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Ivan Maisel: Florida-Tennessee rivalry could be coming out party for Hendon Hooker, Vols

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•09/20/22
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Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker has the Volunteers unbeaten at 3-0 and pushing for a top-10 national ranking. (Brett Carlsen / Getty Images)

No. 11 Tennessee is ranked as high as it has been since 2016, when the Volunteers briefly spent two weeks in mid-October as a top-10 team before returning to earth. Optimism is once again sky high in Knoxville, though, particularly with the Florida-Tennessee rivalry revving up again this weekend in front of ESPN’s College GameDay.

Will this be the chance for the Volunteers to vanquish their demons in the series, which has seen 16 of the last 17 go the way of the Gators?

“I think this game’s got a little bit of a coming out party about it, not only for (Hendon) Hooker but for the Vols,” said Ivan Maisel, breaking down his view of the weekend matchup on 3 Questions with Ivan Maisel for On3. “They haven’t been good, nationally good, for a long time.”

In fact, the Vols went the entirety of the 2018 and 2019 seasons unranked in the AP Poll after that fun but short-lived run under Butch Jones during the 2016 campaign.

Interestingly enough, that season was also the last time College GameDay visited Knoxville. Tennessee won that meeting 38-28, its only victory in the rivalry since 2004.

Can a UT win rekindle the Florida-Tennessee rivalry?

The ranking next to Tennessee’s name tells at least half the story. Since that 2016 season, the Vols have appeared in the AP Poll only nine times prior to 2022.

But second-year coach Josh Heupel has Volunteers fans believing again, thinking they might once again be on the verge of a breakthrough.

Maisel praised the work Heupel and Hooker have done getting UT to this point.

“It’s a credit to Josh Heupel and to Hooker and to the transfer portal that Tennessee was able to bring them in and that they clicked, and that Hooker has been able to execute Heupel’s quarterback-friendly offense as well as he has,” Maisel said. “It’s made a huge difference for the Vols and it’s going to make a huge difference for him.”

Enough to reverse the bad mojo in the rivalry? We’ll see. The two SEC East rivals are slated for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on CBS on Saturday.