When was the last time Tennessee beat Florida?
By John Buhler
The Tennessee Volunteers have struggled with the Florida Gators for years. When was the last time that the Volunteers beat the Gators in this SEC East game?
The Tennessee Volunteers have been huge rivals with the Florida Gators since the SEC expanded to 12 teams back in 1992. Though they rarely played before expansion, these two schools have become bitter rivals in the SEC East ever since the Arkansas Razorbacks and the South Carolina Gamecocks joined the SEC.
This rivalry was at its peak in the 1990s when the Gators were coached by Steven Spurrier and the Volunteers by Philip Fulmer. Both SEC East schools won National Championships during those coaches’ tenures with their respective programs.
However, the Volunteers have not beaten the Gators since the 2004 college football season. Before Saturday’s meeting in Knoxville, the Gators had won 11 straight over the Volunteers.
The last time Tennessee was victorious over Florida was back on September 18th, 2004. The Volunteers defeated the Gators, 30-28 in Knoxville on that particular Saturday. Fulmer was still four years away from being run out of town.
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The Florida head coach wasn’t Spurrier, but the forgettable Ron Zook. Spurrier left Gainesville to coach the NFL’s Washington Redskins in 2002. He would return to the SEC to lead South Carolina from 2005 to 2015 before retiring from coaching at the age of 70.
This is especially troubling for Tennessee, as the Volunteers view Florida as their biggest rival in the SEC East. They’ve also struggled with their two other SEC rivals in the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide. It’s awfully hard to win the SEC East with three annual conference losses to those particular schools.
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Tennessee has done a phenomenal job of recruiting under head coach Butch Jones, but a victory over the Gators remains elusive for the Tennessee football coach. Another loss to Florida might turn up the heat on his seat this October.