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The rekindling of the Tennessee-Florida rivalry this Saturday has produced some trash talk from the Gators, who hold an 11-game winning streak.
Florida coach Jim McElwain has a message for those players: “Go out there and back it up.”
McElwain said as much Wednesday during the SEC coaches teleconference as he previewed No. 19 Florida’s trip to No. 14 Tennessee, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. He said much about the rivalry itself and seemed excited to go into a hostile environment at Neyland Stadium.
“The chance to go out on the road play in front of 100,000 booing you is great,” McElwain said. ” … It’s what makes being at Florida great. It was neat to be in the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry when I was there. I’ve been at places where you have to make up rivalries. I think it’s cool. That’s what makes college football what it is.”
Though McElwain is amped for Saturday’s matchup between the No. 19 Gators and No. 14 Volunteers, he’ll be relying on backup quarterback Austin Appleby to get the job done. Though starter Luke Del Rio is out with an injury, the coach said he’s still preparing as if he’s the starter and that the sophomore will be accompanying the team to Knoxville.
McElwain on if Florida will rally around its new quarterback:
“We always hope that. We trust the guys we have. All four guys are fun to be around and have invested a lot into it, just like a lot of positions.”
On wide receiver Antonio Callaway, who is trying to return from a quadriceps injury:
“He tried to go yesterday. He’ll do everything he can to play, but he has to show he can go Wednesday. I expect him to have at it.”
On prepping for the crowd noise and if he’ll be playing Rocky Top during practice:
“First thing is, I didn’t know they use to do that, but we pipe in crowd noise. As far as Rocky Top, we’ll hear that enough when we get there, no need to do that in practice. … We work on silent counts. As a player, you should just be excited to play in a game like this. We don’t need anything special this week.”
On the defense being as good as last year:
“Well, what I’ve seen, a bunch of guys committed to a common goal. A lot of these guys (around college football) have external people in their ear thinking they need individual stats and these guys have blocked that up. Unselfish play up front. Last year (Tennessee) ran all over us, so we have to wrap up and get them down.”
Marcus covers SEC football for Saturday Down South.
