Top 10 Ways to Define Success for the 2015 Tennessee Vols Football Season

Oct 4, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; A general view of Neyland Stadium prior to the game against the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

3. Beating Florida

Here Butch Jones, we’re making it easy for you to have that winning record against rivals. Beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky as you should every year, and for the love of Peyton, please end that 10-game losing streak to the hated Florida Gators!

There are no excuses anymore on this one. I do not care if this is a road game.

The Vols are supposed to be back, and the Gators are supposed to be rebuilding. What situation do the teams have to be in for Tennessee to finally pull out a victory here? Over three of the past four years, both teams were in struggling phases not typical of their programs’ overall histories, but somehow Florida managed to pull out a win every year anyway.

That’s right. Tennessee could not even beat Will Muschamp!

But this year has to be it. The Vols cannot shake anything related to the season if they don’t beat the Gators, and a loss to them could set them down the path it did in 2012 and last year. Both times, beating Florida would have been a big momentum boost for the season ahead. But it really just started a path of destruction.

Fortunately, that path last year was rectified with a late-season surge behind Joshua Dobbs that provided the momentum for this year.

But that momentum cannot be capitalized on without a win over the Gators. Butch absolutely has got to pull this one off this year, because if not now, when?

A loss could really set the team back mentally, so the win has got to happen.

Next: #2: Finishing in the Top 25