Key moment from Vols' 2004 season was in episode of Netflix's Swamp Kings

Netflix's Swamp Kings came out on Tuesday and is already becoming a popular topic on social media. The four-episode series chronicles the Gators' return to national prominence following the hire of Urban Meyer after the 2004 season. The Tennessee Volunteers make a guest cameo multiple times in the first episode, and despite some painful memories […]

Craig Smith — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer

Aug 22, 2023 8:07 PM EDT

The Tennessee Volunteers make a guest cameo multiple times in the first episode, and despite some painful memories later in the episode, there's a particularly memorable moment early on that Vol fans will recall fondly.

Leading 28-27 and with the clock running with just under a minute left, Florida wide receiver Dallas Baker responded to a push to the facemask from Tennessee cornerback Jonathan Wade with a slap to Wade's helmet. The slap earned a flag from the official standing right in front of them both. However, despite contact by both men, the referee flagged just Baker, giving UT 15 yards and – more importantly – stopping the clock.

The penalty was monumental, as the Vols took advantage of the time and yardage to frantically drive to field goal range. James Wilhoit, who earlier missed the game-tying extra point, put toe to leather and blasted a 50-yard field goal through the uprights for a stunning 30-28 win. Without that penalty, Tennessee almost certainly wouldn't have had the time to mount a comeback.

The loss was the beginning of the end for Ron Zook, whose Florida teams went on to drop three one-score games on the way to a 7-4 regular season. Zook was fired, and Meyer was brought in as his successor.

Baker's slap of Wade was included early in Swamp Kings' premiere episode in a montage of plays showcasing Florida's rivals when Urban Meyer was taking over as head coach. It's probably not a coincidence that, shortly after the slap was shown, Meyer commented about the need for discipline when he took over.

"There was a narrative about the Gators, about a lack of discipline, and I got after them pretty good," said Meyer. "Because I knew, if you get discipline into those players, you should win most games."

That being said, with it being a focus on the rise of the Gators, there were plenty of highlights in the premiere (or, for Tennessee fans, forgettable moments) of the Gators' back-to-back wins over the Vols from 2005 to 2006 as Meyer began to build Florida back into a national power.

However, if not for a key lack of discipline on a September 2004 night in Knoxville, who knows for sure if all of it would have happened the way it did?