LIVE—No. 11 Florida Gators vs. Tennessee Vols: Game Keys, Pregame Notes, Injury Updates and More
This post will be updated from now till the 7pm EST kickoff with observations, notes and more.
The No. 11 Florida Gators (2-1) are set to take on the Tennessee Volunteers tonight at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The Gators have owned the series in recent years, winning 15 of the last 16 games. Still, this is a rivalry game and the Gators first in the SEC East. Despite a loss to No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide last week, if UF runs the table in the East, they will make it back to Atlanta for the SEC Championship.
"Quick turnaround, huge rivalry game against Tennessee coming up this weekend here at the Swamp. When you go into a big games like [Alabama], you come out with the physical wear and tear and the mental wear and tear of a big game. But we’ve got to turn that around quickly for even a bigger game this week," noted Head Coach Dan Mullen this week.
Before the game, read up on all of our coverage this week:
The Gators kickoff versus the Vols at 7pm EST on ESPN.
Live Updates:
The Gators announced their starting corners as Avery Helm and Jason Marshall Jr., confirming Kaiir Elam will be out tonight. This will be Marshall's first start, but he received ample snaps versus Alabama last week, finishing with two tackles.
Injury Updates
Anthony Richardson:
Mullen said much of the same as last week in reference to redshirt freshman quarterback Anthony Richardson. The dynamic duel threat was medically cleared to face Alabama, but coaches elected to only use him in an emergency role. The reasoning being, the hamstring he tightened versus USF was still not back to 100% and he had the possibility of injuring it more on a running play. As Emory Jones put together arguably his best performance of the season, there was no need for Richardson to play.
As for his availability against the Vols, Mullen said on Monday he was on track.
"We're going to test everything out again this week. You know, through the week, [it will] be a very similar approach, you know, he'll probably do a little bit more practice. He practiced all week, you know, and that's what gets into it. Like, he was cleared to play in the game but there's a big difference between, 'I'm cleared to play in the game, I'm not going to be 100% but I can't make the injury worse,' and, 'I'm cleared to play in the game, I'm not 100%, and this one to two week injury could turn into a six week injury,' and those are always big differences.
"And so, you know, for us, we'll see how he responds this week and hopefully, with the type of, you know, when you're looking at a hamstring issue, we did an MRI on Friday, it came back much better than we thought it would be. But, you know, not still at 100%. So we wanted to be pretty precautious to, you know, in meeting with the medical staff, there was a pretty solid feeling [that] if he didn't play in the game, we continue, we're ahead of where we were that he would be 100% by this Saturday."
Kaiir Elam:
The Tide targeted Elam all game last week, often to their detriment—unless it was resulting in phantom DPI calls. The physical game banged up the game's top corner though and it is reportedly being considered having Elam sit out today. If that's the case, Avery Helm would continue to start on one side, with a rotation on the other side to likely include Jason Marshall (who played a ton versus Bama), Elijah Blades and Ethan Pouncey. Tre'Vez Johnson and Jadarrius Perkins would rotate at STAR.
Vols QB Questions:
As of Wednesday, the Vols had not decided on who would be lining up at quarterback versus Florida. Starter Joe Milton was still recovering from a lower body injury suffered in Tennessee's week two loss to Pittsburgh. Grad transfer Hendon Hooker—who has thrown for five touchdowns, 392 yards and a 70% completion rate through three games—would be the starter in Miltons absence.
Another Saturday Night In the Swamp
The Swamp is sold out for the second week in a row and Mullen—who had made it his mission since arriving four years ago to return the Swamp to its former glory—calls that a difference maker.
"All the Gator fans need to go maybe get some warm tea and lemon, make sure their throats are refreshed because we need an even more raucous environment this Saturday night to continue to give the home-field advantage. I think you saw the effect that had on the game last week and how it lifted our team up and we need the Gator Nation back out to show out this week.”
The race to Atlanta starts today, with these keys to the game.
Keys To the Game
Control the Emotions:
Mullen identified one of the issues in the first quarter against Bama—and other rivalry games as well—as the defense being almost too hyped up at kickoff. That could be the case again versus the Vols. A rivalry game in primetime, looking to show they don't have a Bama hangover? That's a recipe for a trap. So Mullen wants to see calm heads and open ears.
"I think some of it for us is getting in the flow of the game and making sure we get caught up to the speed of the game and the noise of everything that’s happening. We had a couple communication issues in the beginning of the [Alabama] game. We talked about our guys all week, it is a big game where there’s going to be a lot of emotion.
"Our guys are fired up, and there’s a tremendous amount of physical noise in the stadium, and making sure we are just focused, not just the emotion and the fired up part of it all. Just the complete focus on our execution and doing what we’re going to do. I think we’ve just got to be a little bit cleaner that way.”
Control the Tempo:
Tennessee looks to still be in rebuilding mode, but they've found a rhythm on offense with tempo. Moving fast, they've had 15 different guys notch a reception. They were able to use that to their advantage in week three (albeit against an overmatched opponent) in route to a 56-0 win over Tennessee Tech, with 417 yards of offense.
So while the Gators will be looking to stay calm in a raucous environment, they can also channel that energy into stymying what will look to be a fast attack.
"Offensively, they do a good job of getting the ball to playmakers in space, of spreading you out and playing with tempo and spreading the ball around," explained Mullen. "You know, a lot of different guys with catches on the team. They are going to spread it to a lot of different people. It’s going to be a big challenge for us to make sure we are playing at an extremely high level.”
Added defensive back Rashad Torrence, "they move the ball really fast and they get lined up really fast. That’s just something that we’ll practice at all week and that’s something that we shouldn’t have an issue with come Saturday.”
Run the Dang Ball:
The Vols have not made it easy for opponents on the ground. Through three games, they're only giving up an average of 54.3 yards per game, and a mere 1.7 yards per carry. On the flip side, Florida has averaged 335.7 yards per game on the ground, and a whopping 7.7 yards per carry. Something's gotta give.
"Defensively they’re certainly playing hard," noted Mullen. "I watched their guys, their guys play hard. They’re very physical up front, play really fast, get off the ball on the defensive front. Guys running to the ball. The energy they are playing with defensively—you look at two of the games, they held the opponent to under six points and guys flying around."
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