Enough said: Gators do their talking with win

For months now, they've anticipated its arrival. On Saturday it showed up and settled in around the Florida Gators in a significant wave.

Pressure.

The pressure that comes with being No. 1. The pressure of not only having to win, but to win big and look good doing it.

Under normal circumstances, a 23-13 victory over SEC East rival Tennessee would be celebrated deep into the night and for weeks to come. But the Gators won by that score Saturday before 90,894 in The Swamp and an almost somber mood seemed to gather around Florida Field — and this 3-0 team.

"There's so much pressure on this team to perform perfectly, which is good. I'd rather be on that end than, 'What a great job, we lost by 10,' " UF coach Urban Meyer said. "I don't want to do that.

"There's a lot of pressure on these guys, and I felt it in there (in the post-game locker room). (Defensive coordinator) Charlie Strong added to it. He was not pleased with some missed tackles.

"But we're all good. We're all men and we're a mature team. Can we improve? Yes. We're 1-0 in the SEC East and we have the new longest winning streak in school history (13 games). There are a lot of positives. The missed tackles, we're going to fix that Sunday. We're going to enjoy that victory and go to work. I can't wait to get back to work, though."

The pressure on this team started building in the offseason with the No. 1 ranking and all the expectations. It only multiplied this week with all the talk about the Gators, a 30-point favorite, possibly running up the score and settling the score with new UT coach Lane Kiffin, who admitted he did too much talking in the offseason, especially about Meyer and UF.

The expected beat-down never came.

Instead, the Gators found themselves in a typical, physical SEC battle against a well-prepared Tennessee team (especially on defense) that made it tough going for most of the day. This was a game that was in doubt until strong safety Ahmad Black intercepted a Jonathan Crompton pass on the UF 26-yard line with 1:51 to play.

UF saw its chances of enjoying a nice, comfortable one-sided game end when quarterback Tim Tebow fumbled inside the UT 5 after scrambling for a first down in the fourth quarter. Tennessee defensive back Dennis Rogan scooped up the loose ball and returned it 24 yards. Had Tebow not fumbled and the Gators punched it in the end zone, UF would have had a 30-6 lead with about 11 minutes to play.

Instead, the Vols made the most of the sudden change, driving right down the field and scoring on a 17-yard run by tailback Montario Hardesty to make it a 23-13 game with 8:13 remaining.

The Gators had to hang on the rest of the way through a nervous final eight minutes.

"I'm trying to lighten the mood in here," Meyer said after the game. "I told (the players) to go out and enjoy their families and enjoy the victory.

"Is there a lot of work to be done? You saw the same thing I did. I'm very pleased with the win. We'll enjoy the win and look forward to getting back to work tomorrow. If we don't turn the ball over, we win the game handily."

Tebow also threw an interception in the first half that led to a Tennessee field goal. His low pass in the left flat was picked off by All-America strong safety Eric Berry.

Two turnovers is not a typical Tebow day.

It wasn't a typical day for the Gators in a lot of ways.

Tebow and the offense struggled to get into a rhythm for much of the game, and the downfield passing game never materialized against Monte Kiffin's defense, which was ranked No. 3 in the nation coming into the game.

"They're a great defense," Tebow said. "That's one of the best defenses, if not the best, we'll play against this year.

"They did so many different things, and they did them well. They did a great job scheming up the things we usually do pretty well."

Tebow rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown, but passed for only 115 yards and was held without a touchdown pass for the first time in 31 games.

The UT secondary played exclusively zone coverages, effectively taking away the intermediate and deep throws.

"They didn't want to give up any boundary throw or shots downfield," Tebow said.

Overall, it wasn't pretty for the Gators. But it was a win.

"This is a big win," Tebow said. "We'll go out and celebrate it."

And then gear up for the next wave of pressure. Because it's coming.