Gators Online writers Zach Abolverdi and Nick de la Torre preview the Florida-Tennessee rivalry with Eric Cain of Volquest.com. We break down Saturday's matchup, players to watch and keys to the game.
Gators Online Podcast
Ep. 107: Florida vs. Tennessee Preview | Gators Online Show
what's up Gator nation welcome in to the latest skaters online show Zach Abba Verde and Nick del Torre here and it is for the Tennessee Week folks been seeing all the highlights on Twitter this week or X should we say of all the old games all the times Florida went up to rocky top to get a win and now they travel to Knoxville Tennessee this Saturday trying to get an upset over the number eight balls Nick they got an upset last week right corner of Vegas but now they are to touchdown underdogs against the volunteers of Tennessee we'll preview the match up today with Eric Kane of Valk West part of the on three network and let you guys know certainly some matchups to watch and some storylines to follow for this game obviously this is a big one for the Gators huge opportunity to kind of maybe turn the tide of their season Nick and they are big underdogs in this matchup but were you surprised when you saw that line um no like after week three I thought the line could be 35 like that's when Tennessee had yeah I think they've I think their first three wins or their first two wins were like a hundred and forty to three yeah and they look nasty even when they went to Oklahoma it was kind of a close game but if you watch that game at no point did Oklahoma like threatened to win and it looked like Tennessee missed some chances and they could have won 45 to 10 and then you go on the road you lose Arkansas and now they look more they look the offensive line the offensive tackles don't look great and they're almost in a situation like Florida where it's like okay maybe you just beat bad teams and when you play decent teams you're not that good and we're saying it's about the number eight team in the country but I think we talk a lot about Tennessee's offense obviously with Josh Hype will be in their quarter their head coach but that's a real defense and I think Kano probably enlighten us a little bit more on their defense but that's like a real nasty physical defense the floor is going to face under the lights in Newland bummed I'm not going I love Knoxville it's a really cool town it's it's changed and grown up kind of like games will change grown up a lot since the first time I went there yeah um stadium still has allowed us to swamp it's a cool stadium though very cool stadium the checker board in Newland yeah it's iconic certainly always anytime these teams get together it's classic anytime they do it there there there have been some awesome games you know the gators come in this will be a 7 p.m. kickoff on ESPN certainly spec can be a sold out crowd Lewis Riddick will be the analyst for ESPN so get to yeah you'll get to hear him breaking down the game and obviously look there's a lot that we'll get into with this matchup with Eric but I think we should certainly start the show Nick with major news out of the four to football program Wednesday I think expected after we saw how close he was to playing last Saturday but that is Eugene Wilson the third making his return to the starting lineup not even listed on the injury report he's one of two big time receivers for the gators that they get back but certainly his return Nick is significant for this football team yeah and listen it's nothing against a to myself tank Hawkins but you know every time I keep throwing in this quote I've probably used it three times now the Napier had when asked about Eugene Wilson and it's like we're a better football team with it it's nothing against tank who had a really good game so I think it's in my cell who was robbed of 120 yards of receiving in Starkville like Eugene Wilson is just a dude and your football team is better when your dudes are healthy and available so getting him back I think is good looking at the injury for it slackman goes from out to questionable as well Austin Barber goes from playing every single snap against UCF to questionable but also a team captain and I've continued to ask Billy Napier hey what kind of gamesmanship are we going to get with the injury report I don't think you can I'm like of course you can of course you can I can be questioned but all week that's just a 50/50 coin flip I mean hey it gave me a great story line to include in my takeaways from injury report because if he can't play Nick and Devin Manuel is out for the second straight week what does Florida do I love tackle disaster sound the alarm it's I mean I think I feel like I know what they would do or expect to know what they would do but what what do you think I mean I mean I think you move Brendan Crenshaw Dixon over to the left side and then start Kate and Jones at right tackle because Fletcher Westfall is your third string guy at left tackle I don't think you're starting a true freshman on the road at Tennessee maybe you I don't think you're sliding Kate and Jones over to the left side where he hasn't been taking reps he's been working strictly as the backup right tackle I think you keep him there Brendan Crenshaw Dixon is a veteran guy he's played left tackle in the past he should be able to make the switch I tell you what you don't need to do is move price love it no no move cam weights or even Damian George for that matter back to tackle but they move both of those guys to guard they're kind of state they've stayed there that's where they're playing again this like you said Nick this would not be an ideal scenario for Florida I think they they would probably go Crenshaw Dixon at left and then Jones would get the go at right but I like you said and a lot of Florida fans have recognized with Barbara getting named a captain I'm I think that that's a pretty good indication that he's going to place out of it yeah would be weird to have a captain walk up to the for the coin flip and in shorts and sandals but he got named a captain and then didn't come off of the injury report on Thursday night so but look a significant injury status that also came out of that injury report was ace Turner the number I think 11 safety he ended up being in the 2024 class according to the on three industry rankings a huge gift for the Gators a five year starter at Washington every single season he played there he started games so you've lost him basically since the season opener and really no indication of the extent of his injury when he might come back Napier has been non-committal about it but now now we know at least he's been upgraded to questionable he never had surgery so it wasn't a season ending situation pop powered headset after that first game Nick that asa would be back and that was his guy so it looks like he's getting closer playing which would be a great boost for the secondary they got three guys listed as questionable he's an upgrade but then Douglas and Thornton are both questionable yeah and someone I remember after I asked Billy Napier about that Monday of UCF weekend he didn't say anything a couple of the other writers like he blew his knee out and I was like I don't think he did and they're like yeah he did and I was like 24 years old when you've gotten surgery right away if you blew his knee out to try to do anything or to be able to do as much as he could for NFL scouts to try to go to the league or see just like oh I blew my knee out week one I'll be back for a seventh year yeah that never made sense to me Florida should get him back Bryce Thornton popped up on the injury report so you're you started the last two games yeah so you're starting your seat we'll see if there's games hard football season but it does look like there could be some gamesmanship I mean Florida is not I mean Florida does not send injured players to media we talked to Bryce Thornton on Monday maybe it happened to you yeah yeah maybe it did you know I mean look for when the same morning Billy's come out straight up and said you can't make this stuff up so there's penalties there's penalties to it I'm not gonna suggest I mean if they're on there they got something going on because there's other guys that you know you could put down there that I don't think that if you're on that availability report there's got to be an injury involved of some sort so we'll see what it looks like but there could be some significant guys out but there also could be some significant guys back of course the biggest of them all is Eugene Wilson and to have him rested up not really a lot on tape so far this year obviously you got all all what he did in 2023 but I think his role in what he can do in the offense has expanded this offseason remember that first drive last year it was the Eugene Wilson tribe against the Tennessee volunteers and I think that maybe we'll see something similar to that on Saturday we'll talk more about that later in the show but right now we are going to talk more about the Tennessee volunteers with Eric Kane from Valk West he's joined us before he rejoins the show again to talk about this year's matchup Eric welcoming to the show how's it going my man it's going well for since you guys have me on yeah man it's a rivalry week always fun when this game comes around pretty good matchup last year pretty good matchup two years ago and now Florida goes as a two touchdown underdog into Rocky Top we'll break down that matchup and kind of some things to look for from the Tennessee side of things but so far just kind of give us your synopsis of the season so far for the balls and certainly coming off of that loss last week yeah just kind of trying to figure out who this team is I mean I think everybody covering this team and I think Tennessee fans for the most part recognize that you know what Tennessee did against Kent State which might be the worst FBS program in America what Tennessee did against UTC I mean that wasn't going to be the norm every single week right I mean a couple cupcake games I think we were all very impressed with how Tennessee handled in see state I thought Tennessee was going to win by multiple scores going into that game but I don't think anybody realized NC State was going to be that poor and then you get in the SEC play and you got Oklahoma and you have two backup offensive tackles in there and clearly you're you're struggling to protect your quarterback and because the defense is playing so well because the run game was coming along yeah I thought it was a great coaching job just to say hey let's ride this out let's let's lean on this defense and let's get out of here with a win and then last week happened and it was a lot of the same you had your two tackles back but they along with the offensive line were very good the the running back struggling and pass pro Niko was not very good there's some questions offensively I think the potential is there I don't think anybody's giving up on Niko because obviously you can see the talent and but he's looked like a red shirt freshman at times he's looked like a guy who hadn't played a lot of football but the explosive plays at least earlier in the season were there and I think Tennessee's trying to have that return so I think defense has been a real pleasant surprise I think this is a really sound solid defensive unit led by the front seven I think Tennessee's much better football team than what we've seen much of the past two games in SEC play but that's up to the volunteers to go out there and execute and and take those steps so a lot of questions about this offense specifically which is kind of puzzling because typically it's the questions about the defense with which our trapez offense being you know in tow but that's kind of where we are and I think I think coming back home for Tennessee is is going to be very welcoming I think they need to be home I think they need to be in front of that crowd I think they needed to be a little little quieter to operate on offense right now until they can kind of get their feedback under them when you think of and see I think you always think or with with Josh Hypel you think of their offense and I thought getting Nico not only was a good business decision and I always I thought hey this is a good business decision because of your coaching because of your offense you obviously can't do it yourself just what has been you touched on a little bit there what has been the issue protecting him specifically with the tackles yeah man I mean it's it's it's been bad and I've been hounding the tackles a lot this week I mean that you know the guard play wasn't great I mean the offensive line in general you know has it been up you said you had to pick a position like listen the center wasn't great the guard that centers all SCC probably but yeah guards weren't great but let's pick on the tackles this week the John Campbell's playing hurt you know John Campbell was this is like a seventh year in college he started my order dreams know that name yeah he's been at Tennessee the last couple years he's playing hurt and like it's going to be about like managing his pain tolerance he will rotate in and out with another tackle he didn't do it as much against Arkansas but that's kind of kind of what we've seen from him and so you know he's playing hurt but obviously he's not playing very well right now Lance hard who I think is going to be a really good player but you know like Nico Redshirt freshman didn't play an awful lot last year at LSU he missed a lot of time in fall camp he played two quarters against UTC he played two and a half quarters against Tennessee State and then he didn't play against Kent State didn't play against Oklahoma then there was a bi-week and then he came back and played last week and looked like he got ahead and played football in a month and so I just think he looked really sloppy at times and so you know a couple of those two I thought the running backs were lost a little bit in past pro I thought the I didn't think from what it looked like for me like Tennessee ID the guys correctly because there were a couple of past plays where the running backs just didn't know who to you know where to turn a look and who to block and I think that's a communication aspect thing up there um it's just been sloppy it just kind of looked ugly a little bit plus with Tennessee's offense it's it's wide splits wide splits with the receivers and it takes a little time for long unless you're throwing a screen there's a long developing past plays a little bit and right now Tennessee that had that time to allow to protect Nico to get that football down the field so and they are very much out of sync right now and I think these guys are better I mean I've seen John Campbell play much better than this obviously I think Lance hurts better it's about going out there and executing and I don't think it's going to be just flipping the script and it's going to be completely clean this week um but I think some improvements need to be made for sure it's interesting you say that because in answering the we shared questions this week if you're listening to this um go check out my answers in fall quests Keynes got his uh over on gators online um you asked about four is two quarterback situation and and I thought going into the year man this is like a blueprint of the Tennessee situation last year with Nico um and Joe and Joe Milton um but Florida's really getting DJ those reps during the year and and there's no you know for lack of a lack of better term there's no replacing live bullets you can get as many reps as you want in practice do you think Tennessee's maybe regretting not getting Nico more reps last year at some point I picked Florida to beat Tennessee last year because I'd known Joe Milton since he was 16 going to Friday night lights camps at Florida and I watched him go to Michigan and not be good I watched him go to Tennessee and lose his job and everyone's like nope this is the year he threw an orange a thousand yards at the Manny Academy and he did a backflip so of course this is the year and I was like no I don't think so do you think Tennessee regrets maybe not getting Nico more reps and you're kind of going through growing pains now when you could have done it last year maybe a little bit um I think more than anything and some of those games got out of hand like I mean I I go back to you know Tennessee on the road of Missouri last year towards the end of the year I mean Tennessee just got whipped um there's like 35 to 7 in the fourth quarter and Joe Milton's back out there like like why like like let let your young guy go out there and like you said take some live bullets you know get some game reps I think at certain times I would love to see Nico come in for some certain package plays I mean he's not a runner or anything this isn't a Chris League Tim Tebow situation but I think there could have been some package or some personnel situations where Nico could have came in there and played a little bit last year at points and times of course when you're losing games in Tennessee was 8 and 4 last year um you know the fan base was saying oh it especially with the guy like Nico on the bench right the hype the uh the pedigree the the NIL you know they they want to see him play and so but there was only like you know once or twice really where you can make the case where they should have made a move like after the A&M game for Joe because he wasn't very good and then maybe towards the end of the year but like that stretch from you know Alabama Kentucky um a couple other games in that middle of the season like Joe was actually playing pretty decent football to be honest with you but I do think that they'd like to you know kind of go back and and allow him to get a little bit of playing time last year so that he's not so raw this year and again like I think I think Nico's gonna be good I mean anybody giving up on Nico right now I think so a little silly I mean he's just got too many intangibles he throws so well off platform um he's got such a strong arm his legs um allow him to extend plays and can be a real weapon when he's not just running for his life um but he yeah I think he's looked uh I think he's looked young in the last two weeks and up to him to grow from that and and I think coming home will kind of help in that regard at least this week he um I will let you go I didn't say exact um the way that Steph Curry kind of changed the changed basketball I think Patrick Mahomes has kind of changed quarterbacking because now like I see Dylan Marillo doing it DJ Lagway's done it uh I see see Nico do it they can throw like a football anywhere from here to like here on one foot two feet falling backwards it's kind of like hey like if you're a quarterback coach you're cringing because it's like that's not how you go yeah they're like yeah but when am I going to run to the left and throw off my front foot sidearm 30 yards so like that's not one of the drills we're doing he's like I think it should be it's like you know what parent that let me coach the kid they flick that wrist boy it's all takes um it's been impressive uh and look what's been impressive too is Tennessee's defense uh I know like you said you have to question this early in the season where they rank in some of those national statistics because of who they played the first few weeks nonetheless they have looked good in SEC play uh unlike the offense so what do you make of that unit so far this year I mean just some of the numbers for the folks that aren't aware uh they're top five in multiple categories number two total defense nationally number two rushing defense nationally number four scoring defense only giving up 9.4 points a game again those results early in the year helped that average and then they got the 15th ranked passing defense in the nation as well um were they expected you thinking Knoxville Eric to come out of the gate that hop I think there was a lot of hype and a lot of uh a lot of excitement about Tennessee's front seven um you know Tim Banks came out and made a comment in spring practice uh you know about his defense and he said you know we expect to have the best defensive line in the country and we think we do we expect we do and that kind of you know we all ran with it of course you know it's like uh Tim Banks says this and I mean like we're sitting there like well I mean he's got a point right I don't know about being the best but you have all these guys returning and Rodney Garner plays 12 to 13 guys up front and of those 12 to 13 guys that's they're gonna play next season this season you know all these guys have been playing yet James Pierce coming back Joshua Joseph has played Omar Norman Law, Bryce and East and Amory Thomas Elijah Simmons Caleb Herring I mean Donnie Beit the list goes on and on and on and so you know they back that up a little bit um there are no off days for Rodney Garner um it's uh it's an arrow where it's player empowerment and that's great there's a lot of positives there but you know a lot of guys take days off a lot of guys take some maintenance days and all in Tennessee's defensive line I mean they're out there every single day or they will not play that's just kind of how Rodney Garner is so a lot of hype about that defensive line and the depth and ability there and in turn we thought the linebackers would be better as well Keenan Pealy didn't play a lot he played the first game got hurt missed all last year Tennessee was forced to play a lot of young guys um to kind of get them baptized by fire a little bit and you know Aaron Beasley played hurt all last year and and now all those young guys that had to play last year are now a year older and now they're playing and contributing they look a lot better and you're throwing Keenan Pealy as well so I think the front seven we expected to be pretty good the back end just got a complete clean slate all five starters in the secondary for Tennessee last year are either done with football in the NFL or at some other school you know last year or last week Tennessee saw Deneko Slaughter who was playing for Arkansas he was one of those guys um went out and got your mom McCoy cornerback and I thought he was a really great addition over the offseason Ricky Gibson was a guy that played a little bit of corner last year now he's starting I think Tennessee's corners are pretty solid um Taelyn Green had game of his life last week for throwing the football he was he was not who he's been all your long throw in the footballing and to credit him he had a really good game he threw a couple of dimes tight windows over to the sideline over to your mom McCoy where we're just sitting there like what can you do happen yeah uh Tennessee safeties though that that's where I have question marks okay Tennessee safeties will Brooks former walk on um he's out there you got Andre turrenton Jacobi Thomas I don't really know about Tennessee safeties I still don't know but so far it's a group a collective group they've been playing complimentary football in that side of the ball and they've been pretty stout so it's it's been uh we thought Tennessee's defense would be better this year for sure we didn't think that it would be this good right now and they'll come with some bombs they gave up seven plays of 20 plus yards against Arkansas that's not winning football but they they showed they bent but they didn't break I mean Arkansas had 13 points up until the final minute of the game or that should be good enough to win you a football game so it's been a pleasant surprise are the lack of sacks they're concerned for them they only have nine so far this year which ranks toward the bottom SEC yeah I think they obviously want to have some more um they've been affecting the quarterback though I mean James Pierce alone I think has missed about three sacks frustrating for him obviously he finally got home last week but I think they liked to have some more but you know the TFL numbers are kind of where they normally are I mean Tennessee's had double-digit TFLs against NC State, Oklahoma I believe they had it last week in Arkansas I think they want to get home more for sure but they have been disrupting the quarterback and even when they're not getting home to make making things difficult for the for the passer those those QB hurries count too yeah that was uh that's the that you're talking about him there sounds a lot like Prince League Umani Allen uh for Florida who I think is uh lead Florida and sacks and tackles for loss each of the last two years but Florida fans helped pack his bags on his way to Oxford this year as a guy who didn't get home as much as he'd like um I think I asked you this or sort of asked you this uh in our questions that we ran uh earlier this week but how does Florida get a outside of Tennessee just doing what it's done the past 20 years uh and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and finding a new and innovative way to lose to Florida how does Florida attack this Tennessee team if they want to come away with a win in Knoxville yeah I think it depends on how Tim Banks wants to play defensively last year in Gainesville it was a we're gonna let we're gonna let Florida throw underneath we're gonna rally and try to make tackles we're gonna play zone coverage we're gonna try to get home with four and we're gonna do that and Tennessee never came off that and that didn't work right and so Grand Martes loves loves taking four at a time yeah so I'm curious to see what Tim Banks does this year I mean Tennessee at its core is an aggressive unit they blitz they're you know they're mixing things up and so I think Tennessee needs to do that but if I'm if I'm Grand Martes you know Tennessee's rushing four and they're sitting back over there I'm just I'm thinking and dunking I'm picking them apart a little bit Tennessee again I mentioned the missed tackles in this game last year I think it was like 11 or 12 Tennessee missed 11 tackles last week against Arkansas so you know throw it underneath route motions a little eye candy to try to confuse the defensive backs a little bit that's what I would do I would try to follow that same script that that Florida did last year because Martes was so good in that game and of course he's obviously an accurate passer here this year as well so that's what I would do defensively and then or offensively for Florida defensively for the Gators man I would try to confuse Nico Tennessee has had issues at times with a three-man front whether it's a stack look or whether they put six dbs on the field last couple weeks they've been they've been playing three high safety looks and you know sages are coming down and they're showing light they're showing like light boxes but having more guys in the box at the time of the snap and so really anything to confuse a young quarterback and and Nico's kind of seeing this and learning from this and trying to grow through this but I would try to confuse Nico I would go three men front a little bit and kind of load up that box towards the end and just attack the edges because right now Tennessee has an offensive tackle problem until proven otherwise clearly you don't you just need to watch the tape of the last two games I see that and if I'm Florida's defensive ends right now I'm kind of licking my chops saying all right maybe it's time to go eat I mean eight eight and four season like that you're not going to get into a 14 play off just seems to me would have been advantageous they find Nico some more reps to kind of see that kind of stuff I think it'll be interesting I don't know judging on Florida's injury report if all of the questionable safeties don't play I don't know that they can even play three high safeties you might only have three on the Honda dressing list heading into Knoxville how much do you think or if you guys have talked to them how much does the radio coach to play or coach to play or communication how much is that been a factor when Tennessee's at home obviously this is the first year but when Tennessee's at home I think they're averaging like 46 and a half and home under hypo and it's a little harder to play on the road but any struggles with Nico because it might be more difficult to hear and he's getting used to having his coach in his ear when you're on the road very loud when the offense is on the field when you're at home I'm sure Nealon's going to be loud but smart fans there won't be yelling as Nico's trying to get a play called in or are they even using that or are they just going so high tempo that it's still signals and things yeah I think it's uh that's a good point right there because I think it's a little bit of both and we we ask a lot about that in preseason like you know how much you're going to use this in home communication because you guys go tempo and you have you know four guys on the sideline that are signaling in stuff to try to get you know Connor Stallions to you know not still the sign and so um and they always said like hey we're gonna you know we're gonna have it but you know we're gonna utilize it but we're gonna continue to do what we've been doing and Tennessee's still done that so um I haven't we haven't checked in on kind of how that goes and compared to home in a way games because that's a really good point in terms of communication like you know like take take the last play of last week's game against Arkansas where Nico ran out of bounds a la Joe Milton Ole Miss 2021 really bad football play um Tennessee had a timeout like right before that play and so you're coaching up you know doing whatever you want to do and like in that in that timeout you got to say like you got to you got to assume hyples like hey the last play get the ball up you know give him a chance give him a chance but even in that regard you know you go to the field go to line of scrimmage I mean you could still have those extra reminders up until you know 15 seconds on the clock and clearly Tennessee never goes down that low on the on the play clock so I don't know man I I think that there's still very much kind of figure it out mode but I do think that Tennessee's still utilizing what they've been doing a lot um and trying to sprinkle in this new communication because like why not right it means there it's there for your benefit uh but certainly I think that it would work better at home than it is on the road but right we haven't asked him about that's a really good point even if you have the YMCA guys on the sideline you can be you can be explaining the play or the progression or the just and that's what we've asked Billy about a lot and he's like listen Graham Mertz is a a PhD but yeah there's it's totally he's like he acknowledges there's a totally different conversation from coach to player when it's Graham versus DJ in the game um and then we asked him about that going to uh Mississippi State where Zach got his first taste of the cowbells oh yeah we certainly which certainly made a helmet to play or help our coach to helmet communication a little more difficult oh I don't imagine by the way we call we call him the Wiggles it's in a seat because you got a guy and a green blue red and another one of their over there do we call them guys the Wiggles I bet you I just watched Connor Stallion's on a busing with the boys I bet you color coordinating them like that made it made his job easier probably probably I haven't watched the interview on the on the bus but I watch the the Netflix document that's really good that's a really good job by Netflix and by him let me ask you Eric when is the last time Tennessee was favored by this much against Florida my colleague Grant Raimi wrote a story about it over volquets.com let's see here I think I think you put it up yesterday let's see here 15 and a half points against Florida the biggest spread in favor of the vol since at least 1997 according to Oddshark yeah so 1997 there yeah um well so with that in mind I gotta ask is there a little bit of pressure on Tennessee in this game they're coming off the loss there are two touchdown favorites like they have to win this to have the type of season that they feel like they're talented and capable of having I don't think anybody chalked this up for a win for the Gators at any point during the offseason at any point during the first few weeks but I mean do you feel like because of that spread and because of the dynamics of last week that there's a little bit of pressure on this team because in this rivalry too look like I mean it's not like Tennessee's won a lot of games in Knoxville against Florida yeah I think that you know rivalry aside you know Florida aside in terms of who Tennessee's playing there's a lot of pressure for this football game absolutely because of reasons you just pointed out I mean Tennessee is a legit college football playoff caliber football team Tennessee has college football playoff aspirations going into last weekend Tennessee was ranked number four in the nation still number a still top 10 we think that you know Tennessee with a 10 and 2 record will get into the college football playoffs it's not a guarantee but that's what you think and you know we never assumed that one of those two losses of Tennessee we're gonna have two losses we're going to come to Arkansas so you're gonna have to steal another game along the way maybe it's Alabama next week but point is coming off that loss and knowing that you have a little bit of room for margin for error but but not an awful lot you absolutely need to win this football game if I've said it a couple times this week man if Tennessee loses this game I think this guy's gonna fall a little bit because it's it's Florida okay it's two losses in a row against a team where you were ranked by two touchdowns in two games it's a college football playoff is on life support at that point because you have to run the table and I don't think Tennessee can be Georgia and Athens later in the year but yeah I think there's a lot of pressure and then you you throw into the fact that it's Florida this series I mean I think it it trips up the fans much more than does the players obviously because they got PTSD yeah the the players weren't here in 2015 and 17 and 18 and all those horrible losses but yeah I mean the fans know what this game mean or the the players know what this game means to the fans and Tennessee's an old team and they've got some guys who have been on this team for five six years and they've they've been through some some bad losses and even in 22 and Tennessee was up by what guys 17 with five minutes ago and just did everything they could say hey Florida come win this game here it is come on this game but yeah I think there's pressure this week for sure and it's up the Tennessee to kind of channel that and come back and you know feed into that crowd and and try to go out there and get a win Florida Florida six and four to six and two in Knoxville since 2006 a a 13 year old Gator fan has seen the Gators beat the Vols 11 times a 68 year old Tennessee fan has seen 10 10 ball victories in this series like I said Tennessee finds ways to lose invents new ways to lose games on the on the Volquez podcast you say no team snatches the feet out of the jaws of victory quite like Tennessee does when they play Florida that's correct that's accurate yeah is there any is there any like Zach said is there any PTSD it's kind of like listen we have a better roster we're at home for even more score scores is there is there some PTSD like okay how do we lose this game or is it or is the fan base just confident like hey listen the team lost last week on the road yeah but just let's start a good song like be good though I asked Billy that I kind of asked Billy Napier I don't know if he understood the way I was asking it was like Jim McQueen used to always say like we're on the winning streak our guys are getting their belly scratched are feeling good about themselves after a loss there's no belly scratching and and there's no taking plays off like everything is laser focused everything you've done wrong that might not get mentioned as much while you're winning a game 45 to 3 gets brought up after a loss and maybe you correct those things and you come into this game not that you need any more added motivation when it's Florida Tennessee but winning can kind of allow you to brush some stuff under the rug that you're not working on or hey that we need to get to that and fix that but we're winning so it's not a big deal I almost think Florida would have been better if Tennessee would have just like figured out a way to win in Fayetteville and then before this game rather than getting you know a reality check yeah it's a good point because I mean Tennessee won that game last week and you know Tennessee's rolling Tennessee's who we thought they were going to be Tennessee's you know top four three whatever it is and you come back home and the talk is well it's Florida it's you know the pressure of this series and how Tennessee can't be Florida so there's a little bit of pressure there but but now because you had that wake-up call that you hope that's a wake-up call last week in Arkansas then you're kind of maybe extra motivated so I certainly see kind of what you're saying there you know they've said all the right things this week I mean you know it's been a great week of practice wake-up call a little bit lackadaisical during the open day not not anymore Jacoby Thomas came out this week and said you know he's new to the team he came over from MTSU said I've noticed this thing don't like to lose and I mean that's all great that's that's that's cool awesome what's it mean you know we'll see we'll see what it means on Saturday um so again I think the PTSD is more for the fans than it is for the players um in this series for sure um I think fans are confident don't get me wrong I mean when are Tennessee fans not confident okay I think the fans are confident but also it's it's just like and you know I've got it too I mean I've said all week long I'm like Tennessee's the better team uh Tennessee should run all over Florida Tennessee's playing at home Tennessee should protect Nico better it's all these should should shoulds but always say but we know how this series goes take the balls to win Florida to cover that's kind of been my thing all week long um so confidence is there but certainly some worry just because of all this but again I think that's a great point I mean you know Tennessee were to have won last week and kind of rolled on to this game I mean maybe maybe Tennessee continues that but because they stubbed their toe last week it's like all right bachelor against the wall a little bit I mean we want to be a college football playoff team we got to really lock in you know dial it in here and Florida's the next game on the schedule Eric before we get you out of here just real quick what do you see as your keys to this matchup that that could decide it either way if if one team does something really well or kind of drops the ball in a certain area yeah I mean again I think Tennessee's defense got to play who they are be more who they are they were not who they were um you know against Florida oh a season ago you know sitting back playing soft zone trying to get home with four if you can't get home with four that doesn't work you know right I think Tennessee can get home with four um in this season but you know be aggressive you know place place some tight man coverage and you know if Graham gets you you know rally make the tackle and and go go go play another day you know take some chances I think Tennessee needs to play more aggressive defensively compared to last year and then offensively again I'm sure you guys are hit it all week long I certainly have I know Florida rebounded rebounded pretty well last week in QCF in this regard in terms of the run game but just pound that rock run the football I think Dylan Samson arguably the best player in the SEC right now best running back in the SEC he's been fantastic this year despite the offense kind of being MIA for for much of conference play the run game it's not been awesome but it's been very respectable and I think this is an opportunity to just run that football against Florida defense and of course has not looked good in conference play defending the run so if Tennessee can get big plays in the run I truly do believe that's going to just like football 101 that's going to open up this offense open up the past the play action should be very fitting for Nico who's really give a play action over the middle of field and we can start to see this offense in terms of you know who it who it really is so play aggressive defensively don't sit back plans off soft zone coverage trying to get home before run the football offensively and I mean I think Tennessee does that Tennessee should win this football game we're looking forward to it to feed from the draws of victory somehow we'll see what new innovative way they try to do it yeah maybe special teams oh man don't don't let uh Florida get in its special teams bag with Nick people maybe I'm just saying when you went to Dick's sporting goods and you bought a mat with 11 circles on it all of a sudden there's 11 guys on the field in 11 different jersey numbers shout out to Alabama for joining Florida in the let's put two guys wearing the same jersey on the field at the same time and see what Tennessee said to call timeouts I don't think it was this year I think it might have been last year maybe the year before Tennessee said to burn timeouts because they've had two guys on the field with the same jersey number so she's got all the time out because I'll let you know it is uh very embarrassing you know presence of mine in that situation whatever year was I can't remember I'm getting old right um you know to say hey hypo call a timeout but you know nobody was in hypo's ear you know hypo should have known as the head football coach but he was playing too much offensive coordinator you know to you know whenever you have that 42 yard reception to Dante Thornton on the last series of the game at Arkansas and you have two timeouts to call a timeout in that situation not burn about 18 seconds you know when you're trying to come back and score it's a big play sheet you got to look at and you got to go through all of them to figure out well now we're in the red zone but yeah as always great stuff from you Eric and uh let the people know I'm sure you guys have a ton of content you always do at ball quest preview in the series let me know where to find you where to find your work and uh bummed out we won't see you this weekend uh but with a baby here uh and multiple hurricanes we will not be making the trip but uh let everyone know where they can find you yeah first and foremost hope everybody's doing okay down there um I you know obviously can't imagine um so you know continued thoughts and prayers and uh rivalry game these fan bases don't like each other but certainly this fan base is is is rooting on everybody down there in the state of Florida and the recovery efforts for sure and relief and all that uh big game coming up obviously we got tons of stuff over of all quest.com we've got the matchup piece from yesterday we've got uh Britain hubs is 10 things he thinks he thinks heading into the game where it's a column you know big big picture stuff heading into the game we've got uh our picks are up at ball quest.com right now and all that and more if you want a Tennessee angle uh heading into this uh football game to learn about the ball check it also check us all out at underscore caner on twitter and it locked our balls and uh at ball quest.com too too many taglines sorry hit them all yeah awesome Eric we appreciate the time man always great perspective make sure you guys follow his work and uh enjoy the game this weekend seven o'clock in kneeling stadium robbery renewed between the Gators and volunteers Eric we appreciate the time man thank you Zach Nick thanks so much guys yep see you bud all right that was Eric from ball quest joining us always good stuff from him and like you said Nick they do a fantastic job over there we heard some keys to the game from uh him uh we'll give you our keys to the game before we do that we got some ad reads that we need to get to yeah we got to pay the bills um uh Nick I'll get to uh I'll get to mind first and then I'll let you uh pull up yours I see you don't have your uh I don't see you have the polo today it's a little uh nippy outside it's sweater weather nice so cool this uh it's actually this cold front of the hit is what made her k milton really strong when it was in the Atlantic and then weakened it as it came in still a devastating storm but uh this cold front definitely the wind sheared definitely rip it apart a little bit yeah man oh that was oh 51 next week buddy we got hoodie weather next week listen I'm I'm here for it is it's been a hot one uh it's so hot and in 24 so um well listen before we jump into the keys uh want to give a shout out as we do each and every episode to my perfect franchise.net if you're ready to leave the corporate rat race for the american dream looking for a side hustle while working your current job wanting to diversify build wealth and or leave a legacy and he can help he is a franchise consultant as well as a franchise owner and helps people find franchises that fit their skill sets financial requirements time to commit and more his services are 100 free and he's here to help if you have any questions about business ownership you can learn more and contact Andy anytime at my perfect franchise.net or calling or texting him at 404 973 9901 uh and yeah I am uh I'm not wearing it it's because I've been wearing it a bunch uh and it's in the wash right now but my roeback polo uh roeback activewear this is the only one only one way to describe roeback best fit best feel for those who aren't familiar with roeback they're completely changing the game with their incredibly comfortable activewear roeback just released their new license game day collection and it's fantastic with a novel polo design clean hoodie quarter zips for some of your favorite schools it's definitely worth checking out nobody else in the market is pairing these level of custom designs with this quality of activewear roebacks everyday shorts are the perfect pairing as well they're comfortable have an elastic waistband great fabric that's made to have an appearance of a nice short but the comfort of an athletic short roebacks proudly leading the way with NIL having signed partnerships with Jayla millerow 20 years Caleb Downs among others and they're the go-to brand for college athletes use the code go Gators or excuse me use the code Gators 20 on roeback.com for a generous 20% off all new customers through the end of this season that spelled roeback r-h-o-b-a-c-k.com and 20% off all performance polos and performance shorts with the code Gators 20 cannot beat it cannot beat it we had some listeners reach out to us since we started promoting roeback telling us they are legit shout out to Tony texting me tell me he's got a whole host of some of their gear so take advantage of that if you're a four to fan they got some really cool merchandise that they release for this season so we are almost 24 hours away by the time you guys are listening to this will be even closer to that 7 p.m. I love when it's an i-game maybe not so much on the riding front but just for the atmosphere especially in a rivalry you can't beat it. Nick we heard from Eric about what he kind of felt like the keys were for Tennessee defensively certainly they need to run the ball they forda needs to run the ball he looked pretty good last week and he's gonna need to look good again Saturday because forda's once again without Trion Webb and Katie Daniels what do you see as some keys to this game and how forda tries to come out here with an upset yeah I think you're gonna have to the way I see this going I think Tennessee can win in a blowout I think Tennessee can win a close game I think Florida's only path is to win a close game doing that I think you need to like Cain said kind of confuse Nico when he's blitzed he is the three of 12 for 59 yards when he's under pressure he is two of eight other numbers he's completing 70% of his passes when he's kept clean and 75.8% when he's not blitz I think you've got two find ways kind of like UCF did against Florida to show pressure from the right and then those guys are dropping you're bringing pressure from somewhere else so for a young quarterback you know I go back to what Ron Roberts said to us when we asked him about in their in helmet communication he said I kind of like coaching against 19 year old kids not 48 year old offensive coordinators um try to confuse or if you're not confused just make him play a little bit slower because he's diagnosing stuff so I think Florida needs to bring pressure you're gonna have to figure out you're not gonna be able to bring pressure the way you did against UCF because UCF is purposefully one-dimensional Tennessee is very multiple on offense have a great running back I don't anticipate Florida has the same kind of rushing defense this week on the road that they did against UCF because Tennessee and Nico will hurt you with with the passing game in much more serious way than UCF's ever going to be capable of so I think the key for Florida to kind of limit Tennessee is to blitz get after Nico try to get into the backfield and affect him yeah it's uh you make some great points because I really think that that's one of the keys as well Nick is who is going to get after the quarterback better and protect their own and that's actually a category where Florida should win just judging off of the statistics now Eric said that he thought that Tennessee was going to be able to get home against the Gators and also that they would be able to protect Nico I'm not so sure about that you know Florida ranks in the top 25 nationally in both sacks and protecting the quarterback sacks allowed they've only given up five and they've got 13 on the year that's top 25 nationally in both of those categories the Vols on the other hand they rank in the 80th in both of those categories just nine sacks on the year and they've allowed 10 on their quarterback so if Florida can get after Nico and protect Graham to me that's a way that they win this game for sure like that has to happen those statistics have to bear out on Saturday and then if you can do that if you can give Graham time to me you've got to have success in the passing game on Saturday if you're Florida because trying to look at where they're going to have success against this Tennessee defense there's not a lot of weaknesses um and Florida hasn't done a great job running the ball this year but they have done a good job throwing it there they have the 35th best passing offense in the nation so Tennessee's really good in a lot of categories they're 15th nationally and passing defense to me that's the closest thing that the Gators can get to a good on good matchup on that side of the ball so you got to protect Graham and then you got to protect DJ as well and those guys have to keep playing at the level that they've been playing I think for Florida to be able to have a shot but I do think Florida's going to cover Nick I mean could this game get away from the Gators and Tennessee win big absolutely but they've also shown some weaknesses here in SEC play that given the Gators a little bit of a blueprint and the one thing that I can say about Florida underneath here against Tennessee is they've they've been able to have success on offense they they put up a lot of points in that first game in 2022 was a shootout and then they they dominated I think the last game a little conservative in the second half once they got up but they they had success in that game they won the rushing battle Graham Mertz played really sharp I don't know if they're going to win the rushing battle Saturday they just need to make it respectable but they absolutely with Eugene Wilson back eight of my Zell Shamir DK badger like you got to make some plays in the passing game and we'll see if they can yeah I remember that game and in kneeling two years ago I think I was like in the end zone when Anthony's trying when they are trying to like throw a touchdown to I don't know if that would tie it or in like forced overtime or would have won it 33 yeah one the game outright and then the uh ball just like sailed into the stands that was a good little too much muster on that one buddy yeah he did that that happened at Vanderbilt as well but it's just hail Mary's in the state of Tennessee we're not good for a year that year it's up there in the Smokies the air is a little thinner than he's used to the ball traveling some more yeah hopefully he doesn't find himself playing the Titans in that scenario but uh look looking forward to this game I did think a few weeks ago that Florida wasn't going to have much of a chance in this matchup but the way that Tennessee has played the last two weeks or the last two games should I say and the way that Florida has played the last two games makes me think along with it being a rivalry that this thing could be closer than what the Vegas odds makers have of that and as Nick has said throughout the week and on these shows Tennessee just finds a way to to make this stuff get weird um so who knows man that maybe when everybody's counting for it out that's when they they come out and prove everybody wrong uh or they could this could go exactly the way everybody thinks um I mean like the back that I thought was just a funny stat as I was going through like looking like looking step up I was like wow an actual teenager someone without a even a learner's permit a kid without a learner's permit has seen more victories in this series if they're a Florida fan than a grandfather who is a Tennessee fan who has then dragged two generations three generations into this series where where their team is just like man we've been winning all game what if we just don't tackle Antonio Callaway and just let him run and then miss a field goal um what if nobody covers Tyree Cleveland uh with the tie game and the ball and the four the yard line like they just find ways to do it uh it's a rivalry game didn't they didn't Jeff Driscoll get benched at Tennessee for tree on Harris and then Harris led them to well like yeah yeah but like calling it a tree on Harris led drive when Matt Jones carries the ball 12 with the 15 sure sure I'm just saying but yes but yes he was quarterback in the team and Austin and Austin and Austin hard and hit the game when he field goal and that was the that was well much champs you know I love seeing all these people that was will yeah that was one of four wins that year or was that a different year that no that was 2014 that's 2014 not 23rd yeah um that yeah this is weird things like then we talked to Jeff because we couldn't talk to freshmen so then we talked to Jeff who was just benched for tree on and then tree on like 24 hours later was hit with a uh a sexual assault charge because that's what happens in that Florida but sexual assault accusation that didn't yeah that didn't go anywhere uh I think I texted the LSU beat like hey we've got you we've got you beat this week our our situation here is definitely crazier than yours but yeah it's a ton of weird stuff it's a rivalry game you can you can toss you know a lot of stats out the window crazy things happen um I think Florida can win this game but I also don't I'm not sold on their operation on the road um I think they're three and nine now with wins over like South Carolina who stunk uh went over Mississippi State who stunk um this team does not play well away from home and the defense the defense didn't play well A&M when they had 30 something guys out because of injuries and sickness like this team doesn't beat quality football teams on the road and it sees a very quality football team yep and if you're listening to this you probably have already read our game day predictions and we did not predict now a single one of us did not predict the upset did you think about it Zach I I I I did not think about it I didn't come close I because I I just feel like this is uh a tough place to go and win given the circumstances and I think you make a great point Tennessee had to take a long look in the mirror and probably do a lot of the things that Florida had to do uh to get itself to where it's playing better um but I but I I also think that it's it's not going to be uh a 14 point spread I did I did pick the Gators to cover so um we'll see what happens uh we've been wrong before and so has Las Vegas uh that's why they go and play the games as Tyreke Zab said some stuff is happening college football this season that you couldn't even fathom so I don't think it's unfathomable before to go on the road to beat Tennessee though hey anchor down baby some crazy stuff has happened yeah so that's a Diego Bobby yeah that was fun that was fun we uh shout out to Steve Spurrier the press box watching uh that that that Vanderbilt Alabama game with the media boys and girls that was a treat we have had a first down through the air yeah he's uh he's he's a treat so hopefully this game will be a treat for Florida on Saturday we'll find out we'll be visit with you guys afterwards with our rapid reaction have you covered at Gators online thanks to Eric Kane from Vault Quest for joining us make sure you guys check out their coverage on Tennessee leading up into this matchup and we will see you guys on Saturday night for Nick Deltory I'm Zach Abu Verde take care
Gators Online writers Zach Abolverdi and Nick de la Torre preview the Florida-Tennessee game.