The Tennessee Vols' matchup against the Florida Gators on Saturday is one of the biggest games for UT in recent program history.

Tennessee enters the game as a big favorite (some lines have the Vols favored by 11 points).

And they should be — the Vols are a better team than the Gators right now.

Because of the situation — Tennessee is rolling and Florida is still getting adjusted to new head coach Billy Napier — this is a must-win game for Josh Heupel and the Vols.

There are no excuses for Tennessee in this one. If they lose to this Florida team, it will be a massive disappointment. And it will lead to folks questioning whether or not Heupel will ever beat the Gators.

The Vols are trying to block out the outside noise this week, but it's almost impossible to block out all the noise.

There's going to be a lot of pressure on Tennessee this week. This is a mature team, though, and I think they'll be able to handle the pressure just fine.

The non-QB who will be extremely important for the Vols against Florida

The Vols' biggest challenge against Florida will be containing Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson.

Richardson hasn't exactly looked elite the last two weeks, but he showed in Florida's season-opening win against Utah how dangerous he can be.

The former four-star recruit rushed for 106 yards on 11 carries in the Gators' 29-26 win against Utah.

In Florida's two subsequent games — a loss to Kentucky and a narrow win against South Florida — Richardson has rushed for a combined 28 yards.

The takeaway here is obvious — stop Richardson and you beat Florida.

Tennessee had some issues with mobile quarterbacks last season. Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral, for example, gashed the Vols' defense for 195 yards on the ground last season. The Vols easily win that game if they just limit Corral to half that total.

The Vols will have to be better against Richardson.

If he runs like he did against Utah, it could be a long day for Tennessee's offense.

So what should the defensive plan be?

I think the best option for the Vols will be to spy Richardson.

And the player that needs to follow Richardson around is UT linebacker Aaron Beasley, someone who has become extremely important for Tennessee.

Beasley has been all over the field this season for the Vols. He's creating pressure by getting to the quarterback and he's made some great reads to limit potentially big plays.

Aaron Beasley did just a nice job of reading this play and stopping it. The nice thing is that even if Ball State blocks him, Christian Charles was right there to prevent a big gain as well. pic.twitter.com/DABppqmsac

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) September 5, 2022

Beasley is fast enough to keep up with Richardson and big enough to take him down in the open field. And so far this season he's shown that he's disciplined enough to not get burned by Richardson.

If Beasley does his job against Richardson — and I'm assuming he'll be the one following Richardson around, but it could also be Jeremy Banks (he was used to spy Kedon Slovis a bit in the Pittsburgh game) — then this should be an easy win for Tennessee.

But if Richardson runs wild, this could be another heartbreaker for the Vols.

The whole team obviously has to do their job to beat the Gators.

Beasley, however, is going to be the key to victory for Tennessee.

Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK