Best memories of the Florida Gators rivalry against Tennessee

The Florida Gators and the Tennessee Volunteers first met on the football in 1916 and have played 43 times since that date with the Gators winning 24 of those meetings.

While the rivalry has been going on for 98 years, it really heated up when the SEC split its divisions up and Steve Spurrier became the coach of the Florida Gators.

For me, this game marked the start of SEC play as for years it was the first game of conference play and was always the afternoon game on CBS and often times this game decided who went to the SEC championship game to represent the East.

Now that everyone knows a little about the rivalry I’m going to take you back to highlight five of the best memories of the rivalry as the Florida Gators head to Knoxville on Saturday looking for its 10^th straight win in the series.

The Catch?

Tennessee was dominating the game against Florida in 2000 as Travis Henry racked up 175 yards of offense and the score was 23-20 late in the fourth quarter when things changed for the Vols.

Florida took over the ball at their own nine-yard line with Jessie Palmer at quarterback and he marched the Gators down the field as they were trying to set up a game timing field goal late in the game.

Palmer and the Gators however found themselves at the Tennessee 3- yard line with 24 seconds to go when he threw a touchdown pass to put the Gators up 26-23. But hold everything as a penalty flag was thrown and the score came off the board as Florida had an illegal receiver down the field.

With less than 20 seconds remaining in the game and the Gators on the 3-yard line that is when “the catch” happened as Palmer hit Jabar Gaffney in the end zone to give the Gators a 27-23 win.

However the Volunteers still to this day believe that the pass was incomplete as the Tennessee defender slapped the ball out of Gaffney’s hands soon after he caught the ball. However, the referee on the goal line ruled it a catch and the rest is history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4wVnjkWHtI

Wright’s hit

Tennessee was beating up on Florida in 1995 in Gainesville as the Vols led the Gators 23-14 mid-way through the second quarter when Lawrence Wright decided it was time to strike fear into the Vols.

On third down Peyton Manning dropped back in the pocket and scanned the field before he stepped up and threw deep down the seam to an open Joey Kent who made the catch for a split second.

That split second was all the time Wright needed to come flying from his position and hit Kent between the numbers to cause a fumble, a fumble that would be recovered by Tennessee but the Gators defense didn’t care at that point.

Tennessee would take the fumble and score to make it 34-14 at halftime before the Florida Gators would score 48-straight points to win 62-37 in a rout in the Swamp.

The offense was great in that game but the game will always be defined by Wright’s hit that set the tone for the defense the rest of the game.

Tebow converts on fourth down

During the current nine game winning streak Florida’s closest game against Tennessee was in 2006 when the Gators won 21-20 in Knoxville on their way to winning the national championship.

The big play of that game was when freshman Tim Tebow came in the game on a fourth-and-one and ran his famous quarterback power to gain two yards and the keep the Gators drive alive in the fourth quarter.

Two plays later Chris Leak connected with Dallas Baker for a touchdown that gave the Gators a 21-20 win and kept them undefeated.

A lot of Florida Gators fans say this was the signature debut for Tim Tebow and his great Florida career that would include a Heisman Trophy.

James’ takes a punt to the house

In 2008 the Florida Gators sent Phillip Fulmer out of Knoxville on the losing end of the rivalry as the Gators defeated Tennessee 30-6 in Fulmer’s last season with the program.

The big play of the game came in the second quarter with the Gators leading 10-0 and the Vols punting to the dangerous return man Brandon James who caught the ball on the Gators 22-yard line.

78 yards later Brandon James was celebrating in the end zone of Neyland Stadium as for the second straight year James had returned a punt for a touchdown against the Vols.

The rest of that year is history; as the Gators would go onto win their third national championship.

Can’t spell Citrus without UT

This wasn’t a moment in the game but I think all Florida Gators fans remember Steve Spurrier telling Gators boosters during a dinner that you couldn’t spell Citrus without “UT” as back in the 90’s Tennessee was known for going to the Citrus bowl.

Spurrier even made jokes saying that Peyton Manning was returning to school so he could become a three-time Citrus Bowl MVP.

These are just some of the best memories in the game and there are plenty more of them so feel free to share your memories.