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Dan Mullen and the Gators hope the Swamp will be rocking just like it was last weekend when they host Tennessee on Saturday night.
“We keep that going. It does nothing but help. Helps the current team, helps the program long term and I certainly hope everybody enjoys being in there and feeling that energy and excitement and being a part of that game-day environment,” Mullen said.
“I’ll sing. If they want to give me a mic pregame, I’ll go sing or do a little dance routine, whatever we need if it’ll help people come. I’ll do what we need.”
READ MORE: Sing, dance? Mullen would do anything to pack Swamp vs. Vols
Florida leads the series with a 30-20 record and has won 15 of the last 16 meetings, including an active four-game winning streak. The Gators have not lost a home game to the Volunteers since 2003, owning eight consecutive wins in Gainesville. The last home win against the Vols marked Kyle Trask’s first career start.
Florida has clearly dominated the series since the early 2000s, but the SEC East rivalry hasn’t been without dramatic games. In 2015, Florida defeated Tennessee 28-27 in the Swamp, with Will Grier’s 63-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Callaway, putting the Gators ahead before the Vols two missed field goals. In 2017, Florida beat Tennessee 26-20 in Gainesville on a 63-yard Hail Mary from Feleipe Franks to Tyrie Cleveland as time expired. Last season, Florida topped Tennessee 31-19 in Knoxville.
Saturday’s game is the first SEC East game for both teams and the start of SEC play for Tennessee.
While No. 11 Florida (2-1, 0-1 SEC) is coming off a close 31-29 loss to top-ranked Alabama at home, Tennessee (2-1, 0-0) is coming off a 56-0 rout of Tennessee Tech. The Volunteers’ sole loss this season was at the hands of Pitt, 41-34.
The matchup pits the nation’s No. 2 rushing offense — Florida with 335.7 rush yards per game — against the country’s No. 5 rushing defense — Tennessee with 54.3 rush yards allowed per game.
It’s the first meeting between Mullen and Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, who led UCF last season. Mullen is 4-0 against Tennessee in his career.
The game kicks off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN.
In an episode of Gators Breakdown, host David Waters and Will Miles of Read and Reaction, discuss what Florida can take away from the Alabama game as they move on to Tennessee.
And David is joined by former Tennessee wide receiver Jayson Swain, with the Swain Event, in the latest Gators Breakdown episode to preview the new-look Volunteers under Heupel.
AR ‘looking good’
After Anthony Richardson, who strained his right hamstring in Week 2 against South Florida, was held out of last week’s game, Mullen said on Monday that the redshirt freshman from Gainesville would “probably do a little bit more at practice” this week.
MORE INSIGHT: Mullen: QB Richardson to ‘do a little bit more at practice’
During the SEC teleconference on Wednesday, Mullen gave another update on Richardson’s status.
“He’s looking good. We haven’t really opened him up a whole lot, so it’s a little bit similar to last week,” Mullen said.
Richardson will have another MRI this week — set for Friday — to see where he’s at. He’s not fully sprinting yet.
🟠 🔵 ⚪ Traditional look continues
Like last weekend, the Gators are sticking with the traditional look for this week’s uniforms. That means the orange helmets, blue jerseys and white pants.
It’s the second time this season the Gators have gone with this combination.
Here are the photos released on the Gators Football Twitter account of the uniforms under the lights.
👀 How improved is Florida’s rushing attack?!
David took a look at the stats from the Florida running backs’ performance against Alabama last week compared to the 2020, and it shows just how much the Gators’ rushing attack has improved.
Against the Crimson Tide, there were 25 rush attempts between Malik Davis, Nay’Quan Wright and Dameon Pierce for 166 yards.
- 6.64 yard average
- 86 yards before contact, with a 3.4 average
- 80 yards after contact, with a 3.2 average
- 28% of runs were 10+ yards
Here’s the numbers from the 2020 season:
- 4.5 rush average
- 1.84 YBC average
- 2.71 YAC average
📅 Gators’ 2022 schedule released
The Southeastern Conference on Tuesday released Florida’s football schedule for the 2022 season.
The slate features six home games in the first seven weeks, a matchup with Utah in the Swamp to kick off the season and the second road trip to College Station in three seasons to take on Texas A&M.
Here’s the full 2022 schedule:
- Sept. 3 - Utah (Gainesville)
- Sept. 10 - Kentucky (Gainesville)
- Sept. 17 - South Florida (Gainesville)
- Sept. 24 - Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.)
- Oct. 1 - Eastern Washington (Gainesville)
- Oct. 8 - Missouri (Gainesville)
- Oct. 15 - LSU (Gainesville)
- Oct. 22 - BYE
- Oct. 29 - vs. Georgia (Jacksonville)
- Nov. 5 - Texas A&M (College Station, Texas)
- Nov. 12 - South Carolina (Gainesville)
- Nov. 19 - Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.)
- Nov. 26 - Florida State (Tallahassee)
- Dec. 3 - SEC Championship (Atlanta, Ga.)
Hear David’s reaction to the schedule in this episode of Gators Breakdown.
🏈 ICYMI: How Mullen became Florida’s football coach
This article was published last week, but in case you missed it amid the hype surrounding the Alabama game, it’s definitely worth a read.
Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger does a deep dive into the Florida football coaching search four years ago. The piece confirms that Mullen was always a top target after Florida parted ways with Jim McElwain in 2017 but also details just how tormenting it was for Florida AD Scott Stricklin to have to hire Mullen away from Stricklin’s alma mater and former place of employment — Mississippi State.
The piece also undercovers details of the talks with Chip Kelly, now the head coach of UCLA, and Scott Frost, who was at UCF at the time but ended up leaving for his alma mater, Nebraska.
Buddy Martin also reveals how he learned of what turned out to be Stricklin’s second trip to visit Kelly, resulting in the search committee, along with University of Florida President Kent Fuchs, landing at the Ocala airport to the sight of the media.
As Dellenger writes in the article, “so far, Stricklin’s decision has produced satisfying results.” And, since it’s Tennessee week, it’s worth pointing out that Dellenger also confirms in the article that the Vols were after Mullen during that coaching carousel.
🏟️ Week 4 features neutral sites for 2 ranked matchups
For Week 4, we have two ranked matchups at neutral sites that are NOT at the same time as Florida’s game.
No. 12 Notre Dame and No. 18 Wisconsin will face off at Chicago’s Soldier Field, with kickoff set for noon and will be broadcast on Fox. The two-game series that was supposed to start last year with a game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. ESPN’s “College GameDay” will also be heading to the Windy City for the matchup.
And in the SEC, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 16 Arkansas will meet at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for the SEC on CBS game of the week at 3:30 p.m.
Here’s who all of the AP Top 25 teams are playing this weekend (all games are on Saturday unless noted otherwise):
- Southern Miss at No. 1 Alabama — 7:30 p.m.
- No. 2 Georgia at Vanderbilt — Noon
- Arizona at No. 3 Oregon — 10:30 p.m.
- West Virginia at No. 4 Oklahoma — 7:30 p.m.
- Colorado State at No. 5 Iowa -— 3:30 p.m.
- Villanova at No. 6 Penn State — Noon
- No. 7 Texas A&M vs. No. 16 Arkansas in Arlington, Texas — 3:30 p.m.
- No. 8 Cincinnati — BYE
- No. 9. Clemson at North Carolina State — 3:30 p.m.
- Akron at No. 10 Ohio State — 7:30 p.m.
- Tennessee at No. 11 Florida — 7 p.m.
- No. 12 Notre Dame vs. No. 18 Wisconsin in Chicago — Noon
- No. 13 Ole Miss — BYE
- No. 14 Iowa State at Baylor — 3:30 p.m.
- South Florida at No. 15 BYU — 10:15 p.m.
- UMass at No. 17 Coastal Carolina — 1 p.m.
- Rutgers at No. 19 Michigan — 3:30 p.m.
- Nebraska at No. 20 Michigan State — 7 p.m.
- No. 21 North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech at Mercedes Benz Stadium — 7:30 p.m.
- Georgia State at No. 23 Auburn — 4 p.m.
- UNLV at No. 22 Fresno State — 10 p.m. Friday
- No. 24 UCLA at Stanford — 6 p.m.
- No. 25 Kansas State at Oklahoma State — 7 p.m.
🏊♀️ Olympic icon joining Florida swim program as volunteer coach
Florida announced on Wednesday that seven-time gold medalist Katie Ledecky will train for the 2024 Olympics in Gainesville and will help the swimming program as a volunteer alongside head coach Anthony Nesty.
“I’m excited to be a part of the University of Florida’s world-class swimming and diving program and train for the 2024 Olympics with Coach Anthony Nesty, and the top-tier mid-distance and distance training group,” Ledecky said in a statement. “My years at Stanford, both academically and athletically, were nothing short of incredible and I’m looking forward to the opportunity and challenges that lie ahead in Gainesville.”
Ledecky is an Olympic icon. She’s won 10 medals in the Olympics and broken world records 14 times. She was an eight-time NCAA champion in college at Stanford.
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