Tennessee football brings back Checker Neyland for Florida: Is that a good or bad sign?

It’s back. Less than 12 hours after blowing out the Akron Zips 63-6, Tennessee football fans were already looking ahead to their crucial matchup with the Florida Gators to open the SEC season. The program appears to be doing the same thing.

UT announced it would bring back Checker Neyland for that game. The tradition began against Florida in 2014 and was last used in 2017 against the Georgia Bulldogs before Danny White brought it back last year against the Ole Miss Rebels.

This will be the third time since its debut eight years ago that Checker Neyland takes place during Tennessee football’s matchup with Florida. The football program revealed the news on its Twitter account Sunday morning.

The real question for fans is whether or not this is a good or a bad sign. If you look at how things went during the Butch Jones years, it would be a bad sign. UT choked away a 9-0 lead to an awful Will Muschamp-led Florida team in 2014, losing 10-9.

In 2015, the Vols blew a 17-0 lead against the Oklahoma Sooners to lose in overtime during a Checker Neyland game. As mentioned, their last such outing was in 2017 against Georgia, and they lost that matchup 41-0 as the Jones era came undone.

Then came last year, and the Vols lost to Ole Miss 31-26, while also gaining notoriety for fans throwing objects onto the field late. Simply put, this program doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to Checker Neyland.

However, one thing can salvage it. They also need to bring back the Smokey Greys. The Vols announced in the offseason that those would be restored this year for one game with a new design each of the next four years. This year, the originals are coming back out.

Florida is the game for Tennessee football to bring those out. The only game they won with Checker Neyland was 2016. That was against Florida, and they brought out the Smokey Greys for that game as well.

As a result, the Vols need to bring both things out. To be fair, they did that when they faced Georgia in 2017 and still had the blowout loss, but that team was such a disaster that it shouldn’t even count. Jones was already almost a dead man walking for the loss to Florida earlier that year.

Also, in terms of omens, the V-O-L-S letters being back up on Neyland Stadium have to be good omens too, as the only time the Vols played Florida at Neyland with those letters and the Power T at midfield was 1998. That was the only year both existed at the stadium.

Okay, in reality, there is no such thing as superstition, and as Phillip Fulmer used to always say, every game and every season stands on its own. Tennessee football should take that to heart, and Checker Neyland is just a fun addition. However, to cover their bases, they might want to bring out the Smokey Greys.