GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A crowd of 90,751 helped the Florida Gators defeat the Tenneessee Volunteers Saturday night, winning 29-16. It was the 12th-largest crowd at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in history and the players said they could absolutely feel the difference.

“Everybody was amped up for this game,” said Trevor Etienne, who rushed for 172 yards and 1 touchdown against Tennessee. “They knew how much it meant, to not just us, but the people that the Gator Nation, the players that played ahead of us in this game. And, you know, just of that energy, just it just had everyone fired up.”

“We owe it to them, to thank them and everything we got to, because they truly (helped). I mean, coach hit on it in his press conference,” said quarterback Graham Mertz. “I saw it on an Instagram post, but he was like, ‘You have the opportunity to affect the game,’ and they truly affected the game. So that’s props to them and that was freaking awesome.”

Tennessee came into the game as the 11th ranked team in the nation. Tennessee is a team that is notorious for their fast pace and the tempo that they play on their offense but it was the Gators defense that was really able to limit even their minutes on the field.

In the first half, the Vols offense was just on for 8 minutes of total possession time. They’re crediting a lot to the homework that they did leading up to this one with the scout team.

“Replicating the tempo on numerous walkthroughs, we put them in an indoor with crowd noise. We threw two teams at them. I’m not sure how many reps we took this week, but we took a lot,” said head coach Billy Napier.

Tennessee did score on their 1st possession of the game to take the lead 7-0. That drive went 71 yards, but only took 2 minutes for the score. The Gators would answer back, scoring 26 unanswered points to secure the lead. 

The Gators have not lost to Tennessee at home since 2003, and Saturday night’s victory keeps that streak alive.

Florida plays at home next Saturday, September 23rd against the Charlotte 49ers.