Meyer looks to stay perfect against three biggest rivals

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida has a couple of short, but significant, streaks on the line today against Tennessee.

They haven’t lost a home game since hiring Urban Meyer as coach after the 2004 season. And they haven’t lost to their three biggest rivals — Georgia, UT and Flor-ida State, either.

Meyer is 6-0 against those teams. Former Florida coach Ron Zook won his last game against Florida State, giving the Gators a school-record, seven-game winning streak against their biggest rivals.

Florida is also going for a third consecutive victory against the Vols. It has won three consecutive games against UT five times during the series, most recently from 1995 through 1997.

The Gators have won 17 consecutive games overall at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Hallowed Ground: Meyer wants to keep The Swamp special. In fact, he doesn’t even like playing spring games there.

“We don’t’ scrimmage or practice in the stadium,” he said. “When we go in that stadium, we’re trying to win a game. We’re not trying to sign autographs.

“If we want this to be the one place people want to be, we don’t bring the bus around back and get out of the stadium in sweats.”

Another Streak: Florida has won nine consecutive games since losing to Auburn last season. The Gators’ last 10-game winning streak occurred during their 1996 na-tional championship seasons.

Florida set its school record with 12 consecutive victories in 1995.

Changing Speeds: Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is throwing more touch passes this season, and his wide receivers are grateful.

“He’s taking a little off his throws, which is kind of good,” Florida tight end Cornelius Ingram said. “He has such a strong arm, he can make every throw on the field.

“To be honest, I don’t think he realizes how hard he’s throwing. The receivers talk about it all the time.”

Meyer also approves of Tebow’s changeup on shorter passes.

“We’re not trying to bust people up,” he said.

The Next Wuerffel?: Tebow will try to become the first Florida quarterback since Danny Wuerffel to win his first start against UT.

Wuerffel led Florida to a victory over UT as a redshirt freshman in 1993. He finished his career 4-0 against the Vols.

Tebow played a role in Florida’s 21-20 victory over UT last season, but Chris Leak was the starting quarterback.

Since Leak, four Florida quarterbacks — Jesse Palmer, Res Grossman, Ingle Martin and Leak — have lost their first start against UT.

Who’s Next: The knee injury to senior Andre Caldwell has cost Florida its most experienced receiver for the UT game. But it also has created an opportunity for a talented, young receiving corps.

“Everybody gets the opportunity to make a play in our offense,” Ingram said. “But there’s so many of us, you definitely have to do it when it’s your turn. You don’t know when you’ll get (the chance) again.”

Sophomore wide receiver Riley Cooper has taken that to heart. He caught only four passes last season as a freshman, but three of them went for touchdowns.

This season, he has picked up where he left off. In two games, he has four catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns.

That gives him six touchdowns on nine career catches.

Gator Blues: Although UT orange is distinctively lighter shade than Florida orange, Meyer doesn’t want to take any chances. He just wants to see Florida blue, not orange, from the fans today.

Florida fans also are being encouraged to arrive early to honor the school’s national championship basketball team. Florida’s 2006-07 basketball team will receive its national championship rings in a ceremony about 20 minutes before the UT-Florida game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Maryville’s Lee Humphrey, a starting guard on the national championship team, is the only player not expected to attend the ceremony. Humphrey is playing bas-ketball in Europe.

Extra Points: Meyer is 6-0 in his career in conference openers, with a victory margin of 19.5 points per game. …. Florida has scored 108 points in two games for its best offensive start since 1999. … Tebow’s 600 career rushing yards is already the third-highest in school history for quarterbacks, behind Larry Libetore (786) and Terry LeCount (655).

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.