GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer tossed his hat into the stands as he exited the Swamp following his team’s 24-10 win over the Gators Saturday.

A year’s worth of frustration could be seen leaving Fulmer’s face as the orange adidas cap left his hand.

“I just think this is huge, huge for us,” an emotional Fulmer said following the game. “It’s another step in the right direction.”

The win was the Vols’ (3-0, 1-0) first over a ranked opponent since the 2002 Citrus Bowl. UT junior linebacker Kevin Simon said the victory helps ease the pain of an embarrassing defeat to Florida and five-loss season of a year ago.

“When people had something negative to say (last season) about Tennessee it always went back to that Florida game,” Simon said. “It’s just good to get the monkey off our back as a team,”

Of course, it took half a game to get the monkey moving.

Florida (2-2, 0-1) took an early lead on a Matt Leach field goal, but couldn’t get any consistency from its offense.

Vols had their own trouble, finishing the half with only 39 yards on the ground – 24 on a reverse by wide receiver Mark Jones.

The passing game had only limited success until the last 16 seconds of the second quarter. That’s when Vol quarterback Casey Clausen hit a pair of passes to give Tennessee its first score – a 13-yard screen pass to tailback Cedric Houston and a 48-yard Hail Mary to wideout James Banks.

Clausen’s bomb went to the right side of the endzone, where Jones was waiting. Jumping between three Gator defenders, the receiver/safety tipped the ball to Banks to give the Vols a four-point lead to end the half.

Banks said the offense practices the “Dancer: All Go” play every Thursday but never gets it to work.

He said he was just as surprised as his teammates when he came down with the ball.

“It was huge,” Banks said. “My eyes looked like I was in a horror movie.”

So did those of the Florida fans. Most in the stadium-record crowd of 90,332 looked on in disbelief as the Vols went to the locker room leading, 7-3.

According to Clausen, the play gave Tennessee the momentum heading into the second half.

“Sometimes you get lucky,” Clausen said. “(The catch) set the tempo for the rest of the game.”

If the catch didn’t give the Vols motivation, Clausen’s speech at halftime may have.

“He just came in yelling at halftime, saying ‘offense over here and defense over there,'” Houston said. “He really showed his leadership in there.”

Clausen said he was frustrated at watching his offense fall into several third-and-long situations, which hurt the team in its battle for field position.

“We just weren’t playing,” Clausen said. “Coming back in the second half we just started playing the way we were capable of playing. We made our plays”

The Vol defense must have been listening, too. Sophomore defensive end Parys Haralson sacked Gator quarterback Ingle Martin, forcing Florida to a three-and-out on its first drive of the second half.

Then the Vols’ offense started to find success on the ground, going to Houston three times before the starting tailback had to be escorted off the field with an injury.

Even without Houston in the game, Fulmer decided to go for it on a fourth- and-one.

Clausen picked up the first down, leading to a James Wilhoit 51-yard field goal. Fulmer said the drive was a turning point for his team and the freshman kicker.

“I felt good about him all along,” Fulmer said. “He had some struggles there early, but he’s always hit the ball really well.”

And Tennessee’s offense wasn’t finished. With Houston out, backups Jabari Davis and Corey Larkins came in and pumped life into the Vols’ ground attack.

Davis jumped into the end zone from one yard out to give the Vols a 14-point lead, after Clausen hooked up with freshman Bret Smith on a 57-yard deep route.

Smith was tackled at the one, but the play kept Florida’s defense off-balance for the rest of the game, Clausen said.

“We never had that (deep threat) last year,” Clausen said. “After that drive, we really kept them guessing and were able to run the ball more.”

With 20 carries for 78 yards, Davis finished as the game’s leading rusher and carried the offense to its final score of the game at the beginning of the third quarter.

Davis accounted for 45 of the final scoring drive’s 76 yards.

“It was nice finally being able to get in a rhythm,” Davis said. “I haven’t gotten that many snaps since probably Arkansas (last season), so it felt good just being able to pound the ball.”

The offense was solid in the second half, but the defense was lethal the entire game. John Chavis’ unit held the nation’s highest scoring team to one touchdown and just 73 yards rushing.

“Our defense held us in the football game,” Fulmer said. “That shows the character of our football team.”

That character was tested until the final minutes. With 1:54 to go, Florida recovered a Davis fumble at the Tennessee 13.

The Vol defense held, though, allowing the offense to run out the clock.

As is custom for most victorious coaches, Fulmer said after the game he was proud of his team, but that he wants the focus to turn to the rest of the season, starting with South Carolina this week.

“What we do with this win and how we progress and go forward from here will validate this win or not,” Fulmer said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing this team improve.”