While Vols stand tall, Gators at a loss after win

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- There were no smiles. None.

If their heads had been up on the way out of The Swamp, they would have seen some insta-entrepreneur selling posters printed with the final score, $5 a pop. The guy had, maybe, $20 in his hand. Instead, it was two bits, four bits, six bits, some dour as a stadium-record crowd filed out looking like it was trying to beat traffic after its team sure as heck didn't beat Tennessee. Not the way they wanted.

Oh, you haven't heard? Tennessee defeated Florida 13-23.

In the court of public opinion or perception poll, maybe, but that's all that counts for the down-and-counted-out Vols. Tennessee didn't fail to massage the result, actually in Florida's favor, into the program's best loss in years.

"We have a powerful message right now to the country about what's going on with Tennessee football," said the losing coach.

That would be one Lane Kiffin, who once again stole at least part of the moment for himself. The Vols first had the audacity to show up here for what was supposed to be a human sacrifice. Then the Vols played the Gators straight up for most of a game that was supposed to teach the nation's youngest, most petulant coach a lesson he wouldn't soon forget.

The Lame of the century didn't cooperate. Instead, the old baseball cliché was readjusted and dressed in orange. For Tennessee, it's (can't) wait 'til next year.

"I would think in their locker room there was a little bit of frustration," Kiffin said, barely hiding a smirk, "because there were such high expectations."

The contest was looking more like high school play (bad theater) than game, and will go down for what didn't happen. Tennessee didn't double as the Christians of ancient Rome, leaving with -- surprise! -- all its limbs attached. Florida didn't put away the hated Vols, at least not to the satisfaction of all those bet-the-farmers who wagered a month's mortgage on that 30-point spread.

And judging by the Florida fans quietly headed for their tailgates, this win might have, well, hurt. Tennessee isn't going away. We know that now. Not with the Amazing Kiffins dialing up plays on both sides of the ball. Lane, despite quarterback Jonathan Crompton weighing him down like an anchor tied around his waist, called a brilliant game. Perhaps the nation's best defense knew what was coming on almost every play (a run) and still couldn't suffocate the Vols.

"From our point of view, and my point of view as a head coach, we're excited," said the man whose name was preceded by a four-letter word for most of the afternoon.

Just to be clear: "There were a lot of f-words that weren't 'Florida' being yelled at me on the bus ride on the way in," Kiffin added.

Meanwhile, his 69-year-old dad/defensive coordinator Monte amazed even Superman with a dazzling scheme that included almost no blitzes.

"It looked like there were times when they were blind-calling our third downs," Tim Tebow said. "It wasn't the way we envisioned it."

It's a long way to the car when 62-10 turns into having to get a fourth-down stop near midfield with two minutes left.

It hurts because ol' St. Nick had to be watching too. Nick Saban's boys played Florida as tough as anyone last year, leading in the fourth quarter of the conference championship game.

Florida will continue to win for the near future, but it's obvious it is missing deep threat Louis Murphy and Percy Harvin. The Gators don't seem to have a receiver to stretch the field. Without Harvin, his unique H-back position doesn't exist at this point. Only Harvin could create a mismatch with either a linebacker on him in the slot (pass to him) or a corner on him in the backfield (run, baby).

Eric Berry and Tim Tebow meet on a memorable first-half collision. (Getty Images)

Sure, tight end Aaron Hernandez was hampered with flu-like symptoms and Jeff Demps had a 101-degree fever. Receiver Deonte Thompson missed the game with a hamstring and All-American linebacker Brandon Spikes tweaked an Achilles and didn't play in the second half. However, the Sabanator won't be asking for health updates if the teams meet again in December in Atlanta.

He'll want the full measure of revenge Florida didn't get on Saturday. The Gators scored their fewest points in two years. If Florida has the nation's best defense, then Tennessee's isn't far behind. What was left was the giddiest 1-2 team in the country.

"We definitely got better today," defensive end Chris Walker said of the Vols' fifth consecutive loss to the Gators. "A lot of people said they were supposed to put up 62. We weren't having too much of that."

No, they weren't and that's why Florida will wake up on Sunday concerned -- and sore. As tough and resilient as Tebow is, it's doubtful even he can survive many beatings like the one he took on Saturday. Tebow was great, again, but he also carried a way-too-many 24 times (for 76 yards).

"You think you got him, you hit him and you're smacking him around," Kiffin said. "You just pray that it's third-and-4 or more, because if it's third-and-3 you know what's going to happen. They're going to snap it to him and he's going to run and he's going to get a first down."

That might have been the difference. Florida converted nine times on 14 third- and fourth-down plays.

"At the end of the day Superman is back there with the ball," Kiffin said. "You've got to find a way to tackle him. I don't know how you invent that."

While Tebow may be the best offensive player in the country, Tennessee safety Eric Berry probably sewed up national defensive player of the year honors Saturday afternoon. Eleven tackles (two for losses) from a safety is amazing. So is an interception to set up a field goal.

The play of the day, though, might have been Berry's first-half, head-to-head hit on Tebow that left each man measuring himself.

"I just bit down on my mouthpiece and gave it everything I had," the 200-pound Berry said. "All the power cleans this summer, all those squats. I had to use everything. He didn't run me over. At first I was, 'Like, dang he got me.' But when I looked at the Jumbrotron, we both hit each other and kind of fell to the side. It was a good collision."

In other words, it was what the game resembled for most of the afternoon -- a stalemate.

"That was our third game under coach Kiffin," Berry said. "Imagine if we have four years."

Forget four years. Berry, a junior, doesn't figure to last until next season if he, as expected, jumps to the NFL.

The Vols can't wait 'til next year.

"We have a long season to go [but] when that time comes we'll be ready," said Walker, who was reminded after a 10-point loss to a bitter rival that he was smiling.

"Yeah," he said, "Oh yeah."