Florida’s 10-game home winning streak against Tennessee football died a sudden, emphatic death Nov. 22 in The Swamp.
The No. 20 Vols (8-3, 4-3 SEC) scored for the ninth time in 11 games on their first possession. And they kept scoring throughout the first half on the way to a 31-11 victory.
Florida (3-8, 2-6) never had a chance against UT’s first-half offensive barrage. The Vols scored a touchdown on their first drive and added a field goal on a Max Gilbert field goal on the last play of the half.
They made the Gators look like the 3-8 team they are and turned The Swamp into just another stadium for their first victory on Florida’s home field since 2003.
The noise subsided as quickly as the winning streak. As the crowd quieted, you could hear the UT band playing “Rocky Top” loud and clear.
“Some Florida fans are going to ask (Urban Meyer) to put on the headset,” ABC analyst Kirk Herbstreit said in the second quarter. Meyer, who never lost to the Vols in Gainesville or anywhere else in his six seasons as coach (2005-11), was inducted into Florida’s Ring of Honor at halftime.
Meyer orchestrated a 59-20 Florida victory over the Vols in 2007, quarterback Tim Tebow’s Heisman Trophy season. But Tennessee’s Josh Heupel was the dominant coach on this evening. Gators interim coach Billy Gonzales didn’t have answers on either side of the ball.
Almost every Heupel call worked in the first half when Tennessee scored touchdowns on its first four possessions. The execution was as effective as the calls.
Quarterback Joey Aguilar threw with the same precision he did in a 44-41 loss to Georgia two months ago. He was 11-of-13 passing for 146 yards in the first half.
When UT’s offensive line wasn’t knocking holes in the Florida defense, UT running backs DeSean Bishop and Star Thomas broke tackles. They combined for 140 yards rushing in the first half.
Florida’s offense looked as helpless as its defense in the early going. At one point, the Vols had 199 yards to Florida’s one. They were so dominant in the first half that the second half didn’t matter.
The Gators were resigned to their fate, as their third-quarter play-calling showed. They resorted to a ball-control offense that led to a field goal and extended their scoring streak to a nation-leading 472 games.
But the streak that mattered to Tennessee already was assured.
So much of college football this time of year is about what comes next. As soon as the final score is posted, you wonder: where will it lead?
Does the outcome enhance your chances of making the playoffs? Does it improve your ranking? Does it assure you of a better bowl?
Questions like that didn’t matter for Tennessee. This time, just winning the game was enough.
Finally, the Vols found a way to win at a place where they found a way to lose so many times. So what if this was a bad Florida team. They were still the Gators in The Swamp.
Heupel had lost there twice, as an underdog and a favorite. But he now has one win, and that’s more than UT’s four previous coaches had.
Phillip Fulmer was the last Tennessee coach to win there. That was 22 years ago. In fact, Fulmer went back-to-back, winning in 2001 and 2003.
UT coaches Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley, Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt were a combined 0-6 in The Swamp.
During their 10-game losing streak, the Vols lost by as many as 39 points and by as little as a single point in 2015.
Some of UT’s best players also failed to win in Gainesville. Peyton Manning, Al Wilson, Deon Grant, Eric Berry, Derek Barnett, Joshua Dobbs, and Alvin Kamara all came up empty against the Gators on their home field.
But only the Gators came up empty this time.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: No chomping, just Tennessee football stomping in The Swamp
