Several minutes after Saturday night’s 63-6 dismantling of Akron inside a packed Neyland Stadium, second-year Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel pointed out that the late result would reduce the amount of celebration time before the next challenge.
Several minutes after Heupel spoke, his players already seemed in Florida-week mode.
“We’re 3-0, and obviously we feel great,” junior receiver Jalin Hyatt said after his career-best 166-yard performance, “but it’s time to go to work now.”
The Southeastern Conference’s premier rivalry of the 1990s — Steve Spurrier’s Gators and Phillip Fulmer’s Volunteers combined to win the first 10 SEC East titles — is plenty important this Saturday, as evidenced by its 3:30 p.m. national telecast on CBS and being accompanied by ESPN’s popular “College GameDay” traveling show.
Tennessee is a woeful 1-16 against Florida since 2005, with the 38-28 victory by the Vols in 2016 the most recent time “College GameDay” graced Knoxville. This will be the ninth time the show has focused on a Florida-Tennessee game, a rivalry topped only by the 11 occasions “College GameDay” has ventured to Alabama-LSU and Ohio State-Penn State showdowns.
In Sunday’s latest Associated Press poll, the Vols vaulted from No. 15 to No. 11, while Florida slipped from No. 18 to No. 20 after its 31-28 escape of South Florida.
“It’s the same routine for us,” Heupel said Saturday night. “Our preparation doesn’t have to be different. It has to be consistent. We’ve got to control the controllables at a really high level this week.
“The great thing is there is going to be a bunch of noise around it, right? Our fan base is excited about this game, but our preparation has to take us to the opening kickoff.”
Tennessee announced Sunday that Neyland Stadium will be “checkerboarded” this week, only adding to the buildup.
“We can’t get satisfied and settle,” senior safety Jaylen McCollough said. “We have to continue to go to work and continue to prepare. We know Florida is going to come in here and try to light the scoreboard up, so we have to go to work and prepare the right way.”
Said sixth-year senior quarterback Hendon Hooker: “It’s nothing new. Everybody’s got to come in and do their job. If everybody does their job, we’ll end up being successful.”
Tennessee opened Sunday as a 10-point favorite.
Marvelous Milton
Tennessee backup quarterback Joe Milton III didn’t play in the Sept. 10 overtime win at Pittsburgh but is 12-of-14 this season (85.7%) for 225 yards and three touchdowns. His 291.43 efficiency rating would lead the nation if he had enough stats to qualify.
“He’s been really sound in his decision making, and he’s been in complete control of what we’re doing,” Heupel said. “He’s been better in the pocket and is throwing it with more touch on the football. He was really solid tonight.
“I love what he did.”
Chippy, chippy
Although Tennessee’s win Saturday was decided well before halftime, the game took 3 hours and 35 minutes to complete.
Injuries and replays resulted in stoppages, but the main culprit was penalties, with the two teams combining on 20 flags totaling 195 yards. Vols redshirt sophomore receiver Jimmy Calloway was ejected in the third quarter for throwing multiple punches.
“We had some penalties we shouldn’t have had,” Hyatt said. “If we want to be what we want to be at the end of the year, we have to minimize penalties. We’ll talk about it as a team, and we’ll get that fixed.”
Said Heupel: “It was one of the chippiest games that I’ve been a part of and certainly that we’ve been part of here.”
Odds and ends
A year after finishing 101st nationally in third-down defense, the Vols are tied for 11th following Akron’s 1-for-13 showing. … Hooker on his 14-of-18 passing performance after a 1-of-4 first quarter: “It’s just settling in. I’d love to get started earlier, but sometimes that doesn’t happen.” … Tennessee is 10-0 under Heupel when leading at halftime and 0-6 when trailing at the break. … Saturday’s 57-point victory margin was the largest for the Vols since a 70-3 thrashing of Louisiana-Monroe in 2000. … Jaylen Wright has led the Vols in rushing in all three games. … Chase McGrath went 7-for-7 on extra-point tries Saturday and is 85-for-85 in his Tennessee career.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.