Florida-Tennessee: a test for road and home teams

Posted 8:07PM on Thursday 14th September 2006 ( 18 years ago )

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Florida coach Urban Meyer has lectured his team about being tougher on the road, and now the seventh-ranked Gators will be tested when they visit No. 13 Tennessee on Saturday. The Volunteers (2-0), meanwhile, have emphasized protecting their home turf, and they stamped out their losing streak to top 10 teams in Knoxville two weeks ago. In a big game to shape the Southeastern Conference East division race, one side will have to fall. The Gators (2-0) got used to rarely losing at The Swamp or on the road with Steve Spurrier, who was 87-14 in SEC play in 12 seasons. In the past four seasons, three under Ron Zook and one under Meyer, Florida has lost six times in SEC rivals' stadiums. Florida safety Tony Joiner would like to see the Gators return to the old days when they were dominant wherever they played in the league. ``It really is where we want to get. We really want to go in somebody else's house and take their cheese and all of that. Make a sandwich in their kitchen,'' Joiner said. This week the kitchen is Neyland Stadium, the third-largest stadium in the nation, where the Vols are trying to rebuild their home-field advantage. Last season's 5-6 finish shook up everything on Rocky Top with fans bemoaning coach Phillip Fulmer's record in big games, particularly at home. Fulmer was 5-9 against top 10 teams in Knoxville since 1992 going into this season with a losing streak of six. Four of the losses came at the hands of you guessed it Florida. The losing streak ended in the Vols' opener with a 35-18 win over No. 9 California, and then Tennessee eked by Air Force 31-30 at home last week. But the challenge is to beat not just SEC teams but their East division rival at home. ``We've talked a lot about how important it is. We have great support here, and we'd like the home crowd to be pleased,'' Fulmer said. You can bet Joiner's quote is tacked up on some Big Orange bulletin board on campus, but publicly the players didn't want to get into a war of words. ``I don't know if they have respect for us or not. But I don't really care because this is our territory, and we're going to come out and try to hold ours down,'' Tennessee offensive tackle Arron Sears said. This rivalry doesn't need one-liners to get the players and coaches excited although Fulmer said this week it was probably more entertaining when Spurrier was around. ``It's the first SEC East game for both teams. I don't know how it gets any bigger than what it is,'' Fulmer said. The Vols got a big lift this week when defensive tackle Justin Harrell decided to play one more game before he's required to have surgery on a ruptured tendon in his left biceps. Harrell, Tennessee's only returning starter on the defensive line and best defender, was ruled out for the season on Sunday, but doctors have said he could play this week and not worsen the injury. Meyer will be making his first appearance in Knoxville as a head coach. He was a receivers coach at Notre Dame in 1999 when the Irish lost in Neyland 38-14. The Gators won last year's matchup 16-7 in Gainesville in Meyer's first season. Florida didn't do very well on the road last year, going 1-3 in the SEC with losses at Alabama, LSU and South Carolina. At Alabama, Chris Leak threw an interception that set up a Crimson Tide touchdown for a 14-0 lead. Another interception led to South Carolina's early 7-0 lead. So Meyer invited his former boss, Lou Holtz, and some former Florida players coached by Spurrier to talk to his players about playing on the road. ``Tough teams win on the road. You've got to play great defense on the road. Not good defense, great defense. We didn't do that a year ago. And you cannot turn the ball over,'' Meyer said. ``The question mark at the University of Florida is: how tough are we? We'll find out. The toughest team will win this game Saturday night.'' The Gators used a silent cadence during their win over Central Florida last week to practice for this week. ``Obviously, we have to prove to ourselves that we can win on the road, so it's going to be a huge game for us,'' said center Steve Rissler, who played guard last year and is the only returning starter on the offensive line. ``When you score and you can kind of quiet the crowd, there's no other feeling like that.'' AP Sports Writer Mark Long in Florida contributed to this report. (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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