Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Florida and Tennessee have played on the third Saturday of September almost every year since 1992, giving the rivalry its nickname. Notable exceptions were in 2001, when the game was postponed until December 1 due to the September 11 terrorist attacks, and in 2014, when the addition of two new members to the SEC temporarily scrambled the dates of many traditional conference rivalries and moved the Florida–Tennessee game to October. The rivalry has sometimes served as the conference opener and is often the first significant test of the season for one or both of the teams.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
During the middle of the decade, both programs seemed to take steps forward under coaches McElwain and Jones. Florida made back to the SEC Championship Game in 2015 and 2016, and both Florida and Tennessee were ranked in the AP top 25 coming into their 2016 and 2017 meetings. However, the Gators and Vols faded to losing records in 2017, and both head coaches were fired. The 2018 meeting was the first between new coaches Dan Mullen of Florida and Jeremy Pruitt of Tennessee, and the Gators won in Knoxville, 47-21.