Tennessee began this football season with 10-game losing streaks at Alabama and at Florida.
The Volunteers couldn’t stop their slide against the Crimson Tide, falling 37-20 in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 18. They will try to halt their struggles in the Swamp this Saturday night (7:30 on ABC), and the subject of the streak is not off-limits this week in Knoxville.
“Yeah, we’ve talked about it briefly,” Tennessee fifth-year coach Josh Heupel said during Monday’s weekly news conference. “I showed a video of the rivalry and the great players and great moments and what it takes to go win in this game, ultimately. This is a great game, and it’s going to be a great stage.
“One play doesn’t have anything to do with the next, and the previous trip down to Gainesville doesn’t have anything to do with it, either.”
The Vols are 7-3 overall, 3-3 in Southeastern Conference play and ranked No. 20 in this week’s Associated Press poll, while Florida is 3-7 overall, 2-5 within the league and eliminated from competing in a bowl game. The Gators have already gone through a coaching transition from Billy Napier to interim Billy Gonzales, and they are 3.5-point underdogs for Saturday’s showdown.
Florida was a 5.5-point underdog two years ago but handled Tennessee with relative ease, 29-16, to make it 10 straight.
“It really doesn’t mean anything to me, but it really is a crazy statistic,” Vols junior linebacker Jeremiah Telander said Monday. “We’re trying to win every game, and we’ve got to win big games on the road. I played down there my freshman year, and it’s a great atmosphere with great fans.
“It’s a great team we’re about to go against, and it will be a great challenge for us.”
The biggest difference between Tennessee’s futility at Alabama and at Florida is that the Vols have a lot of company when it comes to coming up short in Tuscaloosa.
Since Tennessee’s 24-10 triumph in Gainesville in 2003, every SEC program has won in the Swamp except for Georgia, Oklahoma and Texas. The Bulldogs and Sooners haven’t won there during this stretch because they haven’t played there — Florida and Georgia have collided in Jacksonville during this time — and Oklahoma became an SEC member last year.
Texas also became a league member a year ago and lost 29-21 at the Swamp on Oct. 4, which is a result that is certain to have Tennessee’s attention.
“You’ve got to prepare the right way and practice the right way, and you’re going to have to go play extremely well in this one,” Heupel said. “You look at the losses that they’ve had, in particular here lately, and they have been tight games against really good teams in neutral site or road games, so it’s going to take our best on Saturday night.
“You know it’s going to be a great environment, and you’re playing great competition. It’s a typical Florida football team. You can just look at the size on the line of scrimmage and see the athleticism that they have at the skill positions.”
Should Florida prevail again Saturday night, it would mark its fifth victory during this streak with a team that finishes with a losing record, joining the 2013 (4-8), 2017 (4-7), 2021 (6-7) and 2023 (5-7) Gators.
“Obviously we’ve heard about the streak, but the main focus is not forgetting about what we need to go out there and do to handle business,” Vols redshirt freshman linebacker Edwin Spillman said. “Based off of their schedule, it doesn’t seem like they’re a winning program, but it’s still a big-time program. It’s an SEC opponent, so you know they’re going to play hard.
“Everybody just has to put their heads down and go out there and grind.”
A group effort
Tennessee redshirt junior receiver Chris Brazzell II leads the SEC with 873 yards and eight touchdowns.
Brazzell racked up 531 of those yards and seven of those scores in the first five games, with his last five contests yielding 342 yards and one score. Vols receivers coach Kelsey Pope was asked Tuesday how opposing defenses have adjusted their defending of Brazzell.
“They try, and then No. 4 (Mike Matthews) goes and makes plays,” Pope said. “They try to get him and No. 14 (Braylon Staley) goes and makes plays. If a couple of those guys get tired, then No. 5, Radarious Jackson, and No. 1, Travis Smith, come on the field and make plays.
“That’s when you know you’ve got a group. Their production is compounded off each other.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.