Spurrier’s Gators were the Vols’ favorite enemy

by Tony Basilio

Funny thing about college football: just when a rivalry reaches “Game of the Century” status, players graduate, coaches move on, and some other match-up takes center stage. Sometimes rivalries are born naturally. Sometimes they are created by circumstance. The latter seemingly defines Tennessee-Florida.

When Steve Spurrier was head coach at Florida throughout the 1990s, Florida had a near-lock on the SEC East, with its biggest challenge every year coming from the University of Tennessee. Then Spurrier left, and the hatred between Tennessee and Florida all but stopped. The Visored One gave the now-pedestrian series its pizzazz; he drew the heat. A victory these days feels like just another victory. Our victory in 1998 felt like the Miracle on Ice.

Remember what it was like back in the ’90’s? Remember that horrible loss back in ’93? Tennessee dropped that one 41-34 in Fulmer’s first trip to the Swamp. The Gators, in a downpour, rolled to a huge second-half lead only to see Heath Shuler and Billy Williams connect on a couple of scores to make it respectable.

How about ’95, when Tennessee stormed out to a 30-16 first half lead? Sophomore Peyton Manning was putting on a clinic while UT’s defense was forcing turnovers, including a fumble recovery by Raymond Austin that went for a touchdown. Then came the second half, when the deluge began. The combination of rain, urine, and the Florida passing attack proved to be too much for the Vols. (You read that correctly: ingenious Florida fans in the upper decks were dumping cups of urine on already angry Vol faithful in the seats below.) That Tennessee went on to finish the ’95 season at 11-1 gets lost in the telling even today. That Tennessee was drubbed 62-37 by the hated Gators that year will never be forgotten by any fan who lived through the day.

And who will ever forget ’96? The first of several “Games of the Century” with the Gators: Manning was a junior. Tennessee and Florida were both loaded with unbelievable talent. I will never forget bringing my brother to town with the promise that I had tickets to the game. Then my free tickets were co-opted by someone higher on the broadcast food chain. My brother and I watched the game from the UT Student Center. It was 35-0 Florida after 17 minutes of play. Spurrier had done it to us again! My brother still tells the story at family gatherings about how his “celebrity” sibling couldn’t find two tickets for the Florida game of ’96, but I have never been more glad to not be at a game.

The next year brought an SEC Championship to Knoxville, but also another loss in Gainesville. Our fans still can’t believe that current NFL superstar Jamal Lewis, then a UT freshman, sat and watched someone named Mark Levine futilely attempt to run the football that day in the Swamp. Peyton Manning went 0-4 against the Gators for his career, and capped it with an awful day in this one; the major blow was a late second quarter interception returned for a touchdown by Tony George.

It warms my heart to think of 1998. Fullback Shawn Bryson’s quick-hitter for a long touchdown almost made the torture of the past half-decade worth enduring. Through the entire game, it felt as if Tennessee were trying to scale a sheer wall. Even in victory, it seemed Tennessee would find a way to lose. Will anyone ever forget the sound in that stadium when Florida placekicker Collins Cooper’s final field goal attempt sailed wide left?

Then there’s ‘99; do we have to go there? Oh, and 2000. Al Mathews is still an embarrassment to officials everywhere.

But we will always have 2001 to hang our hats on. A win would have all but guaranteed the Gators a shot in the Rose Bowl versus Miami. The contest was billed as the biggest game in the history of Florida Field, and it was considered a mere formality that Tennessee would get hammered; Vegas installed the Gators as an 18-point favorite. In a classic, Tennessee prevailed 34-32. Thus far, that game is the highwater mark for UT football in the 21st century.

Then Spurrier departed (though not dearly), and the SEC East would never be the same. Georgia versus Tennessee has surpassed the significance of Tennessee versus Florida. As had been the case in the Bama-Tennessee series a decade earlier, it seems that once the Vols established an edge, the Tennessee-Florida match-up lost its luster. Maybe a UT win with two true freshmen quarterbacks can get Steve Spurrier back in Gainesville where he belongs.

Tune in and talk sports with Tony Basilio weekdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on ESPN Radio WVLZ 1180 AM.

September 9, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 37 © 2004 Metro Pulse