Several days after Tennessee clinched bowl eligibility last November with a rout of South Alabama, first-year coach Josh Heupel said he and his staff never put a ceiling on what the Volunteers could accomplish.
With the second version of Heupel's Vols on the cusp of being a top-10 team, why start now with division rival Florida coming to town?
"I think that helped create buy-in with our players, because we've never set a ceiling on what we could or could not do," Heupel said Monday during a news conference. "Last year, this was a ball game that helped in the turning point inside of our program. Obviously we didn't come out on top and there were a lot of things we didn't do right, but we reset on that Monday and were just able to show how everything unfolded, which created a ton of buy-in, too.
"At the end of the day, this is the fourth game of this journey this year. It's a big one, because it's the only one we've got this week."
Saturday's showdown between the No. 11 Vols and the No. 20 Gators will take place before a sold-out Neyland Stadium with a checkerboard look. The game will have a national CBS broadcast at 3:30 p.m., and it's being accompanied by ESPN's popular "College GameDay" traveling show.
The Vols and Gators went back and forth in the Swamp last season during the first half, with a 75-yard connection from Hendon Hooker to JaVonta Payton putting the guests up 14-10 in the second quarter. Florida would grab a 17-14 lead by halftime and then pulled away in the third and fourth quarters for a 38-14 triumph.
One week later, Tennessee went to Missouri and won 62-24.
"We continued to grow in each phase," Heupel said. "In year one, there can be skepticism and not understanding what's going to come next. You go from strength and conditioning in January and February into spring ball and into the summer and into the season, and there are always some unknowns there. For us as a program, there were a couple of turning points.
"The Florida game was a turning point, and then there was the way we played and competed when we played at Kentucky. That continued to create that buy-in, and our players started to see that it was about us and about our preparation. We continued to grow and became more mature, and we started playing better football."
Fifth-year senior tight end Jacob Warren said Monday that he detected a change after last year's Florida game as well.
"There was the realization that a lot of the things that were causing us to not be successful were self-inflicted and could be avoided," Warren said. "We knew that if we could lock in and be truly mentally and physically ready for the game, we would give ourselves a much better chance to win.
"We took that into the next few weeks of the season and carried that into this season as well."
Tennessee is a 10-point favorite Saturday and is looking to stem a Florida surge that has yielded 16 series wins in the past 17 meetings. Heupel doesn't believe Tennessee has to face past demons, explaining that every day, week and season are different.
The Vols are also 0-15 the last five seasons against Florida, Alabama and Georgia, losing the last 14 by double digits.
"Every year we've gone into this game thinking we were going to win," Warren said. "You don't go in thinking, 'Aw, man, it's Florida again, it's Alabama again or it's Georgia again.' As a competitor, you go in the game wanting to win.
"You have to have a snap and clear mentality. You can't think about last year or the years prior."
Option Vols
Tennessee was 4-for-4 on fourth-down conversions in Saturday's 63-6 thumping of Akron, with Hooker and running back Dylan Sampson successfully running the option in two of those instances for touchdowns. Sampson scored from 9 yards on a fourth-and-2 in the first quarter, and he scored from 11 yards out on fourth-and-4 in the second quarter.
"Week to week, we're going to change offensively based on what we're seeing structurally from the other side of the football," Heupel said. "There was an opportunity for us to get the ball out on the perimeter, and Hendon did a really nice job of operating in it the two times that we ran it, and Dylan did as well."
Receiver depth
A week after Jalin Hyatt, Cedric Tillman and Bru McCoy combined for 24 receptions in the overtime win at Pittsburgh, more receivers got into the act against Akron. Walker Merrill and Ramel Keyton each scored touchdowns, while Squirrel White had a diving 47-yard catch.
"We feel really good about all of those guys," Heupel said. "Squirrel goes out there and makes a huge play down the sideline early in the football game. Ramel has made plays every time he's had an opportunity this year and last year. Walker continues to grow and has competed in a really good way, so we feel really good about all those guys."
Odds and ends
Since becoming the starting quarterback in last year's game against Tennessee Tech, Hooker has thrown 42 touchdown passes with only two interceptions. ... Heupel did not have any updates regarding Tillman and running back Jabari Small, who were injured during the first half against Akron. ... Tennessee has committed 18 penalties for 188 yards the past two games. ... Heupel on how long it took for him to be at Tennessee before hearing about the importance of the Florida game: "Probably 30 seconds after I arrived on campus." ... Vols left tackle Gerald Mincey will be facing his former team after transferring from Florida last December.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.