I hope none of my colleagues waste any ink writing the obligatory "The real season starts now" column this week or a "Now it's time for Lane Kiffin to back up his comments" piece.
It doesn't and he can't.
The truth is, Tennessee isn't very good, and Florida is going to beat them by as many points as Urban Meyer deems to be an appropriate punishment for Kiffin's transgressions.
Kiffin first ruffled feathers in Gainesville the day he accepted the UT job.
At a press conference introducing Kiffin as the Vols' new head coach, he said he was looking forward to singing Rocky Top all night long after beating the Gators next season.
Then there was the whole Nu'Keese Richardson debacle.
Kiffin told fans the day after National Signing Day that Meyer violated NCAA rules by calling Richardson, now a Volunteer, while he was on an official visit to UT. Meyer didn't.
But really, I don't understand all the Kiffin hate from fans. It's like picking on your little brother who you know can't fight back.
I am glad the rivalry of my childhood finally matters again, though.
Florida-Tennessee used to be the game of the season in the Southeastern Conference. It used to mean something.
There was a time when I could almost mark the milestones of my life by UF-UT controversies.
Before the 1991 game, former Tennessee assistant coach Jack Sells, who had been fired before that season for his role in recruiting violations, faxed then-Florida defensive coordinator Ron Zook a copy of the Volunteers' playbook. Both Zook and coach Steve Spurrier denied it but a Kinko's employee in Knoxville produced a fax cover sheet showing a transmission from Sells to a copy center at UF. The Gators won 35-18 and the Soviet Union fell some three months later.
I was in first grade in 1995 when the Gators trailed Peyton Manning and the Volunteers 30-14 at halftime but scored 48 straight points in the second half and won 62-37.
When Tennessee was invited to the 1997 Citrus Bowl, Steve Spurrier famously joked, "You can't spell Citrus without UT."
When the Gators played in the same game the next year, Volunteers fans hired a plane to fly over the stadium with a sign that said, "Tennessee welcomes Florida to the 1998 Citrus Bowl." I was sitting in the stands.
In 2000, with 14 seconds to go in the game and UF at the Tennessee 3-yard line, a controversial Jesse Palmer pass to Jabar Gaffney was ruled a completion and put the Gators up by three. Gaffney then taunted the Tennessee crowd with a throat slash and UF won 27-23.
The Gaffney-inspired throat slash became the Catholic Youth League taunt of choice for the rest of the season.
In 2004, the year that Facebook was created, Dallas Baker's head slap of Jonathan Wade cost UF 15 yards of field position that eventually set up a game-winning 50-yard field goal for Tennessee.
I can only imagine that some of the first status updates made here at UF involved Baker's name and a string of expletives.
"Look at the '90s and do your homework on this thing. Usually the winner of this game was the team to go to Atlanta," Meyer said. "Obviously, Georgia really has a say-so in that now. But the timing of the game and the history of the game has made this rivalry very significant."
There might not be much drama on the field this time around, but here's to hoping that Saturday gives us one more thing to talk about next year.
