idea that they were just cursed against Florida.
As a result, no fan in Knoxville is going to believe the Vols win until they see it. They’ve just been too traumatized by recent history.
We all know about Tennessee’s high-flying offense, but who are the playmakers defensively that UF will have to worry about?
CC: Byron Young is an All-SEC pass rusher who can do a lot of damage. He’s probably the biggest star of the unit.
Jeremy Banks and Trevon Flowers both received preseason All-SEC recognition as well. Banks is more of a run-stopping linebacker, and Flowers is the glue at free safety holding the entire secondary together with his veteran leadership. They were each involved in a forced fumble last week, and Flowers got an interception and a sack the week before.
What’s the confidence level among fans that Josh Heupel is the guy to bring UT back to prominence?
CC: It’s a lot higher than it was when he was hired. Confidence in Josh Heupel soared, ironically, the week after last year’s Tennessee-Florida matchup, when the Vols beat the Missouri Tigers 63-28 on the road.
That was the game to really get UT going, and it set them on a path to what became a 7-6 season. Although that seems highly mediocre, anybody who followed closely how disastrous of a program the Vols were couldn’t helped but be shocked by them finishing with a winning record.
Remember, this was a team that went 3-7 the year before. It fired its head coach and suffered a wave of more than two dozen transfers. They were under investigation by the NCAA, and they had to learn new schemes on offense and defense. Dealing with all of that and still going 7-6 is one of the most impressive coaching jobs in SEC history.
What’s the key for Tennessee to succeed and cover against the Gators?
CC: Turnovers are always an easy one, but for Tennessee specifically, it’s avoiding mistakes on special teams. The Vols missed a field goal last week, and the week before, they had a blocked punt and a muffed punt return.
On defense, the linebackers have to play smart in coverage. This was an issue last year, which is why quarterbacks like Matt Corral could run for 195 yards on them, and given Anthony Richardson’s mobility, it could become an issue again. After facing two drop-back passers and an awful Akron team, this is the Vols’ first real test against a legitimate dual-threat quarterback.
We saw App St almost lose to Troy last week when gameday showed up and they had the eyes of the nation on them, is UT at risk of a similar underwhelming performance?
CC: History suggests they are. The Vols are 3-6 when GameDay comes to Knoxville. In three of those losses, they were the higher-ranked team, and in four of those losses, they were favored.
To be fair, this ties into their history with Florida, as GameDay has been on site for the Tennessee-Florida game eight times, five times in Knoxville. The Vols are 1-4 during those visits.
However, so much of this is on the coaching and how they prepare everybody for the week, and every season, week and game stands on its own. Only time will tell if this is once again an issue.
Would it be better for UT if this game was a shoot-out or a slugfest?
CC: They want a shootout. The ideal game for the Vols is to force Anthony Richardson into obvious passing situations. If they can do that, the spy issue with linebackers will be nullified, and the defense can stay in attack mode. Keeping the game high-scoring is the way to force that situation.
When Neyland is rocking, it’s really rocking. How much added confidence for UT comes with this being a sold-out home game?
CC: It probably won’t mean much, but it should have an impact. These Vols are getting their first taste of how passionate UT fans can be when they just get a little bit of hope.
There was a sellout last week against Akron of all teams, and that had to help the Vols dominate 63-6. They were always going to win, but covering a 47.5-point spread was shocking since it was a trap game between Pittsburgh and Florida.
Even Josh Heupel was shocked by the fan support, and history shows the Vols can feed off it. In their last win over Florida, they fell behind 21-0, but after their first touchdown, the fan base came alive, and they fed off that to get on a roll (although really bad coaching from Jim McElwain in the second half helped).
Game prediction: who wins and by how much?
CC: I’m not ever supposed to pick Tennessee against Florida no matter the situation for the teams, but I’m doing that in this one. Anthony Richardson isn’t himself right now, and this is the Gators’ first road test over Tennessee.
The Vols won’t cover, but they’ll win.
Tennessee: 31
Florida: 24
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