Florida Curse - A myth and here are the stats to prove it

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

I think people would rather believe in mystical reasons for their failures rather than taking accountability. Tennessee has simply been a worse program than Florida the last 30 years. That's why they've dominated us. It's not a mental edge. It's a physical one. Hopefully we can finally get the edge on them talent wise so that this series can take a turn in our favor.

Remember Florida used to dominate Georgia as well. Then Kirby started out recruiting them and now dominated that matchup.

 

[UTK]

Recruiting isn’t the end all be all, several years Tennessee was a better team and found a way to lose the game. That simple really.

 

[Volizona]

I think people would rather believe in mystical reasons for their failures rather than taking accountability. Tennessee has simply been a worse program than Florida the last 30 years. That's why they've dominated us. It's not a mental edge. It's a physical one. Hopefully we can finally get the edge on them talent wise so that this series can take a turn in our favor.

Remember Florida used to dominate Georgia as well. Then Kirby started out recruiting them and now dominated that matchup.

We were a worse program for many of the past 30 seasons but certainty not ALL of them.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

We were a worse program for many of the past 30 seasons but certainty not ALL of them.

That's why we're not on a 30 game losing streak.

 

[TN1111]

Recruiting isn’t the end all be all, several years Tennessee was a better team and found a way to lose the game. That simple really.

Yep.. case in point. If that’s the end all be all, we don’t beat Alabama in 2022 and there’s no way in hell Vandy beats Alabama this past Saturday. I won’t call it a curse, but you have to come to the game mentally prepared as well.

We didn’t seem too mentally prepared against Arkansas. Call it historical experience or whatever, but Florida seems always mentally prepared when we play them, yet they have lost three in a row to I guess a recruiting and physical juggernaut in Kentucky…

The same Kentucky that’s not physical or mentally tough enough to beat TN. There is no concrete reason for some of the stuff we see. All of the reasons provide some valid points. Consistency seems to be the hardest attribute to obtain.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

Here is a breakdown of the records of Florida and Tennessee every year since 2000:

Year	Result	Florida Record	TN Record	Florida Recruiting ranking	Tennessee Recruiting Ranking
2000	Loss 27-23	10-3 (10)	8-4 (NR)	No data	No data
2001	Win 34-32	10-2 (3)	11-2 (4)	No data	No data
2002	Loss 30-13	8-5 (NR)	8-5 (NR)	20	2
2003	Win 24-10	8-5 (24)	10-3 (15)	2	18
2004	Win 30-28	7-5 (NR)	10-3 (13)	7	11
2005	Loss 16-7	9-3 (12)	5-6 (NR)	15	4
2006	Loss 21-20	13-1 (1)	9-4 (25)	2	23
2007	Loss 59-20	9-4 (13)	10-4 (12)	1	3
2008	Loss 30-6	13-1 (1)	5-7 (NR)	3	35
2009	Loss 23-13	13-1 (3)	7-6 (NR)	11	10
2010	Loss 31-17	8-5 (NR)	6-7 (NR)	2	9
2011	Loss 33-23	7-6 (NR)	5-7 (NR)	12	13
2012	Loss 37-20	11-2 (9)	5-7 (NR)	3	17
2013	Loss 31-17	4-8 (NR)	5-7 (NR)	4	21
2014	Loss 10-9	7-5 (NR)	7-6 (NR)	8	5
2015	Loss 28-27	10-4 (25)	9-4 (22)	23	5
2016	Win 38-28	9-4 (14)	9-4 (22)	14	15
2017	Loss 26-20	4-7 (NR)	4-8 (NR)	9	15
2018	Loss 47-21	10-3 (7)	5-7 (NR)	17	20
2019	Loss 34-3	11-2 (6)	8-5 (NR)	8	13
2020	Loss 19-31	8-4 (13)	3-7 (NR)	7	8
2021	Loss 38-14	6-7 (NR)	7-6 (NR)	10	35
2022	Win 38-33	6-7 (NR)	11-2 (6)	18	12
2023	Loss 29-16	5-7 (NR)	9-4 (17)	13	12

Effectively, if you look at the statistics, Florida has recruited better in nearly every time period and has had better records overall than Tennessee in most of the years.

A few surprises.

2015 Florida finished 10-4 but only #25 in AP poll. I had to look that one up. Florida ended the year on 3-game skit so they were pretty solid until last 3 games. Granted their competition up ticked for those last 3 games.

A lot of the games have been closer than I expected. The close games almost always favored Florida. I remember 2000, 2014, and 2015 as being really excruciating close losses.

2001 Tennessee is the ONLY underdog Tennessee team to beat Florida.

Tennessee is, or should have been the underdog in over 90% of the matchups. Frankly, Tennessee has NOT been as good a program as Florida. It isn't a "curse", it is the better team winning.

Heupel hasn't done that well against Florida so far. The 2021 loss was one of Heupel's worse defeats (granted it is year 1 which is typically a crap shoot).

The only years were Tennessee was clearly better and lost to Florida were 2002 and 2023. You can maybe argue that 2013, 2014, and 2015 Tennessee should have won as well. Butch Jones era saw the most excruciating losses to Florida.

Jim McElwain was statistically better as a coach than I expected. I remember him not being a great coach but he had about as good a performance in recruiting and record as Dan Mullin and was better than any Tennessee coach minus Fulmer and maybe Heupel.

I think this was supposed to make us feel better... but on this list I see 7 times we were equal to or better than them in record and still lost.

Every time they were better than us in record, they won.

So we never upset them, they do upset us, and when things are even they win. That sounds like a curse.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

It hasn’t helped playing most of those games at the hottest time of the year. Plus the SEC or NCAAT dictated that UT’s bench was put on the east sideline for a while. Start times in 2008 and 2010 were 3:30. UT was on the east side in 2009 (Kiffin’s year) and I think in Fulmer’s last year (2008). I’m not sure of the other years.

UT played 2001 in December at the Swamp and won.

I’d reckon that the series would be more equal had Florida been required to play some cold weather games in Knoxville over the last 40+ years.

 

[BowlBrother85]

I think this was supposed to make us feel better... but on this list I see 7 times we were equal to or better than them in record and still lost.

Every time they were better than us in record, they won.

So we never upset them, they do upset us, and when things are even they win. That sounds like a curse.

I realize that it was 23 years ago .... but you shouldn't say "So we never upset them ...."

Florida opened as a 17 point home favorite in 2001. The line did go down to 14 1/2 points on the day of the game.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

I realize that it was 23 years ago .... but you shouldn't say "So we never upset them ...."

Florida opened as a 17 point home favorite in 2001. The line did go down to 14 1/2 points on the day of the game.

OK we upset them 1 time in 30 yrs, that's nothing to brag about. This was Spurrier's last game at UF and we have never won in the swamp since. Make excuses or call it a curse but they have our number, especially there.

 

[BowlBrother85]

OK we upset them 1 time in 30 yrs, that's nothing to brag about. This was Spurrier's last game at UF and we have never won in the swamp since. Make excuses or call it a curse but they have our number, especially there.

No, we did beat Florida in Gainesville in 2003. That was Ron Zook's 2nd season.

 

[bigorangedude]

TN was 13-2 against FLA through 1971. Since the following game in 1976, we have 8 wins and 30 losses. A few of our games certainly felt like a curse (AKA poor play, costly turnovers and bad breaks).

 

[rocketskates]

I still stat this, 2002 and 2023 are the only years that Tennessee had a clearly better team and lost to Florida. 2005 is interesting because we had a top 5 team that went 5-6, so Florida wasn't the only game we underachieved in (heck we lost to Vandy and South Carolina that year).

I jokingly tell people that the only nice part about being deployed during that season was that I didn’t have to watch it.

 

[volbound1700]

I think this was supposed to make us feel better... but on this list I see 7 times we were equal to or better than them in record and still lost.

Every time they were better than us in record, they won.

So we never upset them, they do upset us, and when things are even they win. That sounds like a curse.

List them. I see only 2002 and 2023 where Tennessee had a lot better record and lost to them. There was a year or two where they were both trash and may have been close but pretty much Florida has just been better than Tennessee.

 

[Volfan1000]

Here is a breakdown of the records of Florida and Tennessee every year since 2000:

Year	Result	Florida Record	TN Record	Florida Recruiting ranking	Tennessee Recruiting Ranking
2000	Loss 27-23	10-3 (10)	8-4 (NR)	No data	No data
2001	Win 34-32	10-2 (3)	11-2 (4)	No data	No data
2002	Loss 30-13	8-5 (NR)	8-5 (NR)	20	2
2003	Win 24-10	8-5 (24)	10-3 (15)	2	18
2004	Win 30-28	7-5 (NR)	10-3 (13)	7	11
2005	Loss 16-7	9-3 (12)	5-6 (NR)	15	4
2006	Loss 21-20	13-1 (1)	9-4 (25)	2	23
2007	Loss 59-20	9-4 (13)	10-4 (12)	1	3
2008	Loss 30-6	13-1 (1)	5-7 (NR)	3	35
2009	Loss 23-13	13-1 (3)	7-6 (NR)	11	10
2010	Loss 31-17	8-5 (NR)	6-7 (NR)	2	9
2011	Loss 33-23	7-6 (NR)	5-7 (NR)	12	13
2012	Loss 37-20	11-2 (9)	5-7 (NR)	3	17
2013	Loss 31-17	4-8 (NR)	5-7 (NR)	4	21
2014	Loss 10-9	7-5 (NR)	7-6 (NR)	8	5
2015	Loss 28-27	10-4 (25)	9-4 (22)	23	5
2016	Win 38-28	9-4 (14)	9-4 (22)	14	15
2017	Loss 26-20	4-7 (NR)	4-8 (NR)	9	15
2018	Loss 47-21	10-3 (7)	5-7 (NR)	17	20
2019	Loss 34-3	11-2 (6)	8-5 (NR)	8	13
2020	Loss 19-31	8-4 (13)	3-7 (NR)	7	8
2021	Loss 38-14	6-7 (NR)	7-6 (NR)	10	35
2022	Win 38-33	6-7 (NR)	11-2 (6)	18	12
2023	Loss 29-16	5-7 (NR)	9-4 (17)	13	12

Effectively, if you look at the statistics, Florida has recruited better in nearly every time period and has had better records overall than Tennessee in most of the years.

A few surprises.

2015 Florida finished 10-4 but only #25 in AP poll. I had to look that one up. Florida ended the year on 3-game skit so they were pretty solid until last 3 games. Granted their competition up ticked for those last 3 games.

A lot of the games have been closer than I expected. The close games almost always favored Florida. I remember 2000, 2014, and 2015 as being really excruciating close losses.

2001 Tennessee is the ONLY underdog Tennessee team to beat Florida.

Tennessee is, or should have been the underdog in over 90% of the matchups. Frankly, Tennessee has NOT been as good a program as Florida. It isn't a "curse", it is the better team winning.

Heupel hasn't done that well against Florida so far. The 2021 loss was one of Heupel's worse defeats (granted it is year 1 which is typically a crap shoot).

The only years were Tennessee was clearly better and lost to Florida were 2002 and 2023. You can maybe argue that 2013, 2014, and 2015 Tennessee should have won as well. Butch Jones era saw the most excruciating losses to Florida.

Jim McElwain was statistically better as a coach than I expected. I remember him not being a great coach but he had about as good a performance in recruiting and record as Dan Mullin and was better than any Tennessee coach minus Fulmer and maybe Heupel.

That is a 5-19 record since 2000 and Florida leads in the overall series.

 

[Volfan1000]

Tennessee native Steve Spurrier enjoyed needling Tennessee and living rent free in Fulmer's head.

If Tennessee had offered Spurrier a scholarship, he probably winds up being the Tennessee head coach for a number of years.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

It may not be a curse but it’s something. How can Stooos be bake to beat UF more times than us?

 

[Vol737]

TN was 13-2 against FLA through 1971. Since the following game in 1976, we have 8 wins and 30 losses. A few of our games certainly felt like a curse (AKA poor play, costly turnovers and bad breaks).

8 wins in 38 games vs FLA. ONE win vs Bama in 16 games. UGA has pulled well ahead too. Shameful.

 

[volbound1700]

It may not be a curse but it’s something. How can Stooos be bake to beat UF more times than us?

Because he has been at Kentucky over 10 years and it took him 7 years of development to even start beating them.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Here is a breakdown of the records of Florida and Tennessee every year since 2000:

Year	Result	Florida Record	TN Record	Florida Recruiting ranking	Tennessee Recruiting Ranking
2000	Loss 27-23	10-3 (10)	8-4 (NR)	No data	No data
2001	Win 34-32	10-2 (3)	11-2 (4)	No data	No data
2002	Loss 30-13	8-5 (NR)	8-5 (NR)	20	2
2003	Win 24-10	8-5 (24)	10-3 (15)	2	18
2004	Win 30-28	7-5 (NR)	10-3 (13)	7	11
2005	Loss 16-7	9-3 (12)	5-6 (NR)	15	4
2006	Loss 21-20	13-1 (1)	9-4 (25)	2	23
2007	Loss 59-20	9-4 (13)	10-4 (12)	1	3
2008	Loss 30-6	13-1 (1)	5-7 (NR)	3	35
2009	Loss 23-13	13-1 (3)	7-6 (NR)	11	10
2010	Loss 31-17	8-5 (NR)	6-7 (NR)	2	9
2011	Loss 33-23	7-6 (NR)	5-7 (NR)	12	13
2012	Loss 37-20	11-2 (9)	5-7 (NR)	3	17
2013	Loss 31-17	4-8 (NR)	5-7 (NR)	4	21
2014	Loss 10-9	7-5 (NR)	7-6 (NR)	8	5
2015	Loss 28-27	10-4 (25)	9-4 (22)	23	5
2016	Win 38-28	9-4 (14)	9-4 (22)	14	15
2017	Loss 26-20	4-7 (NR)	4-8 (NR)	9	15
2018	Loss 47-21	10-3 (7)	5-7 (NR)	17	20
2019	Loss 34-3	11-2 (6)	8-5 (NR)	8	13
2020	Loss 19-31	8-4 (13)	3-7 (NR)	7	8
2021	Loss 38-14	6-7 (NR)	7-6 (NR)	10	35
2022	Win 38-33	6-7 (NR)	11-2 (6)	18	12
2023	Loss 29-16	5-7 (NR)	9-4 (17)	13	12

Effectively, if you look at the statistics, Florida has recruited better in nearly every time period and has had better records overall than Tennessee in most of the years.

A few surprises.

2015 Florida finished 10-4 but only #25 in AP poll. I had to look that one up. Florida ended the year on 3-game skit so they were pretty solid until last 3 games. Granted their competition up ticked for those last 3 games.

A lot of the games have been closer than I expected. The close games almost always favored Florida. I remember 2000, 2014, and 2015 as being really excruciating close losses.

2001 Tennessee is the ONLY underdog Tennessee team to beat Florida.

Tennessee is, or should have been the underdog in over 90% of the matchups. Frankly, Tennessee has NOT been as good a program as Florida. It isn't a "curse", it is the better team winning.

Heupel hasn't done that well against Florida so far. The 2021 loss was one of Heupel's worse defeats (granted it is year 1 which is typically a crap shoot).

The only years were Tennessee was clearly better and lost to Florida were 2002 and 2023. You can maybe argue that 2013, 2014, and 2015 Tennessee should have won as well. Butch Jones era saw the most excruciating losses to Florida.

Jim McElwain was statistically better as a coach than I expected. I remember him not being a great coach but he had about as good a performance in recruiting and record as Dan Mullin and was better than any Tennessee coach minus Fulmer and maybe Heupel.

Re: 2015: Florida lost Will Grier midway through the season. That’s why they struggled at the end. He was a fantastic college QB. And Tennessee had to face them WITH Grier.

 

[UTblood4life]

2008 was the year. 2005 was the offense. Our defense kept us in every game but we couldn't score points.

In the late Fulmer years, Tennessee teams had a way of quitting (like Florida has at times recently) once we lost 2-3 games and failed to meet expectations. This happened in 2002 and 2005. It was more than just a bad team, team would give up at times.

Yeh in 05 after Clausen beat lsu with all the shorts passes, teams then knew he didn't have a strong arm and they dared tennessee to throw it deep. We then got cutcliffe back for 06 season, and the clawfense in 08

 

[Carl Pickens]

Lotta numbers but for me, the only one that matters is 2 wins in the last 19 years.

Yeah…. Those cats must have a lot of time on their hands.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

It started with Spurrier and hasn’t ended.

We were on a 4 game losing streak to them when Spurrier got there. They were the only loss the Sugar Vols had.

 

[volbound1700]

Re: 2015: Florida lost Will Grier midway through the season. That’s why they struggled at the end. He was a fantastic college QB. And Tennessee had to face them WITH Grier.

True but our 2015 team was snake bitten. They lost off that blown hail mary play at the end if you remember. They also choked away a 3 TD lead in the late 4th quarter against Oklahoma and lost off last minute plays to Alabama and Arkansas.

That was a rough year for excruciating losses (at least we beat Georgia).

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

Tennessee native Steve Spurrier enjoyed needling Tennessee and living rent free in Fulmer's head.

If Tennessee had offered Spurrier a scholarship, he probably winds up being the Tennessee head coach for a number of years.

Spurrier lives rent free in some fans heads, because of his jackassed comments. Eff him, and Florida too.

 

[volbound1700]

We were on a 4 game losing streak to them when Spurrier got there. They were the only loss the Sugar Vols had.

Yeah, Spurrier did great things there but all the ingredients were in place. Bear Bryant made some comment about Florida could be a power program in the future referencing all the athletes coming out of that state.

From 1980s - 2010s, Florida teams were pretty dominant in the sport with Miami winning 5 titles, FSU winning 3, and Florida winning 3.

I think the Florida talent level is still there but other states have caught up: Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Carolinas, etc.