Billy Napier emphasized history of Florida Gators Tennessee Vols rivalry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ever since the SEC went to divisions the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers game carried big stakes. It’s not just a rivalry game. It meant who would be in the driver’s seat in the SEC East, and in certain years, who might be eliminated from National Championship contention in September.
The Gators and Vols have played 52 times but the series really took shape in the 1990s when Steve Spurrier and Phillip Fulmer matched wits with elite teams.
“Obviously my dad’s family is from Tennessee. I’ve got a couple uncles and cousins that have never missed a Tennessee game. They’ve flown all over the country to watch them play. Well-versed in this one, Billy Napier said on Monday with a smile. “When your dad’s a high school coach, the parts of the country that my family’s from, the era that I grew up in, Florida-Tennessee was a big deal at that point in time. Pretty well-versed in this one.”
In Napier’s inaugural season, the Gators went winless against all of their traditional rivals, including a close loss in Neyland Stadium. Napier was the first Florida head coach to go winless against UF’s major rivals since Charley Pell went 0-10-1 in his first season. It didn’t sit well with the fanbase but Napier didn’t feel good about it either.
The son of a coach, Napier knows what rivalry games mean. Yes, Tennessee is a conference opponent and for one more year a divisional rival. This game means more than that to generations of Tennessee and Florida fans.
Napier teaches the history of Florida Gators rivalry games
Nameless, faceless opponent has become an axiom for coaches all the way from the NFL to high school. Not this week. Sure, you want to win them all, but if you can’t, this is one that you need to have.
So Napier went back to the history books. During the offseason, the team became well-versed in all of Florida’s rivals and what the games mean to the program.
“We did some work there relative to going back and really educating everyone on the history and the magnitude of the game,” Napier said on Monday of Tennessee week. “Do you understand that this was the game at one point in time in college football relative to the SEC, the Eastern Division and certainly the national championship picture.”
The Gators also have Mike Peterson and Brandon Spikes to help with that education. Peterson finished his career 3-1 against the Vols, while Brandon Spikes doesn’t know what it feels like to lose to Tennessee.
Every year you have new people coming in and out of the program, more now with how prevalent the transfer portal has become. Graham Mertz has played in some long standing rivalries.
“At Wisconsin it was the first thing I had, from day one it was Minnesota-Iowa, you understood the rivalry,” Mertz said.
The veteran quarterback was a quick study when Napier took the Gators to school about their rivalry games.
“I wish you guys could see the video they put up there. It went back years,” Mertz said. “In a short little 30, 45-minute window, you got a quick rundown of every game that has been played. What you see when you watch those games is the passion and the love for this place. I think that’s one thing that the current players, we saw that. You definitely want to embody that.”
Tennessee doesn’t have a winning history in Gainesville. The Vols have just five wins in 21 trips to The Swamp and three of those wins came in 1953, 1955, and 1971. Tennessee hasn’t won a game in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium since 2003. That’s a streak nobody in Orange and Blue wants to be part of ending this Saturday night.
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