From Spurrier to Kiffin, Florida – Tennessee has had it All

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It was only a couple of years ago that Florida Tennessee was considered to be one of the biggest games in college football. In the 18 years from1990 to 2007, the Gators and the Vols were both nationally ranked and  11times they were top 10 matchups. This Saturday though, neither team will be ranked, for the 2nd year in a row.

This will be the first time, since 1955 that they have met in the Swamp with both teams being unranked, but try to tell their fans that this isn’t a big game. It is one of the biggest games of the season for both teams, which  is why we have decided to take a look back at some of the most memorable moments in the series, which has been played every single year since 1990.

Faxgate

Before there was Spygate, there was Faxgate. A former Tennessee assistant, Jack Sells, was fired in 1991 for breaking NCAA recruiting violations when he was caught faxing Tennessee’s playbook to  Florida defensive coordinator, Ron Zook. It was right during the week of the game, and Zook and Sells had been friends since the early 1980s when Zook coached at Tennessee. Regardless of all the drama surrounding Faxgate, the Gators managed to win 35-18 and Sells sued Kinko for violating his privacy and destroying his career.

How do you spell Citrus?

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Spurrier was not only a master play-caller but was also great at irritating the opposing Head Coach, and saved some of his best barbs for when the Gators had been dominating the series in the 1990s. The Vols had a lot of top-10 teams during those years, but they would always lose to the Gators and then get relegated to the Citrus Bowl. This was when Spurrier started calling Orlando the ‘winter home of the Vols’ and even joked that ‘you couldn’t spell Citrus without UT’.

Kiffin stirs it up

Lane Kiffin was known as the Eddie Haskell of SEC football coaches, during his 14 month stay at Tennessee. He particularly enjoyed getting under the skin of Urban Meyer. The tipping point came when Kiffin claimed that the Vols had been able to steal Nu’Keese Richardson away from Florida, even though Kiffin claimed that Urban cheated. This was in reference to when Meyer called Richardson on his cell phone, when Richardson was visiting Tennessee. Kiffin didn’t really know the rules of the NCAA and hadn’t realized that it was a violation, and was subsequently reprimanded by the SEC and forced to apologize.

Remember The Catch?

Ask any Florida fan and they will tell you that they had possession of the ball, while Tennessee fans will tell you that they never had it. The officials ruled in favor of Jabar Gaffney and gave him a 3-yard touchdown pass with 14 seconds to play, which capped off a 91-yard drive and sent the Gators to a 27-23 win over the Vols in 2000. It had been the first time in 23 games that Tennessee had lost at home, and the players and coaches from that team still say that they were robbed. There was no review process in those days so there could be no replay review and the touchdown stood.

 

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