Dan Mullen details pressure on Tennessee in game against Florida

Tennessee is the road favorite at Florida Saturday, meaning it comes with a lot of pressure to win, so says Dan Mullen.

The former Gators’ coach knows the importance of the rivalry game dating back to his days with the program. But this year, Tennessee was a popular pick to potentially upend Georgia in the SEC East.

Well to do so, you have to get through Florida first.

“That is such a big game,” Mullen said on Sirius XM SEC Radio. “One is that it’s a rivalry game. Because the teams were top teams in the division for so long, but also, at first, I always felt that all my time in Florida as an assistant and head coach, it was almost always the first conference game. And if you want to win the East, whoever won that game, that’s a two-game swing after one game, and so I think it’s always been such a big game. 

“And I think it’s a really impressive history that Florida put together of winning that game and it’s why Florida’s had so much success throughout the years. It’s always put a big, you know, a harder ladder to climb as well for Tennessee because if they lose this game, that’s a huge setback in their chance to win.”

Tennessee-Florida could have huge implications

Yes the Volunteers are the predicted winner, but the Gators shouldn’t be ruled out. Former Gators legend Tim Tebow told On3 about the underdog role for Florida this week.

“Yeah, I think sometimes when you’re in a place like that, it’s not a bad thing to be an underdog, right,” Tebow said. “Because it can rally you together. And I think that Florida needs to rally but I also think that they need to focus on execution. One of the things that I loved in the Utah game by Florida is I loved their fight, even when it didn’t go well.

“Their guys continued to compete and fight. I didn’t love the execution. I mean, obviously, everybody talked about the two No. 3’s on the fourth down, on the field like yeah, you can get that cleaned up. But you know, just the false starts and the little things like that I think you can get cleaned up.”

Don’t immediately write off Florida due to the spread or Tennessee’s prowess coming into the season. That’s why, like Tebow said, you have to play the game on the field.

“Sometimes perception can be a little bit harsher than reality,” Tebow said. “And I think if you’re a Florida fan, and you really sit back and look at that film, after the first few plays and it didn’t go well, they really kind of regrouped and played a lot better throughout the game. But you know, you’re going to have to execute a lot better, at a lot higher level to be able to beat Tennessee. 

“But Tennessee also didn’t execute super well last week. That’s a team that is so talented, and I really like a lot of what they have to offer, except I do think they’re trying to figure out a few things as well.”