Tennessee took some losses before figuring out Florida

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Posted 6:59AM on Thursday, September 19, 2002

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - Tennessee coaches had to do something after they watched Florida beat them so badly in 1994 and 1995. The key for the Volunteers was doing what they had always done. That's what has helped fourth-ranked Tennessee (2-0) win two of the last four games against the No. 10 Gators (2-1) going into Saturday's Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. After the Vols beat Florida 31-14 in 1992 in a rainy Neyland Stadium, the Gators reeled off five straight wins. The 31-0 and 62-37 losses in the middle of the run made Tennessee rethink its strategy of relying too much on Peyton Manning's passing abilities. ``We felt like we needed to be more physical. We felt like we needed to be us. We're a football team that's going to run it on offense,'' offensive coordinator Randy Sanders said. ``We quit trying to go out and try to match them pass for pass.'' ``Our defense has played better against them and kept the scores manageable to where we could run the football. It seemed like there were several years we were playing catch up from the git-go,'' Sanders said. The '96 and '97 games were much closer, 35-29 and 33-20, but still losses. Then came 1998 when the Vols broke the streak at home with Tee Martin, a more mobile but young quarterback. Running the ball then was crucial. ``We were still trying to find ourselves in the passing game at that point,'' Sanders said. ``I think if we tried to go out and throw it 40 or 50 times we would have had the same results.'' Tennessee lost the next home game in 2000 but ended a 20-year losing streak last year at The Swamp. The Vols haven't posted back-to-back wins over Florida since 1970-71. REX, MEET CASEY: The quarterbacks in Saturday's game don't know each other very well. They met briefly after last year's game on the field. Florida's Rex Grossman, who came in second last year in Heisman Trophy voting, also spied Casey Clausen directing the Pride of the Southland Marching Band a la Peyton Manning after the Vols' victory. ``That was pretty cheesy,'' Grossman said this week. Grossman may not like Clausen's musical talents, but he thinks his counterpart is a good player. ``He does well for them,'' Grossman said. ``He does a little play-action and is pretty accurate and gets the ball to his wide receivers a lot. It's a different style of offense (than ours), so he's a different style of quarterback.'' HOLLYWOOD KELLEY: Even more television cameras than usual have been around campus this week. ESPN GameDay's crew is returning for the Florida game, and several other networks filmed interviews with various players this week. Receiver Kelley Washington, who will play for the first time this season, had on a special outfit for one of his tapings. He was decked out in a gold-colored sleeveless shirt, dark pants, a silver cross on a long chain and some bracelets. Washington topped it off with a pair of mirrored sunglasses that wrapped around his face. MORE GAMEDAY: ESPN GameDay has visited Knoxville four other times, and the Vols went 2-2 in those games following the show. The wins were over Georgia in 1995 and Notre Dame in 1999. The losses were both to Florida in 1996 and 2000. GameDay will also appear at its sixth Tennessee-Florida game, the most of any game previewed. BATTLE MORE MUM: Strong safety Julian Battle, a native of Royal Palm Beach, Fla., didn't have too much to say about Steve Spurrier's departure for the NFL. Last year Battle praised Spurrier for being an ``offensive mastermind,'' but also said, ``I've heard he's kind of a jerk.'' When asked how different he thought Florida is without Spurrier, he was more aloof. ``I don't know, man. I just think the chemistry of the team is pretty much the same,'' Battle said. When Battle went home last week while the Vols had an open date, he found some of the Gator fans had turned on their team. ``Everybody is rooting us on to beat them,'' Battle said. ``They're not even having a bad year. They had a bad game. Everybody thinks they're sorry. Typical college fans, they don't really know.'' STEVE'S SHADOW: Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer was asked this week if he feels overlooked nationally because of the losses to Florida and Steve Spurrier. ``I don't feel it until you guys bring it up,'' Fulmer said. ``From a national perspective, we can go most anywhere in the country and recruit with anybody and get people's attention. Obviously we've had a lot of television exposure and a lot of really high-profile players.'' ``From a personality standpoint, I don't really concern myself with that. I do think we do get very good national attention, at least from the people that are important. And that's the fans and the prospects.''