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| Jabar Gaffney(10) would be at the center of controversy in the Gators' 2000 showdown with Tennessee. |
For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, one of the fiercest rivalries in college football was the one between the Florida Gators and the Tennessee Volunteers.
The two programs would meet each other often in September where the winner of the game would most likely go on to win the SEC Eastern division and play in the SEC Championship Game.
The most controversial moment in the rivalry occurred in their showdown in 2000 when the #6 Gators traveled to Knoxville to take on the #11 Volunteers.
Florida was led by head coach Steve Spurrier, who in his 11th season as the head coach of the Gators, had established Florida as one of the premier college football programs in the country having won at least nine games in every season, winning five SEC championships, including four in a row from 1993-1996, and the 1996 national championship.
For the 2000 season, the Gators famed "Fun N Gun" offense would be led by senior quarterback Jesse Palmer, who after years of alternating with various other quarterbacks, was now the Gators' starting quarterback.
Palmer had at his disposal a plethora of receivers including redshirt freshman Jabar Gaffney, who had been previously kicked off the team for stealing money and jewelry from a high school football team, but was given a second chance by Spurrier.
Meanwhile, the Tennessee Volunteers were led by head coach Philip Fulmer, who had at won least eight games in every season since he became the team's head coach in 1993(Fulmer had been the team's interim head coach for the first four games of the 1992 season while Johnny Majors recovered from heart surgery).
The Vols were looking to replace the quarterback who had led them to the 1998 national title in Tee Martin to team up with running back Travis Henry in the backfield, ultimately deciding on redshirt freshman A.J. Suggs for the start of the 2000 season.
The Vols got the ball to start the game as they drove 21 yards to their 49-yard-line until Cedrick Wilson fumbled the football at the end of a 14-yard reception when he was hit by Florida linebacker Byron Hardeman, leading to a recovery by strong safety Todd Johnson.
The Gators would go three-and-out to punt the ball back to Tennessee, who took over at its three-yard-line and put together a 15-play, 76-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock and ended with a 36-yard field goal by Alex Walls go to give the Vols a 3-0 lead with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
The two teams would trade punts until the second quarter began with the Vols at the Florida 44-yard-line when Suggs completed his next three passes for 37 yards to help lead the Tennessee offense get to the Gators' four-yard-line where they had a 1st & goal.
Henry would get the call on the next two plays, picking up three yards to set up 3rd & goal from the one-yard-line when Suggs tried to sneak it in for the touchdown only to fumble the football which was recovered by Henry allowing for Tennessee to salvage a 19-yard field goal by Walls to increase the Vols' lead to 6-0 with 11:40 left in the second quarter.
Tennessee would get another golden opportunity to put points on the board when after Gators kick returner Matt Jackson muffed the ensuing kickoff, allowing to be tackled at his eight-yard-line, Florida went three-and-out to punt the ball back to the Vols, who took over at the Gators' 25-yard-line following a 21-yard return by Eric Parker.
Again, the Vols would drive to inside the Gators' 10-yard-line and again they would have to settle for another Walls field goal, this one from 29 yards out which increased the Tennessee lead to 9-0 midway through the second quarter.
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| Tennessee running back Travis Henry would carry the ball 37 times for 175 yards and score one TD. |
That is when the Florida offense put together its best drive of the first half, an eight-play, 80-yard drive which saw Palmer complete passes of 31 yards to Alex Willis, 17 and 25 yards to Taylor Jacobs, and finally the one-yard touchdown pass to running back Earnest Graham to bring the Gators to within two points at 9-7 with 4:12 to go in the first half.
The Vols would begin their ensuing possession at their 38-yard-line as Suggs completed a 14-yard pass to Parker, before handing the ball off four straight times to Travis Stephens, who ran for a total of 27 yards until Suggs snuck for two yards on 3rd & 1 to give Tennessee a 1st down at the Florida 19-yard-line.
Suggs would complete three of his next four passes for 16 yards to put the Vols at the Florida two-yard-line where once again the Vols had to settle for another field goal by Walls, this one from 19 yards out as time expired in the first half with Tennessee ahead 12-7.
The Gators got the ball to start the second half as they drove from their 13-yard-line to the Tennessee eight-yard-line in 12 plays until the Vols defense rose up and permitted only one more yard on the Gators' next three plays, forcing them to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Jeff Chandler which cut the Vols' lead to 12-10.
Tennessee would begin its next possession at their eight-yard-line where after an incomplete pass and a seven-yard run by Henry, Suggs was picked off by Florida cornerback Lito Sheppard, who returned it for a 19-yard touchdown to give the Gators their first lead of the game at 17-12 midway through the third quarter.
After both teams went three-and-out on their ensuing possessions, the Vols got the ball at their 39-yard-line when Henry carried the ball three straight times, picking up 24 yards until Suggs completed a 23-yard pass to Donte Stallworth to give Tennessee a 1st & 10 at the Florida 14-yard-line when Henry got the ball again and ran for 10 yards to set up 1st & goal at the four-yard-line.
Two runs by Henry for three yards lead to 3rd & goal from the one-yard-line when Suggs handed it off again to Henry who leapt over the goal line for the touchdown to give the lead back to Tennessee.
The Vols would go for two which they got as Suggs found Wilson in the end zone to complete the two-point conversion and give Tennessee a 20-17 lead with 1:43 left in the third quarter.
Following another exchange of punts, the Gators had the ball at their 36-yard-line early in the 4th quarter when Palmer was intercepted by Tennessee linebacker Dominique Stephenson to give the Vols the ball at the Florida 31-yard-line.
The Vols would pick up one 1st down before having to settle for another Walls field goal, this time from 42 yards out, which increased the Tennessee lead to 23-17 with 10:42 remaining in the fourth quarter.
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| Florida quarterback Jesse Palmer would complete 20 of 43 passes for 290 yards and threw one TD. |
The Gators would get the ball back at their 35-yard-line after the Tennessee kickoff went out of bounds as Palmer would hit Reche Caldwell for 13 yards to start the drive, which was followed by a four-yard run by Graham, then a 20-yard pass to Willis, and finally a 25-yard completion to Gaffney gave Florida a 1st & goal at the Vols' three-yard-line.
But like what Tennessee had done three times in the first half, the Gators' offense stalled inside the ten-yard-line as a couple of incomplete passes and a holding penalty pushed Florida back to the Tennessee 15-yard-line where Chandler came in to kick a 31-yard field goal to cut the Vols' lead to 23-20 midway through the fourth quarter.
Following an exchange of punts, the Vols had the ball at their 44-yard-line with 4:15 remaining and a chance to run out the clock to come away with the victory.
After an illegal shift backed the Vols up five yards, Henry ran for 14 yards on the next two plays to set up a crucial 3rd & 1 when Henry got the pitch from Suggs, only to tackled behind the line of scrimmage by Johnson and defensive tackle Buck Gurley for an one-yard loss, forcing Tennessee to punt the ball back to the Gators who took over at their nine-yard-line with 2:14 left in regulation.
The drive began with an eight-yard pass to Caldwell, which was followed by an 12-yard completion to Brian Haugabrook to give Florida a 1st down at the Gators' 29-yard-line when Palmer went deep and found Gaffney for 33 yards and a 1st down at the Tennessee 38-yard-line.
Palmer would then an incomplete pass on 1st down, then tried to hit Haugabrook on 2nd down as his pass fell incomplete, only to draw a pass interference penalty to give Florida a 1st down at the Tennessee 26-yard-line.
Following two more incomplete passes, Palmer connected with Caldwell again, this time for 21 yards to give the Gators a 1st & goal at the Tennessee five-yard-line when Palmer threw the apparent touchdown pass to Caldwell, only to have it called back because Caldwell was not lined up properly to push Florida back five yards to the 10-yard-line.
Palmer would find running back Bo Carroll for seven yards to set up 2nd & goal at the Vols' three-yard-line as the Gators called timeout with 20 seconds left in regulation.
That is when Palmer dropped back and fired a quick pass for Gaffney in the end zone, who got his arms on the football for a split second until Tennessee cornerback Willie Miles knock the ball loose from Gaffney.
However, the line judge who was just a few feet away from the play, quickly signaled touchdown, determining that Gaffney had the ball long enough to make the catch for the touchdown to give Florida a 27-23 lead with just 14 seconds left.
The Vols would have one last chance at pulling off a miracle but could not move past their 35-yard-line as time expired with Florida coming away with a 27-23 victory before a very angry crowd at Neyland Stadium.
The controversial loss to the Gators would be the first of three losses for the Vols before the middle of October as Tennessee would be stunned by the LSU Tigers, followed by a loss to the Georgia Bulldogs to drop them below .500 at 2-3.
The Vols would come back with a six-game winning streak to end the regular season as Tennessee was invited to play in the Cotton Bowl where they were defeated by the Kansas State Wildcats 35-21 as Tennessee would finish the 2000 season with a 8-4 record and #25 ranking in the final coaches poll.
Meanwhile, the Gators would go on to win the SEC Eastern Division for the seventh time in nine years as they traveled to Atlanta to take on the Auburn Tigers in the SEC Championship Game where Florida would dispatch of the Tigers 28-6 to give Spurrier his sixth SEC title and first since 1996.
The Gators would go to the Sugar Bowl where they would fall to the Miami Hurricanes 37-20 to finish the season with a 10-3 record and #10 ranking in the final AP poll while finishing #11 in the coaches poll.
As for Gaffney, he would go on to become another of the highly decorated wide receivers to come out of Florida as he would finish his career in Gainesville with 138 catches for 2,375 yards and 27 touchdowns.
He would go on to play for five different NFL teams over a 11-year career, including with the New England Patriots where he had another controversial touchdown in the Patriots' 2007 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football(To read about that game, click on the link highlighted here:
He finished with 447 receptions for 5,690 yards and 24 touchdowns until his retirement following the 2012 season.
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