GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A week after winning for the first time in their past five outings on the football field, the Florida Gators have a chance to end another four-game slide, and this one is arguably more important.
The Gators (1-1) have dropped four consecutive rivalry games, having gone 0-4 against Tennessee, LSU, Georgia and Florida State in 2022 during coach Billy Napier’s first season in Gainesville. They will try to halt the skid against 11th-ranked Tennessee (2-0) when the Volunteers visit the Swamp on Saturday night.
It’s the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
“It’s a big week,” Napier said. “Any time you play a rival, it’s a big game. Eastern Division opponent, SEC game. When it comes to the SEC, there’s magnitude here as a program.”
Napier became the first football coach in Gators history to lose to all four of those aforementioned rivals in the same season. The Gainesville tenures of Jim McElwain (2015-17), Will Muschamp (2011-14) and Ron Zook (2002-04) all ended in disappointing fashion, but all three of them managed to avoid the dubious feat.