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Gators Silence Vols

The Associated Press

Florida running back Brandon James (25) returns a punt 78 yards for a touchdown against Tennessee in the first quarter.

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By MICK ELLIOTT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 21, 2008

Updated: 09/21/2008 12:11 am

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The hits just keep on coming, steadily and sadistically, and all the Tennessee Volunteers can do is bite their lips and absorb the blows.

The Florida Gators, as certain as a Whoopee Cushion, continued to cause the Vols significant public embarrassment.

On this pleasant, blue-skied Saturday afternoon at the foot of the Smoky Mountains, Florida's fourth consecutive win against their SEC East rival - not to mention its 12th in 16 years - was a 30-6 flogging decided so quickly that the home crowd of 106,138 hardly had time to complete its first rendition of "Rocky Top" before shifting to a serenade of scattered boos.

"In the NFL they say crowd noise is worth about seven points," Florida coach Urban Meyer said. "I think its worth more in college. How do you combat that? You don't give up sacks. You certainly don't turn the ball over, because those are momentum-changers and that's when the crowd feeds off it. And obviously you have good special-teams play."

Mission accomplished.

The fourth-ranked Gators did not turn the ball over, quarterback Tim Tebow was sacked just once, and the Gators had Brandon James.

"Special-teams play took the crowd pretty much out of the game pretty early," Meyer said.

James, Florida's 5-foot-7 giant of a kick returner, set the tone on the game's first play with a 52-yard kickoff return that started an eight-play, 44-yard touchdown drive. And that was just his warm-up.

The next time he touched the ball, James sliced through Volunteers defenders for a 78-yard punt return that pushed Florida to a 17-0 lead with 4:42 left in the first quarter.

With Tennessee seemingly intent on kicking away from James, the Gators inserted speedy playmaker Percy Harvin as a second return man, and the Volunteers obviously picked the wrong poison.

"After I made a couple of guys miss I felt like it could be a special play," James said after his second scoring return of the year. "I think Percy got a key block in the end and I just took it in."

Much to Meyer's delight.

"How about Brandon James?" he said. "I thought the one against Hawaii was the best one I'd ever seen, then he topped it. He even said to me, 'That may have been my best.'"

By the end, Tennessee actually had hung tough enough to outgain the Gators 258-243, but the Vols were never a threat, even if UT quarterback Jonathan Crompton saw it differently.

"We should have won the ballgame, in my opinion," the junior signal caller said. "We shot ourselves in the foot."

No one, at least, is disagreeing with the second part.

After James' opening kickoff return to the Tennessee 44, a 13-yard shovel pass on third-and-8 from Tebow to tight end Aaron Hernandez was the pivotal play of the drive. That set up a 2-yard touchdown hookup for the same combo.

Florida added a quick 39-yard field goal by Jonathan Phillips on its next possession after Ryan Stamper recovered Tennessee running back Montario Hardesty's fumble at the Vols' 23. Then James exploded for his second punt return for a score in two years against Tennessee.

Although hope was already in short supply for Tennessee at that point, the afternoon went totally sour when the Volunteers twice moved to the Gators' 1-yard line in the first half only to be turned away by a lost fumble and pass interception.

"Game-changers," Meyer said.

The interception came on the final play of the half when, trailing 20-0, UT coach Phil Fulmer gambled on fourth-and-goal from inside the 2 rather than settling for a field goal.

"As I told our football team in the locker room, that loss is on me," Fulmer said. "I've got big shoulders, and I take responsibility. That wasn't us. The penalties, the orange-area efforts ... we've been outstanding in those areas. Our punt coverage has been exceptional in previous games. We never gave our defense really a chance."

The victory in its SEC opener improved Florida to 3-0, while Tennessee dropped to 1-2.

Enjoying the quick advantage, Florida took few chances on offense, and Tebow finished the day 8-for-15 passing for 96 yards with two touchdowns, including a 15-yarder to Harvin.

Sophomore transfer Emmanuel Moody, who had only two carries for the year and did not play against Miami two weeks ago, finished as Florida's leading rusher with 55 yards on nine carries.

Arian Foster, Tennessee's leading rusher, was held to 38 yards on 14 carries.

"The theme of the day was to play great defense, be a tough outfit and take care of the football," Meyer said. "Our guys did that. Our defense really controlled the line of scrimmage. I think Foster is one of best backs in college football and we kind of held him in check.

"We loaded the box pretty good. We wanted them to be a little one-dimensional."

Reporter Mick Elliott can be reached at (813) 281-2534 or melliott@tampatrib.com.

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