Volunteer Country

Is This The Year Vols Break The Swamp Curse?

The Florida Gators have been a thorn in the Tennessee Volunteers' side for years. Can the Vols finally beat them in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium?

Brady Penn

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As we inch ever closer to the 2023 college football season, the hype increases by the day. The anticipation nationwide grows as we near the month of June and teams begin the next phase of their offseason.

Part of what we as outsiders will do is to take a peek at our teams' schedules for the year. As if they've changed from the last time we looked at them days ago. Thoughts of winning a huge rivalry game. Thoughts of taking out a conference foe. For the Tennessee Volunteers, there are a few of those games to circle on the calendar. One of them is an early season test against the Florida Gators. 

The Vols enjoyed their first win against the Gators in 2022 since 2016, ending a streak of five straight losses. Out of those losses, three of them came in Gainesville. As a matter of fact, Tennessee has had a really hard time winning games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Since the turn of the century, Tennessee is 2-9 in The Swamp. This year, the matchup will likely be the first truly difficult contest for the team (although never say never).

Even though the team lost star quarterback Anthony Richardson to the NFL, they still will have big time recruits out on that field, now in their second season with head coach Billy Napier. On September 16, it is going to be a dogfight. While Florida may not be with the ranks of Alabama and Georgia currently, they will be nothing to scoff at. With a clear cut home field advantage against the Vols, this road test will show us a lot about the 2023 Tennessee team. For Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and company, they are ready to change the narrative.

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Brady Penn
BRADY PENN

Brady Penn is a writer who has spent multiple years covering sports for multiple publications. Starting with "The Clarion", Brevard College's school publication, where he won an award for Sportswriting from the North Carolina Collegiate Media Association. Brady continues his work with The Clarion, as well as writing for SI's Volunteer Country and writing Braves pieces for SportsTalkATL.com. Brady is a rising Senior at Brevard, where he plays Football and does Play-by-Play broadcasting for BC Baseball, Men's/Women's Basketball and Softball.

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