Florida–Tennessee football rivalry: Difference between revisions
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=== The "Catch?" === |
=== The "Catch?" === |
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With 14 seconds to go in the 2000 game and the Gators at the Tennessee three-yard line, a controversial [[Jesse Palmer]] pass to [[Jabar Gaffney]] was ruled a completion and put the Gators up by 3. Gaffney then taunted the Tennessee crowd with a throat-slash gesture. The referees conferred and upheld that Gaffney, who appeared to have control of the ball for only fractions of a second if at all, had indeed caught the game-winning touchdown. The extra point made it a 27-23 Gator victory. After the game, Spurrier openly acknolwedged that his team was the beneficiary of a bad call. |
With 14 seconds to go in the 2000 game and the Gators at the Tennessee three-yard line, a controversial [[Jesse Palmer]] pass to [[Jabar Gaffney]] was ruled a completion and put the Gators up by 3. Gaffney then taunted the Tennessee crowd with a throat-slash gesture. The referees conferred and upheld that Gaffney, who appeared to have control of the ball for only fractions of a second if at all, had indeed caught the game-winning touchdown. The extra point made it a 27-23 Gator victory. After the game, Spurrier openly acknolwedged that his team was the beneficiary of a bad call. {{fact}} |
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Tennessee fans and staff expressed frustration with the officials. Al Matthews, the referee making the call, a [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]] graduate, was put on Tennessee official [[black list]] and may not call any future games involving the team.<ref name="Catch?">{{cite news | title=Career-maker, Gaffney grabbed spotlight after controversial catch |
Tennessee fans and staff expressed frustration with the officials. Al Matthews, the referee making the call, a [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]] graduate, was put on Tennessee official [[black list]] and may not call any future games involving the team.<ref name="Catch?">{{cite news | title=Career-maker, Gaffney grabbed spotlight after controversial catch |
Revision as of 01:42, 17 September 2008
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry | |
Florida athletics logo |
Tennessee Volunteers athletics logo |
Teams | Florida Gators Tennessee Volunteers |
Originated | 1916 |
Series | Tennessee leads, 19-18 |
Current Champion | Florida |
Trophy | None |
Tennessee (19) 1916 1921 1928 1930 1932 1933 1940 1944 1952 1953 1955 1970 1971 1990 1992 1998 2001 2003 2004 |
Florida (18) 1954 1969* 1976 1977 1984 1985 1991 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2002 2005 2006 2007 |
*Gator Bowl |
The Florida-Tennessee rivalry, sometimes called the Third Saturday in September, is a sports rivalry between the teams of the University of Florida (the Gators) and the University of Tennessee ( the Volunteers), which exists largely between the respective programs' football teams.
The Gators and Volunteers first played against each other in 1916 and competed in the same conference since Florida joined the now-defunct Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1912, but the history of the rivalry is far more recent than the two schools' other rivalries. This is because the two teams seldom played against each other on the gridiron until the Southeastern Conference expanded to 12 teams in 1992. In 76 seasons (1916-1991), the teams had met just 21 times. As a result of the expansion, however, the conference was split into two divisions for the first time, with Florida and Tennessee both moved into the Eastern Division.
Schedule
Florida and Tennessee have faced off in September every season since 1990, except 2001, when the game was rescheduled to December due to the September 11th terrorist attacks. Under the old, 10 team SEC, the teams would play on a rotation of two years on, two years off. With the SEC splitting into two divisions in 1992, the teams now play each season. Both are members of the SEC's East Division, and until 2002, were the only teams to represent that division in the SEC Championship Game. This game continues to have a huge affect on who will represent the East Division in Atlanta for the SEC championship.
History
Early history
The two teams began play in 1916, but the rivalry did not develop until they began regular play in the 1990s. The teams played only a handful of games before SEC expansion in 1992. Both teams joined the conference in 1932, but were non-regular opponents.
Tennessee dominated the series early, taking the first 10 games. Florida did win 4 in a row beginning in 1976, but the 4 games occurred over the span of a decade.
1969 Gator Bowl
In Florida coach Ray Graves' final game he saw his young team beat the SEC champion Tennessee Volunteers, 14-13, in the 1969 Gator Bowl. The game, which marked the Gator Bowl's Silver Anniversary had extra drama because two days before kickoff word leaked out that Volunteers head coach Doug Dickey, the SEC Coach of the Year, would return to his alma mater (University of Florida) after the game. Tennessee's defense featured Jack Reynolds and All-American Steve Kiner while the offense featured quarterback Bobby Scott throwing to end Ken DeLong. Chip Kell was an All-American guard on the offensive line.
Florida's defense was superb, with a blocked punt by Steve Tannen resulting in one score and an interception setting up another. The Gator's "Super Sophs"John Reeves and Carlos Alvarez connected on a touchdown that provided the winning margin but the Gator defense stopped the Vols offense on the one-yard line moments later to preserve the win. Aside from Steve Tannon's showing (4 tackles, 1 interception, 1 blocked punt) the Florida defense harassed Vol quarterback Bobby Scott "all day". The pressure was mounted by Jack Youngblood (9 tackles, one forced fumble and 7 hurries), Robert Coleman (6 tackles and three hurries), Mike Kelly (7 tackles, one sack, recovered blocked punt for touchdown) among others.[1]
Recent history
Spurrier v. Fulmer
The result of the SEC split into two divisions in 1992 was an annual match-up between Florida and Tennessee at a time when both programs were on the rise under new head coaches (Steve Spurrier had taken over the Florida job in 1990, while Phillip Fulmer became coach at Tennessee during the 1992 season). Indeed, their first match-up as permanent opponents in 1992 helped sew the seeds of rivalry as the underdog Volunteers beat the defending SEC champion Gators in Neyland Stadium. That game, along with an upset the previous week at Georgia helped launch Phillip Fulmer into the position of head coach at Tennessee. Fulmer led the Vols to an upset win over the Gators as an interim head coach, while Johnny Majors recovered from heart problems.
The 1993 match-up featured the Volunteers entering the game with quarterback Heath Shuler as a possible Heisman trophy favorite. The Gators started freshman Danny Wuerffel. The Gators pulled out a 41-34 win.
The Volunteers hoped to avenge the previous year's game in 1994 by beating the Gators back home in Neyland Stadium. Florida entered the game ranked first in the polls with an offense led by senior Terry Dean. The Volunteers were ranked 14th at 1-2 on the year. The Gator defense managed to stifle the Volunteer offense all game in a 31-0 Gator win. One bright spot for the Volunteers was that Peyton Manning, who started the season third on the depth chart at quarterback, took over for the injured Todd Helton late in the game and became the starter the next week.
Manning was supposed to be the lead story going into the 1995 match-up. The heralded sophomore led the Volunteers into the game as a media darling. Sports Illustrated was set to put Manning on the cover of their magazine the week following the game regardless of the outcome. Early in the game the Volunteers looked poised to thump the Gators, as they were up by 16 points during parts of the first half. As the game wore on and the rain clouds deluged the fans and players, momentum shifted into the Gators' favor. The Gators scored 48 straight points to turn a 30-14 deficit into a 62-37 win. Danny Wuerffel, who had come into the previous year's game off the bench in mop-up duty, threw for six touchdowns and found himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated instead of Manning.
Many Vol fans were irritated by Wuerffel playing deep into the 4th quarter with a lead. Wuerffel remained in the game even after the Vols had replaced Peyton Manning with Jermaine Copeland. The lopsided score also increased pressure on Johnny Chavis, the Tennessee Defensive Coordinator in his second game. Many fans called for Fulmer to fire Chavis following the game. The Gators ended the regular season undefeated and in the Fiesta Bowl, while this was the only blemish on the 1995 Volunteers schedule.
The Gators entered the 1996 game at number 4 in the polls and the Volunteers entered at number 2, almost assuring an instant classic. The game looked more like a blowout early, as the Gators scored 5 touchdowns in the first 25 minutes to take a 35-0 lead. Peyton Manning rallied the Volunteers to their first score just before the half. The second half was one-sided score-wise toward the Vols, and perhaps one-sided to the Gators by strategy. In a rare show of clock management, Steve Spurrier reverted to a more possession-oriented offense and ran several short-yardage trick plays (including on fourth downs) to run down the clock as Tennessee cut the Florida lead to 6 in the final minutes. One formation, dubbed "Emory & Henry" after the school Spurrier first saw it at, kept the Gators in possession of the ball on several occasions as the Gators won 35-29. The Gators would win the national championship in the 1997 Sugar Bowl several months later.
By 1997, the story had once again focused on Manning, as he had yet to beat the Gators in this, his senior season. The game, held at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, was another match-up of highly-ranked teams with national title implications. The Gators entered the game ranked #2 and the Volunteers entered ranked #4. Gator quarterback Doug Johnson and Manning each threw for three touchdowns, but the Gator defense and running back Fred Taylor made the difference in to a 33-20 Gator victory. The Gators took the #1 spot in the polls after the game and without argue cost Manning the Heisman trophy.
The press coverage of the 1998 match-up had shifted from Manning's inability to beat the Gators to Volunteers coach Phil Fulmer's inability to do so since taking over the head coaching job full time at Tennessee. The Vols had lost 10 of their last 12 meetings with the Gators at that point, and by hosting the Gators in Neyland Stadium, it was the Vols' best chance to beat the Gators despite the departure of Manning. With a big run by Shawn Bryson in the first quarter and a Peerless Price touchdown catch from Tee Martin in the third, the Volunteers lead until a Travis McGriff touchdown catch from Jesse Palmer tied it up. The fourth quarter was scoreless, and the game headed to overtime. Jeff Hall made a field goal during the Volunteer possession. Florida was unable to score a touchdown during their first possession, forcing a Collins Cooper field goal that sailed wide left and clinched a 20-17 Volunteer victory, getting the "monkey off the back" of Fulmer. The Volunteers would end the season undefeated, and would win the first BCS National Championship Game.
Having suffered their first loss to the Volunteers after five straight wins, the Gators looked to ‘’dethrone’’ the defending national champion Volunteers in the confines of The Swamp. Florida defensive end Alex Brown made a name for himself in the game by sacking Tee Martin a team-record five times. Florida took a 23-7 lead in the third quarter before Tennessee scored two touchdowns to cut the Florida lead to two points. On a 4th down and 3, the Gator defense stuffed Jamal Lewis to force a turnover on downs and seal the Gator victory, 23-21, ending Tennessee 14 game winning streak.
The next match-up, in 2000, was yet another close finish in the series. At home in front of a record 108,768 fans, Tennessee rushed for more than 200 yards on the Gator defense but couldn’t pull ahead in the game. With 14 seconds to go in the game and the Gators at the Tennessee three-yard line, a controversial Jesse Palmer pass to Jabar Gaffney that was ruled a completion put the Gators up by 3. Gaffney then taunted the Tennessee crowd with a throat-slash gesture. The referees conferred and upheld that Gaffney, who appeared to have control of the ball for only fractions of a second if at all, had indeed caught the game-winning touchdown. The extra point made it a 27-23 Gator victory. Tennessee fans left Knoxville feeling robbed of a victory by the refs and the classless Gators. Florida's victory put them victorious at Neyland Stadium 3 of their last 4 trips.
Because of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, all NCAA football games due to be played on Sept 15 were postponed to a later date. Florida and Tennessee would end up meeting the first weekend of December because of this, and that only made the match-up even more important. Because the two teams were tied at 6-1 in conference play before the game, the winner of it was assured the SEC Eastern Division championship and a chance to play in the SEC Championship Game a week later. With the Gators entering the game ranked #2 in the BCS and Tennessee ranked #6, the winner of the game also essentially controlled their own destiny to play for the BCS National Championship in the Rose Bowl. Travis Stephens rushed for 226 yards on just 19 carries and scored 2 touchdowns as Tennessee broke a 30-year winless drought against the Gators in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with a 34-32 victory. The Gators scored a touchdown with mere moments remaining in the 4th quarter to bring the score within 2, but tried the same pass on the two-point conversion try and had it knocked away.
Post Spurrier
Tennessee hosted the 2002 game against a slumping Gators squad under new head coach Ron Zook. The Gators had been thoroughly beaten two weeks earlier by Miami. The Gators, seemingly accustomed to playing in rain, handled the ball far better once the rain began. During the second quarter, the Gators would capitalize on the numerous Volunteer turnovers (four fumbles on four consecutive offensive plays at one point) and scored 24 points in the last 4:55 remaining of the half. The Gators won handily, 30-13. The Volunteers’ 8 fumbles matched a school record.
For the first time since the rivalry began 11 years earlier, the 2003 match-up featured both teams ranked out of the top 10 (UT 12, UF 17), and the game was relegated to a noon kickoff. With three total points in the game with minutes to go in the first half, both teams played for field position to prevent the other from scoring. Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer called a timeout as the Gators had to punt with seconds left in the half. Quarterback Casey Clausen heaved the ball from midfield as time expired, and receiver James Banks hauled it in to put the Volunteers ahead going into the locker room. Florida coach Ron Zook shuffled quarterbacks Chris Leak and Ingle Martin, letting neither find a rhythm as Tennessee pulled away in a 24-10 victory.
The teams met in 2004 to have another classic finish. The Gators les 28-21 late in the fourth quarter when Tennessee QB Eric Ainge rallied the Volunteers with a touchdown pass with 4:17 left. James Wilhoit missed the game-tying point after touchdown, the first PAT miss of his career. The Gators took possession and attempted to run the clock out. After Florida gained one first down, they were stopped on the subsequent third down and were about to be forced to punt. After the play, however Florida receiver Dallas Baker got involved in an altercation with Volunteers DB Jonathan Wade and the two exchanged head-slaps. Baker was flagged for retaliating, backing the Gators up fifteen yards before their punt. The officials, after stopping the clock to call the penalty, neglected to restart the clock before the fourth down punt play. After Tennessee received the punt and subsequently drove to the Florida 33-yard-line, Wilhoit got a chance at redemption with the game-winning 50-yard field goal with six seconds left, which he made. The Volunteers won the game 30-28.
The Volunteers entered the 2005 game with a two-game winning streak on Florida’s home field. New Gator coach Urban Meyer made an emphasis on regaining home superiority. In what was a defensive struggle, Florida scored in the first quarter on an Andre Caldwell reverse run. Tennessee’s Erik Ainge threw a touchdown to tie the game up at the half. Chris Hetland kicked three field goals for Florida in the second half to put the Gators up 16-7, a two-score lead that Tennessee was never able to challenge.
Most recently, the Gators traveled to Knoxville for the 2006 game. The Volunteers, week 1 winners over highly-ranked Cal and looking to continue to prove they were back after a disappointing 5-6 season in 2005, took a 17-7 lead on the Gators in the first half. The game once again wasn’t without controversy, as Tennessee linebacker Marvin Mitchell intercepted a Chris Leak pass and returned it for a touchdown. To the chagrin of the Volunteer faithful, the play was nullified by a roughing penalty on J.T. Mapu for a possibly incidental hit to Leak’s helmet. Dallas Baker, who had been the Gators’ goat for the 2004 loss in Knoxville, scored two touchdowns in the second half, including the go-ahead score with 6:30 left in the game to help secure a 21-20 Gator victory.
On September 15, 2007, the two teams met for the 37th time. The match-up was predicted to be the #9 game to watch in 2007 by SI.com's "Top 20 Games To Watch In 2007" list.[1] Florida defeated Tennessee 59-20 in a rout and offensively outgained them 554 yards to 298.
Controversy
"Faxgate"
Before the 1991 game, Former Tennessee coach Jack Sells, who had been fired before that season for his role in recruiting violations caused a stir by faxing Florida Defensive Coordinator Ron Zook a Tennessee playbook. Both Zook, who would become a Gator Head coach in 2002, and Head coach Steve Spurrier denied receiving the information.
However, a Kinko's employee in Knoxville turned Sells in, and produced a fax cover sheet showing a transmission from Jack Sells and the copy center near campus to the University of Florida Athletic Department.
Controversy surrounded the issue, after the Gators' 35-18 victory in the game. Florida had just come off probation for, among other violations, spying on opponents.
Sells later sued Kinko's for privacy violations and moved away from Knoxville.[2]
Spelling Citrus
Tennessee played in back to back Citrus Bowls following the 1995 and 1996 seasons. Upon hearing of Tennessee's invite to the 1997 Citrus Bowl, Spurrier joked publicly "You can't spell Citrus without UT." The following season, Tennessee won the SEC Championship and went to the Orange Bowl. The Gators were then invited to the 1998 Citrus Bowl. Tennessee fans bought an airplane banner advertisement reading "And you can't spell Florida Citrus without UF."[3]
The "Catch?"
With 14 seconds to go in the 2000 game and the Gators at the Tennessee three-yard line, a controversial Jesse Palmer pass to Jabar Gaffney was ruled a completion and put the Gators up by 3. Gaffney then taunted the Tennessee crowd with a throat-slash gesture. The referees conferred and upheld that Gaffney, who appeared to have control of the ball for only fractions of a second if at all, had indeed caught the game-winning touchdown. The extra point made it a 27-23 Gator victory. After the game, Spurrier openly acknolwedged that his team was the beneficiary of a bad call. [citation needed]
Tennessee fans and staff expressed frustration with the officials. Al Matthews, the referee making the call, a Vanderbilt graduate, was put on Tennessee official black list and may not call any future games involving the team.[4]
Unsportmanlike Conduct?
The end of the 2004 game brought outrage from some media outlets such as ESPN.[5] Florida was attempting to run the clock out late in the 4th quarter, after a missed James Wilhoit extra point gave them a 1 point lead. After Florida gained one first down, they were stopped on the subsequent third down and were about to be forced to punt. After the play, however, Florida receiver Dallas Baker got involved in an altercation with Volunteers DB Jonathan Wade and the two exchanged head-slaps. Only Baker was flagged for retaliating, despite the referee Bobby Moreau appearing to have a clear view of both head-slaps, which backed the Gators up fifteen yards before their punt. The officials, after stopping the clock to call the penalty, neglected to restart the clock before the fourth down punt play. After Tennessee received the punt and subsequently drove to the Florida 33-yard-line, Wilhoit got a chance at redemption with the game-winning field goal with six seconds left, which he made. The Volunteers won the game 30-28.
The official who called the penalty, Bobby Moreau, received death threats from Florida fans after the game. SEC Director of Officials Bobby Gaston has subsequently removed Moreau from any games in Gainesville.[6]
Game Results
TriviaPrior to their win in 2001 against the Gators, the Volunteers had gone 30 years without beating them in Gainesville. They had not gone winless at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, however, as they won the 1994 Gator Bowl that had been relocated to Gainesville for that season while the city of Jacksonville was renovating Gator Bowl Stadium into Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. References
See also |