Tennessee football: Role reversal for Vols and Gators this year

Tennessee football will face the Florida Gators in Gainesville on Saturday, and the situation this year is a bit of a role reversal for the Volunteers.

As Tennessee football gets set to take on the Florida Gators this week in The Swamp, there are a few things different about this year than in years past. In fact, the Vols are in a position that Florida is usually in, and Florida has taken on a few Tennessee positions.

It’s somewhat of a role reversal, if you will. Now, before we go too far, it’s not exactly that. People still expect Florida to win, Tennessee is suffering from low expectations and a coach on the hot seat.

However, Butch Jones’s group is 2-0 right now heading into Gainesville. Florida, meanwhile, is 0-1.

Ever since Florida began its winning streak of 11 straight back in 2005, there has never been a time where they entered this game with a loss while Tennessee football was undefeated.

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Both teams entered with a loss twice, in 2013 and 2014. Every other time, Florida entered undefeated.

Tennessee, meanwhile, entered the game with a loss five times, including four straight times from 2007 to 2010.

The last time the Vols played this game when Florida had a loss and they didn’t was 2003. The Vols won that game 24-10 in The Swamp.

However, the year before, Florida also entered with a loss. Meanwhile, Tennessee won its first two games. But Ron Zook’s Gators shocked the Vols 30-13. That was the game that rain drenched Neyland Stadium.

On top of the loss, Florida is entering this week coming off a bye. Now, the bye wasn’t initially on the schedule, to be fair. Hurricane Irma obviously is what caused it. And Tennessee football hasn’t had a bye before the Gators since 2005.

But this is still a bye for Florida. And Vols fans remember that up to 2005, they would always have the bye against Florida. In fact, they had it every year from 1996 to 2005 with the exception of 2001, when the game moved to Dec. 1 due to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The biggest role reversal of all, though, is that Tennessee football enters this game on a winning streak. And they have a higher ranking in both polls.

Obviously, the winning streak itself is a big deal. The Vols haven’t entered the game with one of those since 2005. That also happens to be the last time they entered the game on a winning streak with a higher ranking.

To be fair, they entered last year’s game with a higher ranking. But given the history of the series, it didn’t instill confidence in anybody.

Now, though, Tennessee football appears to be entering the game with the upper hand. The Vols have a better record. They have a higher ranking. And they won the most recent match-up between the two schools.

Next: Grading the Vols in their win vs. Indiana St.

The last time all three of those things were the case was 2002, and that was the disastrous loss to Florida at Neyland. What will happen in this game? Once again, it’s a toss-up. But Tennessee football fans have to feel much better about it than they have in years past.

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