Tennessee searches for something it hasn't had in 20 years. Tennessee hasn't beaten Florida in back-to-back seasons since 2003-04. Even then, when those Philip Fulmer teams defeated Ron Zook's Florida outfits, Tennessee was ranked No. 13 when it defeated the 11th-ranked Gators in 2004.
Tennessee was ranked No. 11 when it beat No. 20 Florida, 38-33 at Neyland Stadium, last September. That loss knocked the Gators out of the AP poll, and they haven't returned since.
A ranked Tennessee team hasn't faced an unranked Florida since Oct. 2, 1971. By my count, the inverse has happened 11 times in the last 50 years. The Vols have dropped their last nine games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
A win on Saturday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) gives Josh Heupel's team it hasn't had on Florida in a long, long time: hand.
Alabama snaps another streak. The Crimson Tide saw a number of long-standing streaks snapped like a twig on Saturday night:
-- Their 21-game home winning streak (the nation's longest)
-- Their 57-game regular season non-conference winning streak (also the nation's longest)
-- Their 30-game September (or August) winning streak
Alabama will look to begin a new regular season non-conference winning streak while ending another. The 10th-ranked Tide's visit to South Florida (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) will be the program's first true road game against a non-Power 5 opponent since Alabama went to Hawai'i in 2003, a de facto bowl game for a season in which the program was not eligible for the postseason.
The game will fill Raymond James Stadium, or at least come close.
“To have them here, it means a lot to us,” USF AD Michael Kelly told Yahoo. “It means a lot to our student-athletes, coaches, to our ticket sales and to the city.”
Coach Prime in Prime Time. No. 18 Colorado makes its ESPN debut after two straight Big Noon Fox games, and the Worldwide Leader isn't wasting the occasion. GameDay will be there (along with Fox's pre-game show), which means CU-Colorado State has to approach the record for largest point spread (23.5 points) ever for a GameDay game.
Saturday marks GameDay's first visit to Boulder since Sept. 14, 1996 -- the show has been to Air Force three times since then -- and Colorado State's first GameDay appearance. And while I can't prove it, I believe this will be the first time GameDay has ever hyped up a Pac-12 After Dark game (9 p.m. ET kick time).
And when Lee Corso pulls out the Buffalo head at 12:03 p.m. ET, it'll be his 400th headgear selection.
Additional Notes:
-- Virginia at Maryland (7 p.m. ET Friday, FS1): In a weekend featuring a handful of re-kindled non-conference rivalries, we also get Virginia-Maryland. It's the Cavs' and Terps' first meeting since 2013 (the border schools meet annually from 1925 until then). Maryland carries a 2-game series win streak into Friday night.
-- No. 15 Kansas State at Missouri (noon ET, SEC Network): It's K-State's first visit to Columbia since 2010 (the first came in 1909) and the first of six games pitting 2-0 teams against each other. The SEC is 3-6 against the Power 5 so far this season, and oddsmakers think that becomes 3-7 after this game. Mizzou beat Middle Tennessee 23-19, a week after MTSU lost 56-7 to Bama.
-- No. 14 LSU at Mississippi State (noon ET, ESPN): We all knew State's offense would transform after Mike Leach's passing, but who saw it being this drastic, this immediate, and this successful? After finishing dead last in rushing in the SEC each of the past three seasons (by design), the Bulldogs are second in the conference at 221.5 rushing yards per game, on 5.68 a carry. Running on LSU figures to be quite a bit different than running on Southeastern Louisiana and Arizona.
-- Minnesota at No. 19 North Carolina (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): Another game pitting 2-0 teams, and the first meeting of all time between two of the best nicknames in college football.
-- No. 19 Oklahoma at Tulsa (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2): It's a homecoming of sorts for Tulsa head coach Kevin Wilson, who spent 2004-10 as an offensive coordinator for the Sooners.
-- Virginia Tech at Rutgers (3:30 p.m. ET, BTN): Yet another former conference game; who could forget those annual meetings from 1992 through 2003 where VT went 11-1? The Knights are favored to win a game it feels like Brent Pry really needs to grab after last week's home loss to Purdue.
-- East Carolina at Appalachian State (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+): In announcing he never wanted to see App State again, Mack Brown invited NC State and East Carolina to play the Mountaineers. Turns out, ECU had already taken him up on the offer. This game sold out back in July.
-- Western Kentucky at No. 6 Ohio State (4 p.m. ET, Fox): Another battle of 2-0 teams, if you can call this one a battle. Although, if you had to bet your life on one non-conference game pitting two eventual conference champions, it'd be this one.
-- No. 8 Washington at Michigan State (5 p.m. ET, Peacock): The first game without Mel Tucker, perhaps permanently. Who knows what the atmosphere in Spartan Stadium will be like? I wouldn't be shocked if things got ugly, in the stands and on the field -- Washington is really, really good.
-- Pittsburgh at West Virginia (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC): Yes, it's a former Big East game, but it's much more than that. The 104th Backyard Brawl (first in Morgantown since 2011) finds both teams at 1-1, which means both teams need this game. In fact, this might be Neal Brown's last, best chance to move himself from No. 1 on the various hot seat lists.
-- Georgia Tech at No. 17 Ole Miss (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network): Yet another former conference game, although Tech hasn't been an SEC member since 1964. (Ole Miss and Georgia Tech played just twice as SEC bunk mates, one of those games coming in the Sugar Bowl.) This is an opportunity for Brent Key to demonstrate progress after last year's 42-0 beatdown at the hands of the Rebels (Geoff Collins was fired nine days later.) For Lane Kiffin's team, this game is about avoiding a trap before Alabama comes to town next week in what's shaping up to be a massive game for both programs.
-- BYU at Arkansas (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2): BYU makes its first trip to Fayetteville in a meeting of 2-0 teams. The Cougars' 119th-ranked rushing offense (2.77 yards per carry) squares off against the Hogs' fifth-ranked rushing defense (1.36). If that form holds, this will be an easy Arkansas victory.
-- Wyoming at No. 4 Texas (8 p.m. ET, LHN): The final game of the weekend pitting 2-0 combatants. The Cowboys figure to have UT's attention after stunning Texas Tech in Lamarie two weeks ago.
-- TCU at Houston (8 p.m. ET, Fox): Houston's first Big 12 game also brings an interesting coaching reunion. Sonny Dykes and Dana Holgorsen were assistants on Mike Leach's Texas Tech staffs from 2000-06; Dykes coached the outside receivers, Holgo the inside receivers. Leach assigned Dolgorsen to recruit Houston and Dykes the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. A quarter-century later, they meet as Big 12 head coaches from those areas.