KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- It's impossible to talk about Saturday's game here between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers without a nod to the past -- in reality, a recent past, but one that feels very distant.
A decade or so ago, this was the pre-eminent game in the league, with the brash Steve Spurrier often jabbing at nice-guy coach Phillip Fulmer. The winner always played for the conference championship, often winning it.
That was four Gators coaches ago, although Urban Meyer did win two national titles in his stay. And it was two Volunteers coaches ago, although Lane Kiffin only stuck around for one season.
Things have changed, sure. New buildings and greenspace dot an evolving Tennessee campus, one that looked a lot different when "GameDay" was last in town for Florida-Tennessee in 2004.
Are these national-title contenders like they were then? Sure doesn't look that way. But Florida-Tennessee again means something, even if a lean weekend in college football -- and Arkansas' stunning loss last week to Louisiana-Monroe -- has pushed them up onto the pedestal.
How big is this game in Knoxville? In addition to the "GameDay" crew being here, people are nervous. A win and Tennessee will begin to feel as if it's again up there with division elite Georgia and South Carolina. A loss, and it's a retreat to the self-doubt that has enveloped the fan base the past few seasons, including losing years in 2008 (Fulmer's last) and 2010 and 2011 (Derek Dooley's first two). For a talented but unproven team with a four-game stretch in two weeks of road games at Georgia and Mississippi State, home against Alabama and at South Carolina, that is a huge difference.
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Travis Haney
ESPN Insider• Joined ESPN as Insider's national college football writer in April 2012
• Previously wrote for The Oklahoman and The Post and Courier
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Travis HaneyTravis Haney joined ESPN in April 2012 as Insider's national college football writer. He previously covered the University of Oklahoma Sooners for The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman for one season, and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks for The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier for four. Additionally, Haney has contributed since 2003 to ESPN publications and projects, including ESPN The Magazine.
A native of Cleveland, Tenn., Haney's initial introduction to a college football cathedral was Neyland Stadium. He later graduated from the University of Tennessee, in 2003, and has spent time covering the Volunteers, the University of Georgia, Clemson University, and other schools. Safe to say, football, and football in the South, was injected into his bloodstream at a young age.
Haney is the author of three books -- Gamecock Glory and Gamecock Encore, which chronicled the South Carolina baseball team's run to the 2010 and 2011 national championships, and State of Disunion, a historical look at the Clemson-South Carolina football rivalry that he co-wrote with Larry Williams.
Haney resides in Charlotte, N.C. You can follow him on Twitter here.
