Notebook: Gators battle flu bug

Florida's scrappy 23-13 win over Tennessee could have been attributed to a bug.

Coach Urban Meyer said a couple of players battled flu-like symptoms the past few days.

"There’s some tough guys on this team now," Meyer said.

Tight end Aaron Hernandez was in isolation Friday and had four catches for 26 yards.

Meyer said running back Jeff Demps battled a 102-degree fever Saturday and had to be taken out of pregame warmups because of the heat. Demps ran the ball four times for 31 yards and a touchdown.

"Demps is a warrior," offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey said. "Just to see Demps go out there and do that (says) he’ll give anything for Florida football."

Defensive end Jermaine Cunningham was in isolation for two days last week because of a stomach flu, Meyer said.

Pouncey said having a couple players sick threw the team off a bit Saturday.

"It affected it a lot," Pouncey said. "Some of the key players were out today. I hope it doesn’t keep going on. I hope this sickness passes real quick and everybody gets healthy."

Tebow in cool company

Tim Tebow joined former Gator quarterback Danny Wuerffel and Alabama's Jay Barker as the only quarterbacks to go undefeated against Tennessee in a four-game span.

"If you told me I could come to the University of Florida and go 4-0 against Tennesse, that would be a dream come true and it is," Tebow said. "It’s great to go undefeated against Tennessee."

With his 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, Tebow's now tied with LSU running back Kevin Faulk for second all-time in the Southeastern Conference for career rushing touchdowns with 46.

He's three touchdowns away from tying Georgia running back Herschel Walker (49) for the SEC lead.

"It’s pretty surreal," he said. "Herschel Walker and the guys who are up there, that’s pretty cool. That company is special, so just to be mentioned with those guys is really cool."

Big board

Three members of ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper's Big Board played. Safety Eric Berry is No. 2 on the list, defensive end Carlos Dunlap is No. 3 and linebacker Brandon Spikes is No. 23.

Spikes ailing

Spikes, the Gators' senior middle linebacker and inspirational leader of the defense, didn't play most of the second half because of tendinitis in his achilles tendon. He was taped up during the game.

All Sports award

UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley accepted the 2008-09 New York Times Regional Newspaper Group's SEC All-Sports Trophy from Gainesville Sun publisher Jim Doughton prior to kickoff.

This is the 19th time in the past 22 years that Florida has won the award.

Bball stars

Former Gator men's basketball stars Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Chris Richard, Marreese Speights, Dan Cross and Brian Thompson were in town for the game. Noah and Speights were hovering around the autograph session for the UF's men's basketball team outside of the O'Dome. Current Gator commit Patric Young was also there.

Etc.

The attendance of 90,894 was a new game record for Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. ... Florida leads for the first time in the all-time series with Tennessee (20-19-1). ... Florida's 13 straight wins is now the longest in school history and is tied with California for the second-longest in the nation. ... Florida out-rushed Tennessee 208 to 117, making it the 19th time out of the last 20 meetings between the two that the team which rushed for more yards won. ... Florida's 23 points broke its streak of 12 consecutive SEC games with 30 points or more. ... Former Gator infielder Brandon McArthur was honored in the first quarter with the 2009 Lowe's Senior Class Award. ... Former Ohio State Buckeye and Heisman-winning running back Eddie George was at Saturday's game. ... Former Gator receiver Reidel Anthony was announced as the 2009 SEC Legend. He'll be honored before the SEC Championship on Dec. 5. ... Berry's interception in the second quarter marked the second time in his career that his first interception of the season came from Tebow. Berry's first interception of 2007 came off a Tebow pass he took 96 yards for a touchdown. ... With Joe Haden's interception in the third quarter, Florida has intercepted a pass in a nation-leading 15 straight games. ... Tebow snapped his streak of 30 consecutive games with a passing touchdown Saturday.