Tennessee football: 5 reasons Vols will beat the Florida Gators

2. Vols won’t turn the ball over.

Tennessee football has two turnovers in three games, and Jarrett Guarantano has no interceptions. One of their turnovers wasn’t even a turnover, as Jeremy Banks, a freshman, appeared to cross the goal line for a touchdown.

Meanwhile, the Florida Gators have four legitimate turnovers on the year. Now, yes, they have indeed forced nine turnovers on the season. That would seem to favor Dan Mullen’s team, and something’s got to give.

However, if something’s got to give, it’s Florida forcing turnovers. Both of the Vols’ turnovers came last week agains the UTEP Miners. We already talked about Pruitt noting that they had a bad week of practice. You can bet Tennessee has refocused this week.

Heading into Saturday’s game, Pruitt will refocus on turnovers. He and the staff will stress taking care of the football, and while Guarantano has demonstrated an ability to do that, all of the running backs have largely shown the same thing.

By adjusting to the spread, we’ve already laid out reasons Florida will make mistakes. That will result in a couple of turnovers as well. Because of this, Tennessee will win the rushing battle and the turnover battle. That’s been the story of the series dating back to the early 1990s, and it’s the general story of football.

The 1998 win over the Florida Gators is a prime example of those two things being the biggest factor. And speaking of 1998, there is an aura in the air from that team that leads to our final key of why the Vols will win Saturday.