Tennessee football: If Florida uses two quarterbacks, history favors Vols

Dan Mullen said this week that the Florida Gators would use two quarterbacks against Tennessee football Saturday. The history of that favors the Volunteers.

Obviously, the Florida Gators are going through a bit of turmoil after losing starting quarterback Feleipe Franks. Kyle Trask led them back to beat the Kentucky Wildcats on the road, but Dan Mullen said on Tuesday that he expects Trask and redshirt freshman Emory Jones to both play against Tennessee football on Saturday, according to Thomas Goldkamp of 247Sports.

Depending on how much Mullen uses Trask, that sort of history significantly favors the Vols. Now, with Trask as the pocket passer and Jones as the more mobile guy, everybody will point to the Chris Leak-Tim Tebow combination from 2006. Mullen even said that Jones right now is further along than Tebow was at that time, and he hinted at using him the same way.

Trask is obviously the pocket passer like Leak. However, that combination became more prevalent as the year went on. Against the Vols, Tebow was only used on obvious running plays, and he only ran the ball. Also, the offense was familiar with the switch from Leak to Tebow, as Mullen and Urban Meyer had worked on that combination going in.

This Saturday, the combination of Trask and Jones is more similar to 1998, when Steve Spurrier alternated between Doug Johnson and Jesse Palmer. Now, to be fair, Johnson and Palmer were the exact same type of quarterback. And Spurrier alternated them every play.

But the offense was unfamiliar with it, and despite over 400 passing yards, it resulted in Florida committing five turnovers. Tennessee football cashed in and won the game as a result of those turnovers, one of which was an under-thrown interception and another of which was due to a pocket collapse. You don’t think the lack of rhythm had something to do with that?

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Florida is obviously used to Franks playing under center. They at least got into a rhythm when Trask came into the game and provided a spark last week. But if Mullen begins to alternate between Trask and Jones this week, that combined with the already-existing offensive woes could result in them making just enough mistakes to keep Tennessee football in the game.

It gives us all more reason to believe that this will be an incredibly low-scoring affair. Florida already has a problem with turnovers and penalties. The adjustment to the spread will do that. Imagine how bad it can get when Mullen is alternating two new quarterbacks, especially if Jeremy Pruitt and Derrick Ansley can live up to their defensive prowess.

Add in the defensive injuries, and there just might be a recipe for Tennessee football to pull off the upset against a far better team. But it will take a series of Florida mistakes and everything to go right for Rocky Top in The Swamp. It’s a tall order.

Mullen will be helping out, though, if he makes the decision to alternate two quarterbacks. One of UT’s greatest wins in school history over the Gators came from Spurrier doing that. Could it be enough for them to pull of the upset? It just might.