The Tennessee Volunteers and Florida Gators will renew their rivalry on Saturday as both teams aim to get their seasons on the right track.
Despite what’s happened to the two programs in recent years in regards to lack of success, there is still no love lost in the rivalry between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers. These two schools clearly have a disdain for one another that runs deep. Lucky for us, we get to see that play out on the gridiron on Saturday in Week 4 college football action.
Both Tennessee and Florida enter this game with a 2-1 record on the season. The similarity between each team’s loss to this point, however, is unfortunate. When the Vols were tested in Week 1 of the season against West Virginia, they couldn’t keep up. And that works the other way with the Gators falling to their only test to this point, Kentucky.
Thus, when you look at the fact that these two teams are averaging over 30 points per game on the season, those numbers are inflated by lesser competition. When put up against quality competition, Florida managed just 16 points and Tennessee put up a meager 14. That’s more than likely who these two teams actually are.
That’s not to say they don’t look improved with Jim McElwain out in Gainesville and Butch Jones gone from Knoxville. Under Dan Mullen, Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks has looked much better than he did before. Meanwhile, Jeremy Pruitt clearly has Tennessee on the right track.
Regardless of the track though, these teams haven’t reached their destination yet in terms of being “back.” Even still, this is a rivalry game and, if neither team is going to have immense success competing in the SEC this season, then winning this game is direly important for the morale around the program from fans and players alike.
TV and Game Info
Date: Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018
Start Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Knoxville, TN
Stadium: Neyland Stadium
TV Info: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN, FuboTV
Playing on the road, it comes as at least a minor shock that the Gators would be favored in a matchup that could go either way. However, what’s not surprising in the lease is that the oddsmakers don’t expect a shootout between these two teams with a low Over/Under point total being set.
Betting Odds
Point Spread: Florida -4.5
Moneyline: Florida -200, Tennessee +175
Over/Under: 45
All odds are courtesy of Odds Shark
Prediction
Keeping the Over/Under for this game low is a good call by the sports books, because I don’t see a great deal of scoring happening in Knoxville on Sunday evening. Tennessee has looked impressive after getting run over by West Virginia, but I don’t think they’re quite there yet. That doesn’t mean I have complete faith in Florida by any means, but the Gators are the better team and will pick up an SEC road win on Saturday.
Final Score: Florida Gators 20, Tennessee Volunteers 16