University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T – Florida Results
September 25, 2015 | Football
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
There is good news and bad news is we gather here on this Friday before Tennessee takes on Florida.
The good news is, I figured out a sure-fire way to beat the Gators in the Swamp this weekend. The bad news is, I think it involves me reenrolling in college.
Stick with me here. In my lifetime, Tennessee has beaten Florida six times. Three of the six times came while I was a student here at Tennessee. There is one qualifier, the teams did not become annual rivals until 1992 when the Southeastern Conference formed divisions. They did play the two years prior, 1990 and 1991, but only met twice in the 1980s, in 1984 and 1985.
But the four-year run from 2001-2004 was the best stretch against Florida since Tennessee defeated the Gators 10 consecutive times in the the first 10 meetings between the teams from 1916-1953.
Now, in reality, a quarterback named Casey Clausen and bruising running back Jabari Davis certainly had a lot more to do with the win streak and I ever did.
Clausen owns nearly half of the Volunteers’ wins in Gainesville, going a prefect 2-0. He did so in rather improbable circumstances on both occasions.
In 2001, the sophomore led his team into what was expected to be a no-win situation. In a game that was moved to the end of the season due to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, the Vols and Gators entered with identical 9-1 records, each 6-1 in SEC play. Few gave fifth-ranked Tennessee a chance against Steve Spurrier’s team, who was two wins away from a meeting with Miami for the national championship.
Clausen only threw for 168 yards on the day, but that was all the Volunteers needed through the air. Travis Stephens carried 19 times for 226 yards and two touchdowns, including a 35-yard run that gave UT a 21-20 lead in the third quarter. Florida would score a pair of field goals, but the Vols would answer with a pair of TD runs from Davis and stopped a 2-point conversion with 1:10 left for the first win in Gainesville since 1971.
Two seasons later, the Gator defense had backed up tough talk about Clausen’s leading of the band after the previous meeting at UF through most of the first half and seemed poised to take a 3-0 lead to the halftime locker room.
But Tennessee forced a late punt, which Rashad Baker returned 16 yards to the UT 39. A screen pass from Clausen to Cedric Houston put UT at midfield. After a spike stopped the clock with 0:04 left, Clausen stepped up in the pocket and heaved the ball 48 yards into the endzone. Two Gator defenders converged on receiver Tony Brown, and the ball popped high off of the hands of the three men and right into the waiting grasp of James Banks.
Tennessee would not trail again in a 24-10 victory. Clausen finished 12-for-23 for 235 yards and improved to 11-0 as a starter on the road at Tennessee. And he had one more mountain to climb: Back to the top of the band director's ladder.
Davis scored at least one touchdown in each of his four games against the Gators. Of his 22 career touchdowns, six came against Florida, four of those on the road.
As a freshman in 2001, Davis ran for his only two touchdowns of the season in the fourth quarter at the Swamp, including the go-ahead score and what proved to be a very important insurance touchdown.
After a single TD in a rainy loss in Knoxville in 2002, Davis again scored the final two Tennessee touchdowns in the 2003 matchup and was named SEC Player of the Week for his 78-yard performance.
In his final game against UF in 2004, Davis scored one of his two touchdowns for the season against Florida, a 1-yard run to tie the game at 7-7 in the first quarter. Freshman Erik Ainge took things from there, stepping in for the graduated Clausen, directing a late comeback to give Tennessee three wins in four seasons against its bitter rival.
Tennessee heads back to Gainesville Saturday, looking to end Florida’s longest run of success in the series. I didn’t have time to enroll in classes before I get on the team plane today, but I did dig up the old student ID. Although, if somebody wants to pit Clausen or Davis on a plane to be there, I would be in favor of that, too.
Whatever it takes, right? I’ll talk to you all from Gainesville on Saturday!
Brian Rice is the writer for UTSports.com. You can contact him after the run through the T on Twitter @briancrice or by email at UTSportsMailbag@gmail.com.
