Billy Napier: 'The magnitude of the game' is what makes Tennessee-Florida series unique

Part of Florida’s offseason was an education in rivalries. It included background on Tennessee and Florida and everything the series has stood for over the years.

“We did some work there relative to going back and really educating everyone on the history and the magnitude of the game,” Florida coach Billy Napier said this week. “Do you understand that this was the game at one point in time in college football relative to the SEC, the Eastern Division and certainly the national championship picture?”

The two teams have met every season since 1990 and renew the rivalry on Saturday, when No. 11 Tennessee (2-0) goes to Florida (1-1) to start SEC play at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN.

Vols looking for first win at Florida since 2003

“We have several of these games,” Napier said of Florida’s rivalries. “They all matter.”

Napier went 0-4 in rivalry games in his first season at Florida, losing to Tennessee, LSU, Georgia and Florida State. The Gators’ 49-3 win over McNeese on Saturday snapped a four-game losing skid dating back to last November, when the season ended with losses at Vanderbilt, at Florida State and against Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl.

“I think (the Tennessee-Florida rivalry) is unique,” Napier said, “because if you go back and look at the history of this game, the importance, yeah, I think there’s an element to it that’s a little bit different, for sure.”

Tennessee redshirt senior Bru McCoy grew up in Southern California and, admittedly, was not well versed on the Tennessee-Florida rivalry. That is, until the two programs got on his radar as a prep prospect.

“I think once I got to high school and started getting recruited by Tennessee and Florida that I heard about the long, ongoing rivalry and the continued beef between Tennessee and Florida,” McCoy said during Tuesday’s episode of Andy Staples On3.

And then there are the fans. The “beef” between the two programs is obvious on social media.

“Our fanbase is so out there,” McCoy told Staples. “They’ve got such a huge voice that a lot of it came from social media. I would read tweets and stuff that people put out leading up to games. 

“And then in the building, you get some education from your coaches and former players or former coaches that come and speak to the team. They’ll bring the rivalry and what it means to them. You kind of learn through them and then you kind of buy into it yourself.”

Up Next: No. 11 Tennessee at Florida, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

McCoy caught five passes for 102 yards and a touchdown in Tennessee’s 38-33 win over Florida at Neyland Stadium last September. He caught a 1-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone with seven seconds left in the first half, capping a game-changing 99-yard play drive that put the Vols up 17-14.

The yearly rivalry between the two programs could change in the new-look SEC, which expands to add Texas and Oklahoma beginning next season and will introduce a new scheduling format. Tennessee will host Florida next season, while adding Oklahoma to the schedule. 

Regardless of what it looks like moving forward, McCoy said you can feel the difference a rivalry week makes.

“It’s not like we wake up and say ‘Oh, this is just any other game,’” McCoy said. “The mentality and preparation aspect — you don’t do anything beyond the realm of what you have been doing. But definitely the intentionality, the intensity of it. That’s all going to go up just knowing the opponent and how much it means.”