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Vols look to snap 10-game losing streak to Gators

Tennessee safety Todd Kelly Jr. was an eight-year-old cheering from the stands the last time the Vols beat the Gators, a 30-28 thriller in 2004 featuring James Wilhoit’s 50-yard field goal with seven seconds left.

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“Obviously it was upsetting, and obviously it motivated me”, Dobbs said.

In the game of football special teams is crucial.

“Being on the road in a great environment like that and the great environment that they have down there”, cornerback Cameron Sutton said, “it really tests the mentality of your team, the focus of your team”.

The Vols were picked to finish second behind Georgia in the East, but losing to the Gators to begin conference play would make challenging the Bulldogs much more hard .

Head coach Butch Jones had nothing but praise for Williams in his post-game press conference. “It’s not the most important game”.

Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) throws to a receiver during… “It is the most important game in terms of it being the next game”.

“That was a home game for us”, he said.

The Vols face Florida in Gainesville this Saturday, September 26, at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

But if they are going to keep the streak alive, there are players who will have to, as Skip Bayless says, leap off the television screens.

“Any time you don’t turn the football over that presents an opportunity to win the football game”, Jones said.

Reeves-Maybin doesn’t experience the worst of the crowd noise when on the road because fans usually quiet down when their team is on offense.

“We play at Neyland Stadium so that’s top tier”. “I believe we took a team in there that really, I don’t know if they truly believed they could win”. The Gators waxed New Mexico State 61-13 in their opener and came up with defensive stops on the final drive in a 31-24 win against East Carolina and the 14-9 win last Saturday night at Kentucky – Florida’s 29th straight defeat of the Wildcats. The Gators have outscored their opponents by an average of 35.3 to 15.3.

Coaches are getting us ready for it, showing us videos. “They are active, explosive and get after it. I think that the results speak for themselves”. The game that has tormented a program for the past 10 years is just as crucial as all the others.

A bevy of mistakes plagued the Vols last season when they coughed up a 9-0 second-half lead in a 10-9 home loss.

But the Vols didn’t want to take Monday’s conversations there.

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“That’s for you guys to talk about all week long”, Jones said at his weekly news conference on Monday afternoon. We’ve just got to work through our preparation in practice.

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