Coach Butch Jones and the Vols were frustrated most of
Saturday by a Florida defense that secured a 10-9 win.KNOXVILLE - What a waste of that outstanding checkerboard visual in the Neyland Stadium stands on Saturday afternoon. Kind of like the clock striking midnight on Cinderella. Or some LSU back-up quarterback named Matt Mauck crushing Tennessee hearts in the 2001 SEC title game.
With their home field all dressed up to celebrate the biggest Tennessee football win since at least the year before Nick Saban took over Alabama in 2007, with Florida seemingly intent on gift-wrapping the Vols' first victory against the Gators since 2004, all the Big Orange had to do was hold a nine-point lead for 15 fourth-quarter minutes.
Florida hadn't so much as advanced past the UT 34 a single time in three quarters. The Gators' quarterback, Jeff Driskel -- once viewed as the nation's best pro-style prep QB -- had already thrown three interceptions and rung up all of 59 passing yards when the final quarter began.
If the Vols couldn't win this one, when would they ever beat the Gators?
Not that Tennessee was exactly advancing the sport at that moment. In fact, the rest of the nation had probably long ago turned checker-bored with this inoffensive display, both UT and UF apparently determined to showcase their punters to potential recruits, given the eight punts they each booted this otherwise glorious autumn afternoon.
And while there were Orange Bowl reps at Neyland when this game began, they were surely gone long before it ended, if only because even the Orange Bowl would prefer there was something besides its halftime show be worth watching.
But after nine straight losses to Florida, the Big Orange Nation would have happily accepted a 2-0 victory. Just win, baby. Puh-leeeeeze.
Then it happened. Kind of like LSU's Mauck running amok against the Vols inside Atlanta's Georgia Dome that long-ago Saturday night. Or Kentucky moving wideout Matt Roark to quarterback to end a 26-game losing streak to UT in 2011.
If UT has had a single historical weakness the past 25 years, it's been its inability on occasion to adjust to a running quarterback after planning for a passing QB.
And that's just what Florida did in the fourth quarter. It went with pure freshman quarterback Treon Harris, who promptly led the Gators to a quick fourth-quarter touchdown after UT quarterback Justin Worley fumbled the ball. Now it was 9-7 and Neyland was drifting toward Rocky Shock.
By the end of the game the fleet-footed Harris had accumulated 24 rushing yards, 17 passing yards, and just enough offense to lead the visitors to 10 fourth-quarter points and a 10-9 victory, their 10th straight over Tennessee.
"It hurts a lot," said Worley. "Being able to control the game for so long and not being able to finish it.
"We kept beating ourselves. Penalties. Negative yardage plays."
Here's a negative: This same Florida defense gave up 645 yards of offense at Alabama two weeks ago in a 42-21 loss. Against the Vols, the Gators surrendered but 233 total yards, including but 28 on the ground.
A single constant in Florida's 10 straight wins -- the Gators have out-rushed UT in all 10 games, including piling up 156 ground yards on Saturday.
Not that Tennessee coach Butch Jones was willing to concede that's what cost his team.
"Overall, you hold a football team in this conference to 232 yards [as UT did Florida], you should come away with a victory and we weren't able to do it," he said.
Yet that also begs this question: If UT couldn't win this one against the worst Florida team we may ever see, when will it win a game it's expected to win against the best teams in the SEC and beyond?
"We're going to be alright," said Jones, who seemed anything but alright at game's end. "I'm angered and upset, but I'm not discouraged because I see progress every day. You guys [the fans] just need to hang in there. We're in it together. We're going to get it together. I promise you we're going to get it right."
And maybe they will, beginning this Saturday against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
"We're tougher as a team," said Worley. "Years past, we might have dwelled on this loss and never gotten over it."
Instead, it may be the fans that take awhile to get over this one. A 9-0 lead. Only 15 minutes left to protect it. Ouch.
Then Jones opened his mouth one more time.
"We had a tremendous amount of recruits out here today," he said. "Why wouldn't you want to come to Tennessee after that?"
Of course. Who wouldn't want to play for a team that piled up 233 yards of offense against a Florida team that had surrendered an average of 548 yards of offense against its other two SEC foes? Who wouldn't want to sign up for a rebuilding job such as that?
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com