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Defense wins the day for Gators

There’s no love lost between the University of Florida Gators and The University of Tennessee Volunteers. The yearly football face off between the Southeastern Conference foes is a highlight of both teams schedules and one that fans look forward to each year. For Florida fans, Saturday’s 30 to 6 rout over Tennessee insured bragging rights for another year.

Coach Urban Meyer and his fourth ranked team showed their toughness and determination, while extending their winning streak over Coach Phillip Fulmer’s Volunteers. It was a rough day for Fulmer’s squad in front of a booing home crowd at Neyland Stadium. By the start of the third quarter, those fans started to abandon hope and began leaving the stadium.

Brandon James set the tone for the Gators when he snapped up the opening kickoff and ran it back 52 yards into Tennessee territory at the 44. A few short plays later, Quarterback Tim Tebow lobbed a three yard jump pass to tight end Aaron Hernandez in the end zone. Florida was in control and they never looked back.

Tebow was quoted as saying after the game, that Florida's performance is a great start for a team that's hoping to play for a championship this season. "It's just a huge step for us," he said. "The last 12 to 13 years, the winner of this game has gone on and had success in the SEC. That surge going into SEC play, you really feed off of and get focused on."

James opening touchdown wasn’t his only game highlight. Late in the first quarter he wove his way through the Volunteers defense and sprinted 78 yards for a touchdown on a punt return to put the Gators up 17 to 0. The big early lead took the home crowd out of the game.

James and the Tebow led offense may have put most of the points on the board, but it was the Gators defense that were the stars of the day. They stepped up with big plays and outstanding special teams performances. Coach Meyers had praise for his teams play and maturity.

The Gators defense shut down the Volunteers ground game with swarming, relentless coverage and came up with two huge turnovers in the second quarter that allowed Florida to maintain control.

Defensive end Carlos Dunlap recovered a fumble on the two yard line early in the second quarter when it looked like Tennessee would reach the end zone. The fumble came on a bobbled handoff from quarterback Jonathan Crompton. Twice Tennessee drove to the Florida one yard line and fell apart. Florida freshman cornerback Janoris Jenkins intercepted a tipped pass in the end zone to kill another Vol’s drive, just as the first half clock was winding down.

A fifteen yard touchdown pass from Tebow to Percy Harvin gave Florida a 27 to 0 lead with 4:29 left in the third quarter and any hopes left in the hearts of the dwindling crowd of Tennessee were squashed.

The Gators improved their record to 4 and 0, while the 30 to 6 victory Saturday was the second consecutive blowout for No. 4 Florida over its SEC East rival. Meyer joined former Gators head Coach Steve Spurrier as the only coach to defeat a Phillip Fulmer lead Tennessee team in four consecutive seasons.

It's the second year in a row that Tennessee has started the season 1 and 2, but the Vols regrouped last season to win the SEC East.

In a post game interview Fulmer was pessimistic, "It seems like we've got to learn the hard way sometimes. As a coach, last year that football team was one of those. We won't give up. We've got a chance to be there yet, just a little bit harder road."

For the Gators Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow it was another solid game as he completed eight of 15 passes for 96 yards and no interceptions and ran 12 times for 26 yards. Harvin finished the game with 49 yards on two catches. Emmanuel Moody ran nine times for 55 yards. Overall, the Gators amassed 147 rushing yards while holding the Volunteers to 96.

Next up for the Florida boys is another test when they meet Ole Miss.