What a difference a year can make.
Since Josh Heupel took over the Tennessee football program last season, the Vols have won 10 games, are on the cusp of the top 10 with a No. 11 ranking and are off to their first 3-0 start since 2016, but all of those successes can be pinpointed back to Sept. 25, 2021.
Tennessee lost to then-No.11 Florida that night in Gainesville, missing on more than a few opportunities in a 38-14 loss to the Gators — the Vols’ fifth straight in the series. But since that defeat, Tennessee has managed to win eight of its last 12 games, including ranked road wins over Kentucky and Pittsburgh, while flashing a style of offense that has skyrocketed the Vols to one of the top units in college football.
Tennessee (3-0) hosts No. 20 Florida (2-1, 0-1 SEC) Saturday at Neyland Stadium at 3:30 p.m. on CBS with another opportunity to prove itself against a division rival it has had little success against. It’ll also be showing its growth over the past year on a national stage as it claws back towards the upper echelon of the SEC.
“Last year, this was a ball game that helped a turning point inside of our program,” Heupel said Monday. “Obviously we didn’t come out on top. There were a lot of things that we didn’t do right, but resetting afterwards that Monday, where we came back in and were able to just show how everything unfolded and the things that we could control, I think created a ton of buy-in, too.”
Part of the reason why Tennessee’s players were able to buy-in after the Florida loss was what they saw on film. Dropped passes, overthrows and the inability to capitalize on turnovers were all jarring reminders of how close the Vols were to scoring a key conference win on the road, leading them to the belief that simply cleaning up those mistakes would translate to better results.
Tight end Jacob Warren, who is preparing for his fourth go-around in the Tennessee-Florida rivalry, sat in on those film sessions last year and came away with a sense of optimism despite the frustrations.
“Just the realization that a lot of the things that are causing us to not be successful are self- inflicted and can be avoided,” Warren said. “Just having that realization clicking on the film and seeing on this play that the left tackle messed up on that was the reason. On this play, it was the running backs that were wrong in their keys or we’re hurting ourselves because we’re getting penalties on third down and having big drops on the perimeter. … If we’re able to lock-in with our preparation and be ready for the game, we give ourselves a much better chance to win.”
Heupel, Warren, quarterback Hendon Hooker and offensive lineman Jarome Carvin all emphasized during Monday’s press conference that Tennessee’s preparation each week is consistent no matter who the opponent is, but the importance of playing Florida isn’t lost on them, either.
According to Heupel, he had been in Knoxville for less than a minute before someone brought up Florida when he took the job nearly two years ago.
“Probably 30 seconds after I arrived here on campus,” Heupel said. “This is one of the games that this fanbase and our players point to. Being a fan of college football, I’ve seen the great game in this rivalry play out. That’s why you come here. You want to be a part of these types of games. You want the opportunity to have College GameDay on your campus and have a primetime slot and have a sold out stadium.
There won’t be a better atmosphere in college football.”
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