GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Steve Spurrier and Johnny Majors probably would not approve.
No. 18 Florida is running the ball early and often, a slow-it-down, ground-and-pound attack featuring senior Mike Gillislee.
No. 23 Tennessee is throwing it all over the field, relying on junior Tyler Bray's accuracy, arm strength and decision-making skills to direct an up-tempo, often no-huddle, offense.
The contrasting styles are working to perfection for the Southeastern Conference rivals. Gillislee helped the Gators (2-0, 1-0 SEC) eke out wins against Bowling Green and Texas A&M. Bray carried the Volunteers (2-0) to victories over North Carolina State and Georgia State.
Whichever teams keeps it going Saturday probably should have a big advantage in the Eastern Division showdown.
"They're going to want it slow and we're going to want it fast," Tennessee coach Derek Dooley said.
Bray leads the league in passing, averaging more than 320 yards a game. He has completed nearly 74 percent of his passes for 643 yards, with six touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Gators, meanwhile, rank last in the SEC in passing. They prefer to keep the ball in Gillislee's hands. A former backup to speedsters Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey, Gillislee leads the league with 231 yards and four scores.
He has scored twice in each of Florida's victories, but also finished last week's game at Texas A&M with a groin injury. Gators coach Will Muschamp insists Gillislee will be fine for Saturday game in Knoxville, Tenn.
Florida needs him at full speed, too, given the team has unproven backs behind him and an even less experienced quarterback. The Gators have had to scratch and claw for each win.
"I told the guys at the end of the game, 'We're going to have to win some games like that this year. This is kind of who we are,'" Muschamp said. "I know nobody wants to hear that, but that's the facts of life. Sometimes you've got to put your realistic glasses on and see who you are."
The grind-it-out Gators are a far cry from Spurrier's "Fun 'n' Gun" teams that revolutionized the SEC. Between 1991 and 2000, the Gators won six SEC titles and played for two more.
If Florida gets back to Atlanta for the first time since 2009, Gillislee certainly will be leading the way.
"Mike Gillislee is a great running back," center Jon Harrison said. "He has a lot of heart, a lot of drive. He's the one coming back to the huddle, 'Guys, get me the ball. We've got to go, let's go. Get me the ball. I will get this first (down), I will get this touchdown.'
"We love that about him. We love having a back in the backfield that all he wants is the W's for the team, and he's going to give it his all, even if it's sacrificing his body."
Bray, meanwhile, has gotten through the first two games unscathed — the best possible news for Tennessee.
He missed five games last season because of a broken right thumb, and the Volunteers weren't the same without him. He has shown a penchant for big plays, the kind of QB play rarely seen during Majors' tenure (1977-92). Some believe Bray has a chance to be the school's best signal caller since Peyton Manning.
"He can make all the throws," Muschamp said. "That's the thing that really jumps out at you. Some of the vertical throws down the field, they get there in a hurry. He's got great touch on the ball. He's got a good rapport with his receivers with some of the back shoulder fades and things they throw.
"He throws the ball into tight coverages. So, it's not like he's throwing against zone all the time. ... He's put up very impressive numbers when he's been healthy."
Florida faced Bray before the injury and jumped out front early, leading 30-7, before Bray led a mild comeback. He completed 26 of 48 passes for 288 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions. It certainly didn't help that receiver Justin Hunter sustained a season-ending knee injury on Tennessee's fourth play.
Nonetheless, Bray left an impression on the Gators.
"He's a daredevil," cornerback Marcus Roberson said. "He forces good balls. He's got a strong arm. ... Just forcing the ball out. We like that."
Bray, Hunter and junior college transfer Cordarrelle Patterson could pose problems for Florida's secondary, especially when using a no-huddle offense that tends to create chaos for the defense.
"We definitely know coming in Tennessee is going to drop back and try to get some deep threats," Gators linebacker Lerentee McCray said. "They feel like their receivers are probably overmatched for our DBs. We feel like we're going to have our opportunities to get back there and put some pressure on the (quarterback)."
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Comments » 35
GatorHater1998 writes:
I predict the vols start out slow and pick it up late
TN-27
FL-17
VolzsFan writes:
What does Johnny Majors have to do with this? For most of Majors mediocre UT coaching career, Spurrier was at Duke beating Majors. When Spurrier went to UF in 1990, Majors was in the process of being fired and Spurrier was on the way to making UF the most dominant program over the next 20 years in all of college football. In the 10 or 11 years Steve was there, he won 5 SEC Titles and had the highest winning % in America. He made UF the most dominant college football program in America. However, during the 1990-2008 era, Tenn had the best winning % against Florida of any team that played them every year except Florida State.
I hate it when these young writers do not take the time to learn the history of what they are writing about. I believe you meant to say Spurrier and Fulmer would not approve. After all, those two are Hall or Fame coaches.
VolinCalif writes:
Make it fast
VolzsFan writes:
UF has players everyone wanted. UT does not. UF has accomplished much more this year. Florida wins.
VolinCalif writes:
Bray, CP, Hunter! Just a few and DR was there.
Vols 41 Fl 17
MooseandSquirrelVol writes:
"UF has accomplished much more this year"
You keep posting that 'Bullwinkle'.
Since both are presently 2-0, my question is UF has accomplished much more what?
UTVOL2001 writes:
I read that Driskel(sp?) pledged not to hold onto the ball and take sacks or run out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage like he did vs. Tex A&M. One reason a qb does this is because he is making reads slowly. If his focus is on getting rid of the ball, that may mean some picks! If we can pressure him at all, he may rattle himself! We must shut down the run! Go Vols!
johnlg00 writes:
To further amplify your point, if Florida is 2-0 with scads of 4- and 5-star guys and the Vols are 2-0 with mostly 2-, 3-, and 4-stars, how does that prove that FU "has accomplished more"? But then, logic has never been VolzsFan's strong suit.
johnlg00 writes:
Good points; agree with all. GBO!!! TCB!!!
MooseandSquirrelVol writes:
The sad fact is that VF is what I call a "Phillbilly".
One who is still so bitter over Coach Fulmer being fired that he WANTS Coach Dooley to fail.
Probably in the mistaken belief that CPF will be rehired if CDD will just lose enough.
IPOrange writes:
True. False. False. Unknown. What's a Volzs?
bonescat writes:
I am going with my fortune cookie numbers, also the abilities of bray, patterson, hunter, rivera, our stacked o-line, and our D settling into their 3-4 formation: UT 59 UF 23
GerryOP writes:
UF has Little Willy who succeeds in making their 4* an 5* players look like 1* and 2* players while we have Derek Dooley who succeeds in making our 1*, 2* and 3* players look like 4* and 5* players. Not sure who has accomplished more. Guess we will be starting to find out in 48 hours.
oldvol59 writes:
Excellent Point
kman29 writes:
Dooley succeeds in making 1, 2 and 3 stars look like 4 and 5 stars? Seriously? While Tennessee appears to be improved off last year, the reality remains Dooley and Tennessee under Dooley has not proven a thing in his tenure.
0 bowl wins. 2 straight losing seasons. A combined 13-14 record overall and a 4-12 record within the SEC. Dooley's signature win in 2010: Kentucky Signature win in 2011: Vanderbilt.
Sorry, but all that tells me is SO FAR 1, 2 and 3 star guys have played as 1, 2 and 3 star guys. Certainly Muschamp does have a team more loaded with 4 and 5 star guys but lets not forget despite losing the starting QB through most of the season last year and depending on two true freshman at QB, they still made a bowl and got a bowl win while dealing with just as many injuries as UT while also changing the offense from Meyer's spread to a pro style. Not an easy transition.
I can accept the reality that UF still has a bit of a way to go before getting back to where they are expected to be, but clearly Vol fans like yourself feel beating a NC State team who will be a 7 to 8 win team at best this year declares your return to dominance and makes Dooley a coaching genius. lol!
givehim6 writes:
I will agree with Volzs on 1 thing it was Fulmor not Major battling it out with Spurrier. But done more yea i'd like to know, beat an SEC team? this was A&M first SEC game and UF beat A&M in the 4th quarter. When UT played NCST we struck first and never let up, game was never close.
voloffaith writes:
Good to see you and the chomper fan getting along....almost teared up on that one...but didn't want to poke my eye to do so.....
kman29 writes:
You're really not going to believe that playing and beating NC State a middle of the road ACC school at a neutral site game in SEC country (Atlanta) was any where close to being a far more difficult task than what UF had to do in going to Kyle field to play A&M in their 1st SEC game? A game that A&M players, coaches and fans called the biggest game in the history of the program. A game where everyone wanted to see A&M get that feel good story first SEC win and players wanted to prove they could play with the SEC.
Please! There isn't even a comparison.
MooseandSquirrelVol writes:
bullwinkle
Vol_in_Mich writes:
Let us beat the Gators, then we can crow! I hope the team is not as overconfident as most of the fans on here. Fla. has pretty much been kicking the Vol's butts for years, I'm tired of it! Just win baby!
GBO
BIVOLAR_BEARE writes:
Major's was coach when UT doled out some of the worst beat-downs UF ever received in this series..I know you're being stupid when you say things like that, because Fulmer's teams were the ones owned by Spurrier, not Major's teams..GBO!!
BIVOLAR_BEARE writes:
Uhhh Kman, Atl is home to GT an ACC team..FYI!
10seVol85_Part_Deux writes:
Florida has accomplished much more what?
Wins? No.
Total offense? No.
Passing offense? No.
Rushing offense? No.
First Downs? No.
TDs? No.
Points? No.
Third down conversions? No.
Fourth down conversions? No.
Red Zone conversions? No.
Long scrimmage plays? No. (Dream on!)
Sacks? No.
Tackles for loss? No.
Forced Fumbles? No.
Interceptions? No.
Court ordered community service? Probably.
I'm starting to get carpal-tunnel from all this searching!
Wait! I found something Florida has accomplished much more of -- Sacks Allowed! They're kicking our butts on that one. They've got us totally whipped, 9 to 1. (More is better, right?)
Sheesh! What an idiot.
kman29 writes:
I live in Atlanta (Sandy Springs area) and trust me local sports radio rarely talk about GT. All talk regarding college football is UGA. Atlanta sports talk radio has a program every monday, wednesday and friday called bulldog round up. GT does not get any type of sports segment. Atlanta sports radio has Buck Balou (probably spelled his last name wrong) former UGA QB. So yes, GT does play in Atlanta, but its still SEC country. Its still where we come to meet to decide our conferenc champion. I live in a city where I argue with UGA, bama and UT fans. We may come across the occassional tech fan, but not often.
10seVol85_Part_Deux writes:
Allow me to point this out. In Dooley's first season at UT, he had a roster of (I beleive) 64 scholarship players, mostly underclassmen, that included only a very small handful of 4 or 5-star kids (I think the only 5-stars were J Jackson, soph, and D Rogers, feshman). He finished the regular season 6-6, and lost in a bowl game due to a bad rule that was changed as a result.
Muschamp's first year he had a full roster of scholarship players (as far as I can tell), with a ton of 4 and 5-star blue-chippers, and he finished with exactly the same regular-season record as Dooley did. The only differences being the bowl result.
BIVOLAR_BEARE writes:
Where have you been hiding?? This is your old frienemy, biggestUTfan..Good luck Saturday night, NOT!
Down_The_Field writes:
I won't argue with you about Spurrier being more successful than Majors, but get YOUR facts correct. Spurrier was not at Duke beating Majors. Spurrier's record against Majors is 2-2. He beat Majors in 1988 and lost in 1989 (I remember and trust me, Claxton Hinds definitely remembers). Majors beat Spurrier 45-3 in 1990 and Spurrier beat Majors in 1991. Quit making it sound like Spurrier dominated Majors. He didn't.
kman29 writes:
actually muschamp was down just about as many scholarships last year due to attrition, players leaving early ect
Richmonds_Wannabe_Brother writes:
I call BS. I've googled til I'm blue in the face, and looked at literally dozens of 2011 Gators preview articles. Not one of them mentions attrition from the coaching change. It is true that the 2011 Gators didn't return many starters from the 2010 team, but to say they had anywhere near the kind of attrition that the Vols had through two coaching changes, and with Fulmer's 2008 class size, is ridiculous.
GerryOP writes:
Little Willy! Never has a coach done so little with so much. Get real lil' KboyGata, last year the only difference between UT and UF was that UF beat UT. That's it! Yup, that's the juggernaut you brag about. They were so great that after Timbow left lil' Urbie couldn't wait to get out of G'ville.
You'd better type fast. In 48 hours one of us will have to pack up and go into hibernation. I guess until then we'll have to tolerate your mindless Gata blather.
GerryOP writes:
No lil' KBoyGata, go back and read my post. I never said beating NCState signals UT's return to dominance. But I did say that Dooley coaches our players up while Little Willy is coaching your players down! Right now Coach Dooley's record against Top 25 teams is one win better than Little Willy's.
mbchaudron writes:
I'm not here to argue anything that's been said before, just stating that this UT team has the best chance in seven years to get a win against a still unproven Gator squad. Yeah, they got a win against A&M, a first year SEC addition with a new coach and new offensive system. Sure there was a great deal of emotion behind the game, but A&M still has questions at most of their skill positions; and if you look at last year's record, A&M lost multiple games after leading at half time, meaning they can't close. Kudos to Muschamp for his half-time adjustments.
Go back to the Bowling Green highlights and you'll see a young, inexperienced Florida team make a middle of the road MAC team look like a team with a chance to upset.
As it stands, UT leads UF in almost every offensive category (with the exception of rushing yards). If Sunseri and the new 3-4 defense can rattle Driskel (who has already been sacked 9 times) I think we can force turnovers or, at least, win the field position battle. Hold Florida to under 28 and I think our offense can put up enough points to win. This is about as close to a must win for Dooley as we've had with ESPN in town and a chance to gain national exposure as a true threat in the SEC East.
Vols will give up a couple of scores in the first half, and I think we go into half time down 17-14, but continued pressure will force Driskel into bad decisions on passing downs, and our offense will settle in.
Prediction: UT wins 31-27.
brokendownoldvol writes:
Who could forget old Johnny running up the middle every play against Alabama while Harper, Pickens and their other future pro receivers just hitting themselves in the helmet in disgust. Johnny would say "Don't want to do anything foolish." and loose.
johnlg00 writes:
No, I think VF is a notorious Florida troll who has been on here for years under countless screen names, all with a "z" in them somewhere. Goodness knows, there ARE plenty of "Philbillies" on here, but VF is NO kind of Vol fan.
johnlg00 writes:
Yep, Johnny was so uptight against Bama that he got the players uptight, too, and that is how they played. Florida was Fulmer's bete noire; Spurrier and Meyer both lived in his head. So far, Dooley can't claim an edge over anybody but Vandy, but whereas Majors and Fulmer for the most part had equal talent to Bama and FU, Dooley hasn't had a real talent edge over any SEC school. Until this year. This is when it all turns for him and the Vols.
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