Steve Spurrier makes honest admission about his success against the Tennessee Vols during his Hall of Fame coaching career
Florida fans love to point out that legendary Tennessee Vols quarterback Peyton Manning never beat Steve Spurrier and the Gators. Manning went 0-4 against the Gators during his four seasons at Tennessee. Spurrier, in general, was a thorn in the Vols’ side during his time as the head coach at Florida and South Carolina. The […]
Florida fans love to point out that legendary Tennessee Vols quarterback Peyton Manning never beat Steve Spurrier and the Gators.
Manning went 0-4 against the Gators during his four seasons at Tennessee.
Spurrier, in general, was a thorn in the Vols’ side during his time as the head coach at Florida and South Carolina.
The head ball coach, however, was quick to point out this week that he didn’t beat Tennessee “all the time”.
Steve Spurrier gets real about his success against Tennessee
Spurrier spoke about his experiences playing against the Vols during his weekly appearance on the Another Dooley Noted Podcast on Monday.
“We didn’t even talk about who the quarterback was on the other team when we played Tennessee,” said Spurrier when Peyton’s record against Florida was mentioned. “We didn’t care. We were just trying to beat Tennessee, and not any particular one person. And as it turned out, Peyton, I mean, he just had some bad games against us. He really did. He threw interceptions against us that he didn’t throw against anybody else it seemed like. So we were fortunate in a bunch of those games.
“But I’ll tell you one thing — a lot of people, as I travel around the country, they think we beat Tennessee all the time. Well, we didn’t beat Tennessee all the time. I’ve got four overtime losses in my coaching career. Three of them [were against] Tennessee. Tennessee has got 16 overtime wins, most of any team in the nation. I heard that the other day. That why it makes sense that I’m 0-3 against them (in overtime). Twice at South Carolina and once here (at Florida). So we did not beat Tennessee all the time. And usually, if we didn’t, they went ahead and won the SEC.”
Spurrier lost in overtime to Tennessee at Florida in 1998 and at South Carolina in 2007 and 2014.
By the way, Spurrier’s record against Tennessee all-time is 14-10 (1-1 at Duke, 5-5 at South Carolina, and 8-4 at Florida).
Spurrier definitely had the upper hand against the Vols, but Tennessee won their fair share against the head ball coach (including a win in Spurrier’s last game ever in the Swamp in 2001).
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