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The Gator football team goes to Knoxville, Tennessee Saturday and wins its second straight SEC road game, beating Tennessee 37-20 to beat the Vols for the eighth straight time in the series.
Yes, Florida is 3-0, yes the Gators will move up in the national rankings, but things even more important than that happened in this game.
Florida found some PLAYMAKERS. Yes, more than one, for at least for one game.
Trey Burton scored two touchdowns. Frankie Hammond only made one catch but what a catch and run it was for a touchdown.
Mike Gillislee, probably not 100 percent because of a groin injury, just shook it off and again ran for over 100 yards.
And, perhaps most importantly, we saw sophomore quarterback Jeff Driskel go from diapers to big boy pants in this game. He was terrific, throwing for over 200 yards, making plays with his feet, and running the Gator offense with guts and smarts. He didn’t make the same mistakes he made a week ago of holding the ball too long, not throwing it away when he could or locking on receivers. He made some beautiful throws, some with great pressure on him, and did so with great poise.
I didn’t think Florida would win this game, and for awhile, it looked like Tennessee was going to win; but much like last week, the Gator defense shut down the opponent offense in the second half as it made life difficult for Vols quarterback Tyler Bray who was picked off a couple of times and hurried many more during the game.
He probably won’t say it, but Will Muschamp must be loving this; all of the naysayers, all of those who whined and complained about the first game against Bowling Green are probably now squarely back on the Gator bandwagon. Maybe, just maybe, the Florida football program is on the way back…for good.
There is a long way to go in the season, but these two road SEC wins are huge for this program. And if Florida continues to find playmakers as they did against Tennessee, who knows what can happen the rest of the year?
