Tennessee's Cortez McDowell (20) prepares to tackle Ohio's Mason Morgan (89). The Ohio University Bobcats visited the University of Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in a non-conference NCAA football game on Saturday September 17, 2016. 
Kahlil McKenzie (99) tackles a Ohio ballcarrier. The Ohio University Bobcats visited the University of Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in a non-conference NCAA football game on Saturday September 17, 2016. KNOXVILLE - Seven of Tennessee's football assistant coaches were involved in a more recent win against Florida than the last time the Volunteers triumphed in the rivalry in 2004.
The coach to beat the Gators most recently is Bob Shoop, who was Vanderbilt's defensive coordinator in 2013 when the Commodores snapped a 22-game losing streak and won at Florida for the first time since 1945.
Tennessee's defensive coordinator on Wednesday joked when he was hired he was "instructed" by head coach Butch Jones and "about six million other people" to ensure the Vols deliver a long-awaited win against Florida.
"The passion of both fan bases, that's been exciting to me, and it should be. It's a really cool rivalry," Shoop said. "It's two historic programs in the last Saturday in September. It's always been kind of a tradition there.
"I'm very impressed with how our players have handled it. They haven't taken the bait. They've stayed on point and stayed focus on the task at hand, and I think once 3:30 rolls around on Saturday all the other stuff is kind of out the door.
"Winning these first three games was great, but I've been told on numerous occasions that my responsibility is to win this game."
Tennessee will have to win it with a shorthanded defense.
The Vols will be without linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. (ankle) for the second straight game, and they lost All-SEC cornerback Cameron Sutton to a long-term ankle injury against Ohio last week. Linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, another defensive star, won't be 100 percent after straining a muscle in his shoulder last week.
Injuries to key players can be demoralizing, but the Vols haven't been thinking "woe is us" during their preparation for the Gators this week.
"We just have the next-man-up mentality," defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie said. "Every guy in there is stepping up and playing their role. Every guy who's injured is still a big part of our defense, making sure the guys behind him knows what they're doing and that type of stuff. I think that's kind of the cool thing about our defense.
"We don't really have one alpha male. We just have a whole defense of alpha males. We're all out there ready to go, and every guy's ready to lead and every guy looks to the right and left of them and will take whatever the guy to the right or left of him has to say to him, making sure our defense is playing to the best of their capability."
Former Baylor School standout Colton Jumper again will play in Kirkland's place, and Cortez McDowell will have to be ready to go in case Reeves-Maybin can't finish the game.
In the secondary Emmanuel Moseley and Justin Martin are expected to start, but freshman Baylen Buchanan should play as well after a steady performance when pressed into action last week, to the surprise of no one in the program.
"I said that in camp," Shoop said. "I said at one point he had been compared to Cam his freshman year. He's mature. I love mature guys, steady guys. You may not get Deion Sanders, but you know what you're going to get. You're not surprised.
"One day it's here, one day it's here, one day it's over here - every day he comes, and I think I called him 'Steady Eddy,' and you guys kind of laughed at that, but that's what he is and I had no problem when he went in the game."
Shoop challenged his linemen to pick up the slack for his depleted defense, and Tennessee must have success up front to limit Florida's exploitation of some advantageous matchups in the Vols' back seven.
"I put it on those guys this week," he said. "If we're going to win this game, those guys are going to have to step up. They talk about the SEC being a line-of-scrimmage league, and those guys are really going to have to play well against a good offensive line."
By halftime of the Ohio game Tennessee's defense was operating without six players on its two-deep depth chart, but the Vols still managed to get the job done in the second half.
It'll take a similar all-hands-on-deck performance against Florida.
"To me, the narrative Sunday might have been Tennessee hangs on for win over Ohio," Shoop said. "To me it was one of the greatest wins I've ever been a part of.
"For the guys to rally around one another. For Justin Martin to go in at halftime and put his pads on when he'd been declared out with an injury, and Micah Abernathy's on the sideline begging to go in on special teams, saying he could play corner if we need - little things like that, I think, are cool stories that if you're writing a book, those are pretty high chapters in the book.
"Guys really stepped up."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com