Instant Analysis: Tennessee-Florida

It wasn't quite 1995, but it was close--close enough for Tennessee to still feel humiliated, and for Florida to feel very good about itself.

Yes, the Gators scored 31 straight points in the second half of a home game against the Volunteers on Saturday afternoon. Longtime observers of this classic SEC East rivalry would compare it to the 1995 game, when Philip Fulmer witnessed one great Gator quarterback--Danny Wuerffel--engineer a run of 48 straight points that buried the Vols in an avalanche of offensive excellence. On this afternoon, the superb signal caller for Florida was named Tim Tebow, who easily outclassed John Chavis' inept defense. Twelve years ago, the heroes for the Gators had names of Hilliard and Anthony. Today, the Florida pass catchers who flew by Tennessee defenders were called (Percy) Harvin and (Cornelius) Ingram. It all added up to a dominating outing for a team that, after two early cupcakes, finally faced a name opponent and learned something about itself.

What did the Gators learn? They learned they're pretty good, that's what.

The scary part of this 59-20 demolition of Tennessee is that Florida did the deed without generating much of any pass rush throughout the afternoon. Erik Ainge wasn't throttled so much as he was quietly turned aside by a Florida defense that limited the Vols' offense to just 13 points. Tennessee owned virtually all the snaps and all the offensive highlights in the game's first 13 minutes. The Gators didn't get a first down until the 1:36 mark of the first quarter.

At the 1:23 mark of the first quarter--yes, just 13 seconds later--Florida would have its first offensive touchdown. What Tennessee did in 60 minutes (score an offensive touchdown), Florida did in three plays late in that first stanza. An 11-yard Harvin run, a 24-yard flip to Ingram, and a 31-yard toss to Riley Cooper gave the Gators the first of several offensive touchdowns. It happened in a heartbeat, and it revealed how easily the game flowed to Tebow and Florida for most of the day's proceedings. Everything Tennessee gained, by contrast, came slowly and with precious little reward in the long run. One team made football look simple, while another made the sport look like a day at the dentist's office. That's a pretty concise way of expressing just how dominant Florida was on an afternoon when Urban Meyer just increased the strength of his stranglehold on the rest of the SEC East... and Phil Fulmer in particular.

1995, indeed.