Tennessee football: Will the aura of Florida week ever return?

Earlier this month, we recognized the 20-year anniversary of Sept. 11. The tragedy affected everything, but it had one particular impact on the sports world: creating the watershed moment for the explosive rivalry between Tennessee football and the Florida Gators at the time.

That game was canceled in 2001 due to the attacks and moved to Dec. 1. When they met, Florida was No. 2, the Vols were No. 5, and the SEC East and a chance to play for the national title were on the line. At that point, only UT or UF had ever won the SEC East. The previous three matches between the two schools were decided by three, two and four points.

As 18-point underdogs, the worst line in college football history, Tennessee football shocked Florida behind 226 yards rushing from Travis Stephens. The Vols won 34-32, spoiling what would be Steve Spurrier’s last home game at Florida.

Since then, the rivalry has sunk into irrelevancy. Only twice since that game were both teams in the top 10 when they played each other: 2002 and 2005. The Vols haven’t had a top 10 finish since 2001. Florida has now won 15 of 16 against Rocky Top.

Now, with the two schools set to face off this week, the aura of the rivalry is gone. Both are 2-1, and neither are in the top 10. To make matters worse, there’s nothing to make the game interesting, as Florida’s 2-1 is so much more impressive than the Vols’ 2-1 that it’s an easy assumption they will win in a blowout in The Swamp.

When the line was set at 18 points in 2001, it was ridiculous. Nobody is disagreeing with the WynnBET line being 20 this time. Honestly, the line being set at 20 now further illustrates how insane that 18-point line was back then.

So all of this begs the question…will the mystique around this game ever return? Can it ever recapture the magic of what happened on that December afternoon in Gainesville back in 2001? That should be the task at hand for Josh Heupel.

Outside of 2001, the game used to carry enormous weight as the SEC opener for both teams, which it is once again. The winner was in the driver’s seat, and the loser spent the rest of the year begging the other team to lose two games. There were plenty of September thrillers, including the Vols’ one win over Florida the past 15 yards, a 38-28 thriller in 2016.

Heck, even a return to the aura of what happened that week would be exciting for Tennessee football. You could point to 2006, 2012, and 2016 as years since the rivalry began to fall that there was still excitement.

Last year, when the two teams faced off, though, Vol fans were just counting down the minutes until the season finally ended. Of course, then came Jeremy Pruitt’s firing and the hire of Heupel as a result of an NCAA investigation. But nobody cared about the Florida game itself.

Everybody should have seen the omen in 2001. A week after that epic win over Florida, Tennessee football cost itself a shot at the national title with an upset loss to the 8-3 and mediocre LSU Tigers in the SEC Championship. An upstart coach named Nick Saban pulled off the upset. UT’s program has never recovered from that game. The rivalry with Florida hasn’t recovered either.