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Tennessee football at Florida: 10 keys for Vols and Gators

By Caleb Calhoun

GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 16: The line of scrimmage is seen during the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 16, 2017 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 16: The line of scrimmage is seen during the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 16, 2017 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images /

3. Will the penalty yards heavily favor the Vols?

Speaking of sloppy play coming from turnovers, Tennessee football also has a major advantage in penalties heading into this game. The Vols are among the top 40 teams with fewest penalty yards per game, giving up 46.3 on average. Meanwhile, the Florida Gators are outside of the top 100, giving up 69.3 yards per game.

So going into this game, can that keep up? If it does along with the turnover differential, the Vols just might be developing the ingredients for a major upset. Hey, as Gen. Robert Neyland said in his first game maxim, the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win. And penalties and turnovers are the two most indicative stats of mistakes.

Also, this series has a bit of an infamous history with penalties. Most notably, Florida had personal foul penalty against the Vols in 2004 that was a blown call and eventually set up the Vols’ game-winning field goal. That was UT’s final win until 2016. So flags have been a part of this game before, and they just may be a part of the game again.

Running the spread designed by Dan Mullen and Urban Meyer invites itself for more penalties, especially when you have a pro-style backup quarterback doing it. So on paper, Florida should continue to be a penalty machine on Saturday. Will it be enough to help Pruitt’s team provided he keeps them disciplined? That could end up being the story in The Swamp Saturday.

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