The closet football genius Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Maybe he was talking about the story angles for this week’s Tennessee-Florida game and maybe he wasn’t, but the lineups we expected to see prior to this past weekend and those that will present themselves in “The Swamp” at noon on Saturday are going to be a wee bit different.
The most dramatic of those changes will be the Gators quarterback, of course. Florida’s Feleipe Franks – who has terrorized the Volunteers the last two seasons – is gone for the rest of the year following a dislocated ankle suffered against Kentucky.
His replacement in the final quarter of that UK game – veteran reserve Kyle Trask – did lead the Gators on a 19-0 run to that come-from-behind win, and as UT coach Jeremy Pruitt noted Monday, “(Trask) is plenty capable. He’s a big, strong guy that’s got a good arm, and he’s physical in the run game.”
Whether Trask can duplicate such a spark against the Vols is unknown, however. But the other great storyline in this underrated contest – really, did you ever think you’d see UT-Florida slated for a noon telecast? – is the defense that Tennessee almost assuredly will put on the field for the first time all season.