Tennessee football: 5 reasons Vols will beat the Florida Gators

5. The game is in Neyland.

This doesn’t matter all the time. After all, Florida has won nine of the last 12 games in Knoxville anyway. And since the start of this century, half the Vols wins against the Gators have been on the road anyway. But it is going to be a factor this year with both teams starting the year under new head coaches.

The last time a first-year head coach led the Gators into Neyland Stadium was 1990, when Steve Spurrier’s team lost to Tennessee football 45-3. Yes, you read that right. The Vols beat the Gators 45-3 in Spurrier’s first year!

Heading into this game, neither team has actually played on the road yet. However, the Vols, unlike the Gators, have played in a neutral environment. So considering the fact that they are playing at home and this is Florida’s first game away from home at all under Mullen, the Vols are likely to benefit significantly from the crowd.

If anything, it’ll be the momentum boost that they need after two meaningless wins to help salvage that brutal season-opening loss. And with Florida already 0-1 in the SEC, the crowd could become very intimidating.

Mullen’s team is still learning his system. Feleipe Franks will have to manage an offense he’s not used to running in front of a crowd his team is not yet used to dealing with. It makes for a bad combination, and it’s one that also leads to our next reason the Vols will win this game.