Vols-Gators trying to bring back the good old days


Butch Jones and the Vols are looking to get a big win against Florida. (Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports)

There was a time in the 1990s and 2000s when the Florida-Tennessee game was the game of the year in the Southeastern Conference. It has since been supplanted by Alabama-LSU and Alabama-Texas A&M, but it is still a big game to the Vols and Gators even if it doesn’t carry the same weight in the SEC race that it once did.

It’s also a big game this week because both teams need to bounce back from humiliating losses.

Florida’s loss to Miami was self-inflicted. Despite outplaying the Hurricanes for most of the game, Florida continued to turn the ball over and the Canes took advantage of it for the upset win.

Tennessee made two mistakes against Oregon. First, the Vols scheduled the game and second they showed up.

But both teams have a chance to redeem themselves this weekend.

“I continue to say it, we must overachieve in order to be able to compete and win football games,” said Tennessee coach Butch Jones. “I know our players are very prideful and the only thing you can do is roll your sleeves up and go back to work today and work on being better. That’s all you can do.

“Right now, moving forward, we are not a very mentally tough football team. Everything we do in our football program is about mental conditioning, mental toughness, and when you go on the road you have to have a road focus about yourself.”

Tennessee’s focus this week has to be on Florida in The Swamp.

“In getting ready to face a very, very, very talented Florida football team, the demands become greater,” said Jones. “When you look at them defensively, they’re only giving about fifty yards per game in the rushing category. Third down conversions, I’ve never seen this in all my years of coaching. They lead the country in third down conversions. They’ve given up two out of twenty-four attempts on third down conversions. They’re third in the country in total defense given up, 208.5 yards per game.

“They’re extremely talented, physical, and very active, offensively, playmakers all over the place, another dual threat quarterback who can run, who can pass. A little bit different schematically, but a lot of the same similarities as well, in terms of different reads for your linebackers, their eye discipline, play-action, unbalanced sets, and getting the ball in the hands of their playmakers.”

“Then you’re going in to another hostile environment,” said Jones. ‘So, this week our whole mental focus, our mental conditioning, if you said what’s the biggest area of improvement, it’s becoming a much more mentally tough football team. Proving that you can go on the road and handle all the distractions that it takes in preparation before the game, but also on game day as well.”

Senior offensive lineman Ja’Wuan James has never beaten the Gators, who have won eight consecutive games in the series. James wants to change that this weekend.

“As leaders, we can’t let this go downhill,” he said. “Last year, after the third week of the season, it started to go downhill. As a senior and a leader, we have to make sure everybody bounces back with a great week of practice to get ready for Florida We have been playing against these guys for the past four years. They are all in our class. They are great, athletic guys; we just have to get a great week of practice and just go down there and play together.

“As older players, we’ve played in so many places that it really doesn’t affect us. We’ve just got to go out here and prepare. Coach Jones does a good job with crowd noises and things like that to distract us at practice, so if we prepare, I feel like we can play anywhere. You can’t put the venue as an excuse.”

A bigger problem for Tennessee will be Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel, who has been a thorn in the Vols’ side the past couple of years.

“He’s been elusive for us, and he’s been able to run against us,” said senior defensive lineman Daniel Hood. “Last year, I think we made everybody play good against us. We’ve just got to do a good job of containing him, forcing him to make throws, and then getting after him when we know it’s a pass down. We’ve got to keep our rushing points on the quarterback and not let him get outside to make those extra throws.”

Driskel has been sacked already six times this season and to beat Tennessee the Gators offensive line has to keep Driskel upright.

“We gave up 14 points on turnovers, we had five in the (Miami) game, including a turnover on downs,” said Florid coach Will Muschamp. “The things we go back in the off week and look at, things that we obviously need to improve on, taking care of the football is one of them.

“We’re excited about starting the SEC schedule with Tennessee. Butch Jones is a guy that I’ve got a lot of respect for; he did a great job at Cincinnati. They’ve got an up-tempo offense and 139 starts on their offensive line; this will be the best offensive line we will face this year. Our guys felt that way last year after we played them. Defensively, they’ve got eight starters back, they’re an over and under team, they’ve simplified some things they’re doing defensively and A.J. Johnson led the SEC in tackles.”

Florida has emphasized ball security even more since the Miami debacle.

“We practice it every single day offensively, we take all of our defensive players that are returners and they do it every single day.  So it’s nothing that’s new, it’s something we’ve talked about constantly, we emphasize it, we take pictures of it, there’s been no new emphasis on ball security that we haven’t talked about before,” Muschamp said. “I think obviously when you turn it over five times, to self-evaluate, there’s an issue.”

Muschamp knows that Tennessee-Florida still means something.

“It’s still a huge rivalry, it’s still a very important game to the University of Florida.  There’s no question because of the prominence that both schools had in the 90s, it was a leadoff game for CBS it seemed like every single year, so there’s no question it’s got great, great history.  It’s a huge game for both teams.”

The Crystal Ball believes it will be a bigger game for the Gators. Florida 35, Tennessee 10

Around the rest of the SEC, the Crystal Ball sees things going this way:

LSU 38, Auburn 28

 

Vanderbilt 38, Massachusetts 14

 

Georgia 48, North Texas 7

 

Arkansas 17, Rutgers 14

 

Alabama 52, Colorado State 21

 

Texas A&M 49, SMU 14

 

Mississippi State 31, Troy 17

 

Missouri 28, Indiana 24