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Saturday, April 20, 2024

Lane Kiffin 1, Urban Meyer 0.

There is no other way to score Saturday's sloppy affair in which an overmatched Tennessee team was a decent quarterback away from upsetting No. 1 Florida.

Saturday's showdown in The Swamp was one everyone couldn't wait to see, but only to watch how Meyer would exact his revenge against the guy who insulted the Gators several times in the offseason.

If that's how UF plays angry, fans will be on the edge of their seats quite a few Saturdays this fall.

There was a reason people even thought about UF scoring 100 in this game, something Florida hasn't even done against a nonconference cupcake opponent.

The notion was obviously ridiculous, but the Gators are the defending national champions with almost everyone returning and averaged 59 points per game before Saturday.

So the fact that Meyer smiled as he jogged off the field Saturday night and pumped his fist in joy with the crowd is absolutely absurd.

Sure, it's impressive that Meyer is now 5-0 against Tennessee and 13-1 in rivalry games.

But of those five victories against the Volunteers, this one was the closest thing to a lock as there can be in college football.

"If there's a way to do this, let's go move the Florida Gators to a deserted island somewhere and let's go play football and not worry about all this nonsense and just go play the game," Meyer said. "I've never seen anything like it this past week. You just try to shelter them and make sure they focus on what's important and not this silly nonsense."

Poor, poor Florida.

That's what happens when you have the most talented team in the country. It's time for the Gators to show it.

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Simply winning Saturday should not have been the objective, not if winning back-to-back national titles is a goal.

Talent alone will win this UF team almost every game it plays, and that's a huge credit to the Gators' recruiting.

But Lane Kiffin and his father Monte, Tennessee's defensive coordinator, laid out a pretty good game plan for teams looking to upset Florida.

Run the ball and use a zone defense while sprinkling in some blitzes.

It worked like a charm for Tennessee, to the point that if quarterback Jonathan Crompton wasn't completely inept, the Volunteers could have pulled an amazing upset.

Tebow was sacked three times and was forced into running the ball 24 times, more than running backs Emmanuel Moody, Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey combined. It was the most Tebow carried since the 2007 South Carolina game, in which Tebow rushed 26 times for 120 yards and five touchdowns.

Tebow was indecisive in the pocket, holding onto the ball too long and taking off too many times. He had an interception deep in his own end and a fumble in the red zone.

Meyer admitted Tebow didn't play his best game, and the whole offense reeked of early 2008 - conservative playcalling and production way below the Gators' potential. UF had two plays longer than 20 yards - runs by Moody and Demps.

Monte Kiffin's zone defense forced Florida to keep everything short in the passing game, and with the success Tennessee had, the Gators should expect to see it again.

Florida must find some consistent playmakers at receiver. No Gator had 30 yards receiving. Tebow didn't have a passing touchdown for the first time in 31 games.

On offense, Tennessee slowed the game down, and it proved to be very effective. The Volunteers ran 32 times for 117 yards, an average of 3.7 yards per carry, helped by Florida missing far too many tackles.

"I think there's so much pressure on this team to perform perfectly," Meyer said after the game. "I mean, I'd rather be on that end than, 'Boy, great job, we lost by 10.' I don't want to do that. There's a lot of pressure on these guys, and I felt it in [the locker room]."

And the Gators will continue to feel it all the way through January. That's the unfortunate consequence of being the No.1 team in the country.

Now it's up to Florida to start playing like it.

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