Will Muschamp stepped onto the field yesterday with big shoes to fill. His predecessor, Urban Meyer, never lost to Tennessee during his tenure as head coach. Surely this is something the Gator Nation reveled in and by no means, was that streak going to end on Saturday.

John Brantley got off to a quick start; completing his first five passes for 52 yards and a touchdown. Chris Rainey finished the game with 2 receptions of 104 yards and 21 carries for 108 yards. One of his receptions was a 3-yard screen pass that ended up in an 83 yard sprint down the field for a touchdown. There is nothing like the fastest man in football getting the ball in the open field. He is just deadly for opposing defenses. Although the Gators did jump out to a 30 – 7 lead early, there were several areas of concerns for the Gators on both sides of the field.

On Tennessee’s first offensive series, the Volunteers drove all the way down the field to setup a 37-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide right. It was the young Gator secondary that allowed some big plays & opportunities for the Vols throughout the night. Fortunately, it was the Gators defensive line, with some help from Sharif Floyd fresh off a two game suspension, which caused havoc for Tennessee’s front five. Florida’s defensive line held the Vols to 9 yards rushing. It was the secondary that looked a little shaky, allowing Tyler Bray (Tennessee QB who was SEC player of the week last week) complete 26 of 48 passes for 288 passing yards. Bray will be an annual issue for the Gators until he reaches the NFL.

Although the Florida offense did move the ball down the field, there were too many times that they came up short and had to settle for a field goal. One in particular sticks out. On Tennessee’s second offensive series of the night, the Gators forced the Vols to punt from within their own 10-yard line. The Gators decided to pressure Tennessee and crowded the line of scrimmage with ten players. Sure enough, Chris Rainey (who else!) screamed pass the line and laid out to block the punt. Now, with all of this momentum it was time for the Gators to put the ball in the endzone and go up 20-0. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. The Gators offense looked dismal and had to settle for a field goal. Luckily our kicker, Caleb Sturgis was excellent going 4 -4 on the night.

The important thing for the Gators is that they came away with the victory and a long list of things to improve on. The secondary has some work to do and the Gators red zone offense needs some fine tuning. Next week it will be interesting to see how they come out against the Kentucky Wildcats in their first away game of the season. Hopefully the 3 and 0 start at home will give them some nice momentum into the rest of the 2011 season.