Why do the gators have our number?

[wmcovol]

Floridas speed on defense forces a lot of turnovers. If you break it down, it’s been turnovers that have beat the Vols most times.

 

[Smokymtnbullet]

They have the home field advantage every other year.

 

[EricStratton]

Kinkos? That’s how?

 

[orangepridenation]

There is some truth in the coaching advantages they had during the Spurrier/Meyer eras and even them being in Tennessee's head a little bit in more recent times, but it really all comes back down to Florida's natural recruiting advantage.

I know we recruit some studs and they recruit some studs, but it's those guys in between the studs, the meat of the rosters, where UF has had the distinct advantage, especially when it comes to speed, for as long as I can remember.

 

[OrangeTsar]

It is because we have lacked leadership both at coaching and in the locker room that understands the mental aspect of the game in terms of confidence, motivation, and responsibility. Tennessee loses to Florida not on the field s much as in the space located between the ears. The results on the field merely echo the loss that has already been inflicted before kickoff
I get the sense (or at least wishful thinking) that Heupel might be the one finally capable of changing that. The whole mental appearance of last year’s team es the best i have Seen in ages. They did not just go through the motions expecting something bad to happen on the next snap

 

[peaygolf]

They have had better players and better coaching.

Pretty simple.

 

[Tnphil]

we are in a permanent 3 year build cycle.

Yep...And based on the coaches we've been one of the youngest teams in the country every year for the last decade...Can't figure it out.

 

[Woke]

We’ve always played to lose vs FL. Huge pucker factor. “Too much to lose”. So we’ve almost always let the Gators dictate the game.

Never once did we just go out there with a “screw them” attitude and play our A game bash them in the mouth then lose (or win) on our own terms.

Until this year. Mark my words Heup gonna loosen up our boys take a sledgehammer to the Gators from the opening gun and keep pouring it on until they tap out Mizzou style.

Only way to get it done.

 

[LittleVol]

It's mental.

Something happens when you see those 2 particular teams lineup against each other.

Tennessee's uniforms for some reason don't seems as cool anymore. It's like Florida's uniforms lessen them somehow. And the Gators aren't known for having great uniforms either. It's just something about the contrast and Tennessee gets the negative end of it. It's sounds silly, but literally eversince I've watched this rivalry I get that impression when they lineup across each other.

Florida plays loose, fast and then gets up on us early.
They have FUN when they play Tennessee. They never come out flat even if they clearly have the superior team.

Derek Dooley could have coached Florida to a winning record against us.

 

[Jax_Vol]

Because we play them too early in the season.

Move that game back until November, and jaytors become much slower.

 

[utvolpj]

3-4 yo flag football game today (church league) and one fan was screaming and dropped f-bombs at the ref. My son looked over and said "of course he has a gator hat on."

May have our number but they're still trash

 

[beachvol23]

Contrary to what 75% of fans think, there is no jinx or “they’re in our (player’s) heads! There have been too many coaches and too many players over a length of time that have nothing to do with each other. Most of this nonsense is made up by fans. It really comes down to execution by coaches and players, and we easily choked away half of the games. BVS in full effect. Go follow some other fan bases and teams for a while to get different perspectives. Too many Vol fans are unnecessarily cynical, jaded and whine too much.

 

[BlinghamptonVol]

No more worries after the beatdown we’re about to put on them this year. 50-13

 

[swampfoxfan]

I don't think CJH knows we are supposed to lose. I see us getting a win annually in the TN FL series.

 

[Volatility]

it’s a couple of things.

1. Better leadership. I don’t know much about their current AD, but the previous one knew that football was the lifeblood of the university and the city. They always seemed much quicker to cut ties with a losing coach compared to us.

2. Kind of related to point 1, but they don’t do bargain bin hires. We went out and hired cornbread and a G5 coach with a losing record.

3. Florida is a great state to recruit from. There’s so much more talent there compared to Tennessee.

4. No major in-state competitors. FSU and Miami are hot garbage and I’m not sure how or why. They’re making Florida’s job that much easier by being absolute trash.

I hope we’re on the right path with our AD/HC. I also hope Miami and FSU stop sucking and at least move from dumpster fire to decent. That would go a long way in hurting Florida.

 

[Boca Vol]

UT puts so much pressure on the UF game when UF couldn't give a rats a$$ about UT. If UT beats UF they are giving an extension to the coach. UF beats UT, Meh.

 

[swampfoxfan]

UT puts so much pressure on the UF game when UF couldn't give a rats a$$ about UT. If UT beats UF they are giving an extension to the coach. UF beats UT, Meh.

B.S.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

I still have yet to see a reasonable reason why we cannot beat UF. I have come to the conclusion that there is no real reason. They own us in football. Plain and simple.

 

[UTblood4life]

2014, 1015, 2016, 2017.....We should've won all those games...We won 2016 but the others we outplayed UF but alas that big ugly bad luck head reared up and took it away from us...It's almost uncanny.

14 game still pisses me off to this day
Treon Harris smh

 

[UTblood4life]

So Muschamp and Mcelwain were elite coaches?

Muschump comments after the 14 game

 

[volsrock09]

But how? How can they be in our heads when we change coaches and players so often? If we had the same roster and coaching staff for many years then I would agree. But we don’t.

I would really love for someone to come up with a legitimate and logical explanation as to why almost every other SEC team can beat UF and we cannot.

They feel the pressure from the fan base, imo. All year leading up to the game is can UT beat UF. The players feed off that and play extremely tight. Even in 2016 they played so tight they were dropping passes and making mistakes they shouldn't make. Eventually they just said F it and let loose. They may be new coaches/players, but the HC knows how much the UF game mean to UT fans which trickles down to the players.

 

[strongtower]

Peyton Manning started it. In 95 i believe. When UT was blowin Gators out at halftime & Gators scored over 60 on us at 2nd half things never been same. Plain simple

 

[jarnol32]

Tennessee has always been a bargain shopper. Don’t think we’ll ever hire a proven “elite” coach. Heupel may eventually get into that category though, we’ll see.

Florida hasn’t hired a “proven elite head coach”since they stole Doug Dickey. Spurrier came from duke, Urban Myer came from Utah, neither were “proven elite head coaches”. Florida has more in state talent than any state in the country except Texas. That alone makes it a little bit easier to get things rolling.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

Well, other than the fact we have literally given them our number each year? Fact is, whether you're talking about Komodo dragons, crocodiles, alligators, black mambas, or Fin Fang Foom, reptiles are scary. The only way to end their threat is to kill the [insert your favorite and most derogatory expletive here]. Of course, you will need a St. George, a Sigurd, a Beowulf, a Thor, and maybe a Volodymyr Zelenskyy on our team to help make this happen. But it's doable, and we gonna do it.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

Peyton Manning started it. In 95 i believe. When UT was blowin Gators out at halftime & Gators scored over 60 on us at 2nd half things never been same. Plain simple

Don’t know that Peyton started it, because he balled out in that ‘95 game until our offense woke up and Jay Graham kept giving us the ball, limiting Peyton’s opportunities.