My Takeaways from Florida’s Upset Win over 11 Tennessee  

My Takeaways from Florida’s Upset Win over 11 Tennessee

The Florida Gators upset the No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers 29-16 in what was Florida Gators second-year head coach Billy Napier’s first signature win over an SEC rival and the biggest win of his tenure thus far.  

Here are my takeaways from the Gators’ upset win over the Vols. 

Have Yourself a Game Trevor Etienne 

The Gators have one of the most underrated RB duos in the entire country, with Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne. 

The latter of those two had the best game of his college career in Florida’s upset win over the Volunteers, carrying the ball 23 times for a career-high 172 yards, including a 62-yard TD run in the first quarter. 

Etienne is only just a sophomore, but he looked like a seasoned veteran for the Gators against the Vols. 

Montrell Johnson rushed for 23 yards and a TD but did get a little banged up, allowing for so many carries to get into Etienne’s hands. 

The Gators will still rely on Johnson and Etienne as a tandem moving forward, but tonight showed that Etienne can be the bell cow RB if need be for the Orange and Blue. 

Gators Defense Answers the Call

All week, I wondered how Florida defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong would defend Tennessee’s high-tempo offense. 

Well, Armstrong simply did what he’s done thus far, calling the defense for the Gators: send pressure after pressure at Tennessee QB Joe Milton to make him as uncomfortable as possible. 

Milton was forced out of the pocket more often than not, which is not his strong suit as a passer. Milton did have one long TD pass to Bru McCoy, but aside from that, the deep passes were just not there for the Volunteers. 

Tennessee was 8-15 on 3rd down and 0-3 on 4th down. The Gators getting off the field on third down allowed the offense to keep possession of the ball, another aspect of the game they needed to control if they were to pull off the upset. 

Florida Dominates Time of Possession 

I wrote about it in my preview of the Tennessee matchup, but the Gators had to control time of possession against the Volunteers to give themselves the best chance to win. 

The Gators finished the game with 37:44 of possession to Tennessee’s 22:17.

At halftime, Florida led time of possession 21:42 to just 8:18 for Tennessee. That was the biggest factor in Florida winning. The first half was dominated by the Gators, who put together not one but two 14-play drives (the first ending with a missed FG and the second ending with a TD). 

Florida’s offensive line pushed Tennessee’s defense around the majority of the game, and getting center Kingsley Eguakun back from injury paid dividends. 

Game Changers Continue to Change Game for the Wrong Reasons 

Even though the Gators got the win, it doesn’t mean everything about the win was good. The Florida Gators special teams (aka the Game Changers) continue to make mistakes in 2023. Kicker Adam Mihalek had his first FG attempt blocked by Tennessee and his first extra point attempt blocked by Tennessee. 

Florida decided to make the switch from Mihalek to Trey Smack, who then made all of his extra points and FG attempts. 

On Tennessee’s first extra point attempt, the Gators only had ten players on the field. These errors continue to happen, and it didn’t cost the Gators in the upset, but it may very well cost them later on unless something is done to correct them. 

The Swamp Swamps the Volunteers 

I knew heading into this game that The Swamp would be rowdy and incredibly loud. The announced attendance was 90,751, which is the 7th largest crowd in school history and the 2nd largest crowd for a Tennessee game ever. 

The Volunteers felt every single one of those 90,751 Rowdy Reptiles in their upset loss. 

Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier commented on the crowd in his post-game press conference. 

“When it’s sold out, and they are into it like they were tonight, there’s not another place like it in the country,” Napier said. 

Eugene ‘Tre’ Wilson Goes Down With Shoulder Injury 

Unfortunately, it would seem the Gators’ upset win over the Volunteers didn’t come without any losses. After catching six passes for 44 yards on the first drive of the game for the Gators, Eugene ‘Tre’ Wilson left the game with a shoulder injury and didn’t return.

Wilson then came back out on the field out of halftime with his arm in a sling. 

Napier commented on Wilson’s injury in his post-game press conference, stating, “Tre is going to be fine. The x-ray was normal.” 

Napier said Wilson wanted to play, but he “didn’t think he was ready to play after x-rays.” 

An official update on Wilson’s injury will become available during Billy Napier’s Monday press conference ahead of their matchup with Charlotte next Saturday, but it appears that Wilson avoided a serious injury. 

Josh Heupel…what are we doing? 

At the very end of the game, when it was very clear that the Gators had secured the upset over the Volunteers, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel opted to call his last timeout (after having to use two of them on Tennessee’s first offensive drive of the third quarter) with seconds remaining on the clock. 

That decision led to Florida QB Graham Mertz getting cheap-shotted on a kneel-down attempt that should have ended the game had the timeout not been called to begin with. The cheap shot then resulted in a scuffle breaking out between the two teams.  

Florida QB Graham Mertz was asked about the hit post-game, to which he said, “I don’t know. I guess that’s Florida-Tennessee.” 

Heupel explained why he used the timeout in his post-game press conference, saying, “That sequence right there, we’re trying to get the ball back.”

“We’re trying to take a shot to the endzone. I don’t know if we’re going to have time for an onside and maybe get a shot back,” Heupel said.

With the game clearly out of reach, I don’t understand the decision by Heupel whatsoever, but rivalries are rivalries for a reason.

The Gators got the last laugh in the end as they waved goodbye to the Volunteers as they walked off the field.

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