Adams: Practice, practice, practice, Florida

First-year Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin knows what he's up against.

As his team opened preseason football camp Tuesday, his challenge is rebuilding a program that has incurred two losing seasons in the last four years. But his job isn't all about UT. It's also about Florida.

Fortunately for UT, he understands that.

In his first press conference, Kiffin joked about celebrating a victory over the Gators. Later, he bragged about converting a couple of big-time recruits from Gators to Vols. Then came the UT billboards on Florida soil last week.

Kiffin obviously gets it. He knows winning a bunch of games isn't the ultimate goal. He knows at some point he must overcome the Florida dynasty.

And "dynasty" isn't hyperbole.

Florida can't match Alabama's 25-year run under coach Bear Bryant or Tennessee's winning percentage in the early years of General Neyland, who took the Vols from the old Southern Conference into the SEC.

But consider the increased competition, the extended schedule and the challenge of an SEC championship game.That magnifies what Florida has accomplished in the last 19 years - first under Steve Spurrier, and currently under Urban Meyer. During that period, the Gators have won three national titles, eight SEC championships, finished in the top 10 on 12 occasions, produced 28 first-team All-Americans and weathered three years of Ron Zook.

That's what Kiffin is up against.

Not even the most relentless optimist among UT fans should expect the Vols to be competitive with Florida this season. In year 20 of the Gators' golden era, they are a consensus pick to win the national championship. In year one of the Kiffin era, the new coach is just trying to turn the 5-7 losers of last season into winners.

But eventually, just winning won't be enough.

Never mind how many games former UT coach Phillip Fulmer's teams won from 1993 through 1997. Or their top-10 national rankings (as high as second in 1995). All that winning didn't make up for all the losing against what has become UT's greatest rival. The pressure was mounting - on the Vols and especially the coach - to beat the Gators.

Once they did, they won a national championship.

That's the advantage of having an opposing dynasty in your neighborhood. If you could beat Florida in 1998, you were good enough to win a national championship. Eleven years later, as a new era of UT football begins, that hasn't changed.

However, beating Florida under Meyer might be even more difficult than beating it under Spurrier. Meyer and his staff recruit with the same intensity they coach, and one national championship didn't change that. Following Meyer's second national title, the gap between UT and Florida has never been more apparent.

How do you close that gap?

One recruit at a time.

That's why the first-year recruiting of Kiffin and his staff has been so significant. They aren't getting highly recruited players. They're getting them away from Florida.

Two of those takeaways - wide receivers Nu'Keese Richardson and Marsalis Teague - could contribute right away. The better they are, the more crucial for UT that they didn't go to Florida.

A couple of recruits won't alter the course of the rivalry. Nor will they turn The Swamp topsy-turvy in UT's favor on Sept. 19, a game that is attracting national attention because of Kiffin's off-season potshots at the Gators and Meyer.

You can't judge UT's program by what happens on the upcoming trip to Gainesville. Instead, reserve your judgment for the next trip to The Swamp, when this staff has two more recruiting classes behind it.

Kiffin is just getting started. He's implementing a new system and trying to instill a new attitude as he attempts to steer a once-successful program back on course.

This preseason is all about getting better. But the long-range goal is to get better than Florida.

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

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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