- Oct 5, 2017
- 2,315
- 6,301
Well, I squeaked out a passing score on the Bar (found out Monday). What's been really weird about this week is that I have felt apathetic about it being Tennessee week. Usually this is a week where I would read every article on every site and make an effort to listen to Russell and Fooley's shows. I'm not sure why that is. However, unlike before Kentucky I don't have a bad feeling. Heck, I don't have a feeling.
Anyways, prepare for what some may consider blasphemy, but growing up there were two rivalries for me, Tennessee and FSU. Georgia was just that team who we beat every year and kicked their ass in Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Athens. '97 was a shock, '04 not so much with Zook fired that week. Then in '07 the game finally felt like a rivalry (and has since). But this isn't about growing up 15-3 against UGA after the arrival of Spurrier (in my mind the correct dividing point in Florida football standards). This week is about the team we were 9-6 in the previous 15 games before Meyer began a decade long run and played close almost every year. Heck, UT and UGA have the exact same record against UF since 1990. For me this game is about what I grew up with, not what came before, not what's come since. This is a rivalry that began in 1990 as match-ups were sporadic at best between 1916 and 1985 (last game before 1990) and that included a bowl match-up where a coach (Doug Dickey) switched sides post-game. In fact, it could be argued that not having a former UF Football head coach as AD in Knoxville has lead to their downfall. Tennessee had a former UF football coach (two of them in succession) as AD from '63-'02...and they've been going down since.
This is a rivalry that in its infancy of using the term rivalry had two of college football's greatest QB's of all-time Danny and Peyton and two all-time coaches in Spurrier and Fulmer. In a divided conference, something not really seen before that point, where a single loss could keep you from playing for the conference title or tying for it. People talk about the close games and comebacks in recent memory. I look to our 7 point win in '93, my personal favorite home game I've attended in '95 and the ridiculous come back that lead to a beat down, the '96 blitzkreig in the first half only to hold on in the second (what many of us were holding out for halfway through '16), I was in the North Endzone as Tony George returned a pick North for a TD against Peyton in '97, Collins F'ing Cooper in '98 in our first OT game, Alex Brown going ape **** in '99, Gaffney's catch in 2000, the reason to hate the terrorists from 9/11 just that much more in '01 (also reminder that Darnell Dockett is a garbage human being and Rex Grossman was screwed in Heisman voting), those early fumbles in the rain in '02, that half time Hail Mary in '03, and of course the officiating F*** up that was not starting the clock in '04. No, close games or odd games are nothing new and I don't expect anything else this year.
Despite the rivalry feel, I've never hated Tennessee. Maybe it's because my grandfather kept getting Citrus Bowl tickets when I was a kid so I saw them plenty, lol. I don't know what it is. My wife's father is a Vol fan and when I started dating her she had a UT tag on her car. That changed and quickly. In 2016, I made the trip to Neyland for the first time. Didn't end how I wanted, but the only cross word I had with a UT fan was some jackass trying to convince me Butch Jones was an amazing coach because he beat us. I won that by a mile.
This year, I expect nothing more that another game full of strange that leads to one team winning. In '13, we don't win if Driskel doesn't go out injured (that's not cheering the injury). In '14, Treon Harris and Austin Hardin, yes really, lead a fourth quarter comeback with a highly audible "F*** you Florida" chant on the broadcast leading to Will Muschamp saying how glad he was to disappoint all the UT fans. In '15, we know about 4th and 14, Butch Jones not going for 2, but most people forget that UT missed not one, but two kicks at the end, even after the refs moved the ball several yards inside the hash instead of on the hash on the re-kick. '16, as I said in some thread previously, if we get the 3rd and inches on our first possession, that game is over there and the fans leave (some did leave at halftime). Then Tabor falls down and other crazy stuff leading to the first loss in a decade. Last year, Kelly drops a ball going into the endzone, Mac doesn't take a timeout when Franks is ruled short of the down marker, I say throw it up to Cleveland (for FG range), and we throw a bomb to end it. I thought the game still had time, took me a minute we had let the clock run down that far before snapping.
I don't know what will happen, but I hope it will be fun. UT is a dumpster fire and if we lose I am ready to concede 6-6 may be a good goal. The line hasn't improved at all like I thought, hoped they would. I still stand by, that if they can get to average, we will be alright. The return of David Reese (who was suited up last week) will be a boost for the defense. Both teams have inexperienced DB's. Both teams are trying to get their feet under a new coach. At least UF has played an SEC game. UT was held in check by a Big 12 defense. Franks is not Will Grier in a Holgerson offense, but I don't think he will need to be. I hope he won't be required to be. I expect to see Mullen pulling out all the stops. I expect Pruitt to pull out a bag of tricks. Most picks are against UF from what I've seen. I don't pick against UF, even when it makes sense to.
UF 21 UT 17
Anyways, prepare for what some may consider blasphemy, but growing up there were two rivalries for me, Tennessee and FSU. Georgia was just that team who we beat every year and kicked their ass in Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Athens. '97 was a shock, '04 not so much with Zook fired that week. Then in '07 the game finally felt like a rivalry (and has since). But this isn't about growing up 15-3 against UGA after the arrival of Spurrier (in my mind the correct dividing point in Florida football standards). This week is about the team we were 9-6 in the previous 15 games before Meyer began a decade long run and played close almost every year. Heck, UT and UGA have the exact same record against UF since 1990. For me this game is about what I grew up with, not what came before, not what's come since. This is a rivalry that began in 1990 as match-ups were sporadic at best between 1916 and 1985 (last game before 1990) and that included a bowl match-up where a coach (Doug Dickey) switched sides post-game. In fact, it could be argued that not having a former UF Football head coach as AD in Knoxville has lead to their downfall. Tennessee had a former UF football coach (two of them in succession) as AD from '63-'02...and they've been going down since.
This is a rivalry that in its infancy of using the term rivalry had two of college football's greatest QB's of all-time Danny and Peyton and two all-time coaches in Spurrier and Fulmer. In a divided conference, something not really seen before that point, where a single loss could keep you from playing for the conference title or tying for it. People talk about the close games and comebacks in recent memory. I look to our 7 point win in '93, my personal favorite home game I've attended in '95 and the ridiculous come back that lead to a beat down, the '96 blitzkreig in the first half only to hold on in the second (what many of us were holding out for halfway through '16), I was in the North Endzone as Tony George returned a pick North for a TD against Peyton in '97, Collins F'ing Cooper in '98 in our first OT game, Alex Brown going ape **** in '99, Gaffney's catch in 2000, the reason to hate the terrorists from 9/11 just that much more in '01 (also reminder that Darnell Dockett is a garbage human being and Rex Grossman was screwed in Heisman voting), those early fumbles in the rain in '02, that half time Hail Mary in '03, and of course the officiating F*** up that was not starting the clock in '04. No, close games or odd games are nothing new and I don't expect anything else this year.
Despite the rivalry feel, I've never hated Tennessee. Maybe it's because my grandfather kept getting Citrus Bowl tickets when I was a kid so I saw them plenty, lol. I don't know what it is. My wife's father is a Vol fan and when I started dating her she had a UT tag on her car. That changed and quickly. In 2016, I made the trip to Neyland for the first time. Didn't end how I wanted, but the only cross word I had with a UT fan was some jackass trying to convince me Butch Jones was an amazing coach because he beat us. I won that by a mile.
This year, I expect nothing more that another game full of strange that leads to one team winning. In '13, we don't win if Driskel doesn't go out injured (that's not cheering the injury). In '14, Treon Harris and Austin Hardin, yes really, lead a fourth quarter comeback with a highly audible "F*** you Florida" chant on the broadcast leading to Will Muschamp saying how glad he was to disappoint all the UT fans. In '15, we know about 4th and 14, Butch Jones not going for 2, but most people forget that UT missed not one, but two kicks at the end, even after the refs moved the ball several yards inside the hash instead of on the hash on the re-kick. '16, as I said in some thread previously, if we get the 3rd and inches on our first possession, that game is over there and the fans leave (some did leave at halftime). Then Tabor falls down and other crazy stuff leading to the first loss in a decade. Last year, Kelly drops a ball going into the endzone, Mac doesn't take a timeout when Franks is ruled short of the down marker, I say throw it up to Cleveland (for FG range), and we throw a bomb to end it. I thought the game still had time, took me a minute we had let the clock run down that far before snapping.
I don't know what will happen, but I hope it will be fun. UT is a dumpster fire and if we lose I am ready to concede 6-6 may be a good goal. The line hasn't improved at all like I thought, hoped they would. I still stand by, that if they can get to average, we will be alright. The return of David Reese (who was suited up last week) will be a boost for the defense. Both teams have inexperienced DB's. Both teams are trying to get their feet under a new coach. At least UF has played an SEC game. UT was held in check by a Big 12 defense. Franks is not Will Grier in a Holgerson offense, but I don't think he will need to be. I hope he won't be required to be. I expect to see Mullen pulling out all the stops. I expect Pruitt to pull out a bag of tricks. Most picks are against UF from what I've seen. I don't pick against UF, even when it makes sense to.
UF 21 UT 17