Pandemonium and piercing pain.
A Tennessee upset victory over South Carolina and a postseason-dashing loss to Vanderbilt a few weeks later took Vols fans close to experiencing both extremes in 2013.
But by 4 p.m. Saturday, one of those two feelings will reign on this campus in a way that neither has yet during the Butch Jones era.
And if it’s pandemonium, Florida fans might join the celebration.
Though its days as a nationally relevant rivalry are long gone, UT-Florida games played at Neyland Stadium in the last decade have proved important to the job security of head coaches at both schools.
Saturday’s game could be the latest example.
The Gators are coming to town and UT has a chance to do the same favor for Florida that UF did for Tennessee the last time the teams met in Knoxville.
With ESPN’s “College Gameday” on campus and the Derek Dooley regime at its peak in 2012, Florida beat UT 37-20 and sent the Vols on a downward spiral that resulted in Dooley’s firing.
It might have been Will Muschamp’s finest day as Florida’s head coach.
Now, coming off a, 4-8, season, Muschamp faces an angry mob of Gator fans searching for another reason to rid themselves of a leader they’ve quickly fallen out of love with.
Florida’s first loss to UT in 10 years would likely constitute a fireable offense in their eyes.
After all, the last UF coach to lose the Tennessee game didn’t make it through October.
In 2004, James Wilhoit kicked a 51-yard field goal with 13 seconds left to lift the Vols to a 30-28 win over Florida in front of 109,061, the largest crowd ever at Neyland Stadium.
Five weeks later, UF canned Ron Zook as coach and wound up hiring some guy named Urban Meyer.
Meyer – on his way to a national championship – helped get Phillip Fulmer fired from UT in 2008 when Florida wrecked the Vols, 30-6.
That makes three of the last five UT-Florida games at Neyland Stadium in which the losing coach was fired before the season ended.
The Vols would love nothing more than to make it four out of six.
And they’re capable of doing it.
Tennessee could have beaten Florida on the road last year and the Vols have only improved since then, as evidenced by their near-upset of Georgia last week.
With a checkerboard crowd imploring the UT to end a decade of Gator-beholden frustration, Saturday could be the start of a new tradition.
If the Vols manage to win, pandemonium will reign – like legendary UT radio voice John Ward exclaimed after Tennessee defeated Florida in overtime in 1998.
It’ll also be safe to expect another checkerboard crowd at Neyland Stadium when Florida returns in 2016.
Either way, Jones might want to go ahead and circle that game on his calendar as one he really shouldn’t lose.
David Cobb is a senior in journalism and electronic media. He can be reached at [email protected].
