Florida's 2007 victory over Vols reminder of Gators' QB decline

Florida has won six consecutive games against Tennessee in the Swamp. But all the games don’t run together.

One stands out. And it’s worth mentioning for a couple of reasons.

Saturday's renewal of the SEC East rivalry will mark the 10th anniversary of Florida’s most one-sided victory in the series.

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The game didn’t start out that way. After Tennessee’s Eric Berry returned an interception 96 yards for a touchdown, the Vols trailed the Gators 28-20 early in the third quarter.

Turns out that was their last hurrah.

The rest of the game was one giant Gators chomp. Tim Tebow and Cam Newton, two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks to be, took turns running over the Vols during a 31-point surge.

Tebow and Newton were chest bumping, and the rest of the Gators were laughing on the sideline by the time the lead reached 39.

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Ten years later, the game is no longer so laughable from a Florida perspective. Instead, it serves as a reminder of better days when the Gators had two of the best quarterbacks in SEC history on their depth chart.

Tebow led Florida to another national title in 2008. Newton transferred and led Auburn to a national championship in 2010.

The Gators are nowhere close to a national championship now. And quarterback play is often cited as the reason.

You were reminded of that in the season opener when Michigan pushed them around for an afternoon en route to a 33-17 victory. The Wolverines’ dominance was best reflected in the yardage disparity: 433-192.

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But you didn’t need a yardstick to appreciate Florida’s futility. You only had to watch its new quarterbacks stumbling around in the backfield. From Tebow and Newton to Feleipe Franks and Malik Zaire: The drop has been dizzying. Dizzying, but not sudden.

Since Tebow’s farewell season in 2009, Florida’s quarterback play has ranged from poor to pedestrian. That makes its recent superiority against Tennessee even more remarkable.

Need a great trivia question? Just ask someone to name all the Florida quarterbacks who were victorious against Tennessee from 2010 through 2015.

Hint: None of them won the Heisman.

Florida’s John Brantley beat the Vols twice (2010, 2011). He further distinguished himself by finishing his college career at Florida.

Jeff Driskel, who beat Tennessee in 2012, later transferred to Louisiana Tech. When Driskel was injured in the first quarter in 2013, Tyler Murphy came off the bench to take down the Vols. Murphy later transferred to Boston College.

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A year later, Florida waited until it was down 9-0 in the fourth quarter to introduce its next Tennessee quarterback nemesis: Treon Harris, who rallied Florida to a 10-9 victory. He’s now the starting quarterback at Tennessee State.

Will Grier led Florida to a come-from-behind victory over Tennessee in 2015. He was suspended after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs and transferred to West Virginia, where he’s again a starting quarterback.

Now, it’s Franks’ turn. Or Zaire’s. Or Luke Del Rio’s (he started early last season before he was injured).

If anyone of the three – or all three combined – can put up two-thirds as many points as Florida scored in the 2007 game, Tennessee’s defense is worse than I think.

Reach John Adams at john.adams@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6284 and on Twitter @johnadamskns.

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Florida's 2007 victory over Vols reminder of Gators' quarterback decline

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