Teams' Belt Records

                            Previous Belt Meetings:       None   

The 22^nd ranked, 1-1 Tennessee Volunteers of coach Phillip Fullmer came to Gainesville to meet the 5^th ranked, 2-0 Florida Gators of coach Urban Meyer with hopes of maintaining history.  In their two previous Belt reigns, Florida had not been able to achieve 3 successful defenses of the title & the Volunteers, with senior QB Erik Ainge, hoped they had the formula to repeat history but this Gators' team is rewriting history.  Florida's Heisman Trophy winning, All-American QB Tim Tebow continued his impressive season throwing for 2 touchdowns & rushing for 2 others as the Gators dominated Tennessee 59-20 for their 3^rd consecutive successful defense of The Belt.  After forcing a quick punt, Florida's RB Brandon James returned the Tennessee punt 83 yards for a touchdown giving the Gators a 7-0 lead just 1:57 into the game.  Tennessee's RB LaMarcus Coker returned the ensuing kick-off 73 yards & the Volunteers appeared to be moving for the tying score but Florida's CB Markihe Anderson intercepted Ainge's pass ending the threat.  Late in the quarter, Tennessee got on the board with a 28-yard field goal from PK Daniel Lincoln.  The Gators followed with a 3-play, 65-yard drive that ended with Tebow throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to WR Riley Cooper giving Florida a 14-3 lead at the end of the 1^st quarter.  Another field goal from Lincoln kept the Volunteers close at 14-6 but Tebow's 7-yard touchdown run pushed the lead to 21-6.  Tebow's 20-yard touchdown pass to TE Cornelius Ingram with 1:30 left in the half pushed the lead to 28-6 before Ainge finally got Tennessee into the end zone with a 15-yard touchdown pass to TE Chris Brown with 0:25 left to play before the intermission.  The touchdown was the first the Gators had allowed before halftime this season.  Momentum turned in 3^rd quarter when Tennessee's CB Eric Berry intercepted Tebow's pass & returned it 96 yards for a touchdown as the Volunteers closed to within 8 points at 28-20.  After forcing Florida to punt, the Volunteers took the field at their own 13-yard line riding their new found momentum.  The high was short-lived as Ainge, who was playing with a taped pinky finger on his right hand due to injury, tried to hand-off to RB Arian Foster.  Because of the injury, Ainge tried to hand-off left handed & could not secure the ball into Foster's grip.  Unable to get a hold, the ball bounced off Foster into the pile at the line of scrimmage.  Florida's LB Dustin Doe got hold of the fumble & returned in 18 yards for a 35-20 Gators' lead.  The return ended any momentum the Volunteers had & Florida finished the game scoring another 24 points in the final quarter.  Touchdowns came on a 19-yard run by WR Percy Harvin, a 5-yard run by Tebow, & a 4-yard run by back-up QB Cameron Newton.  The Gators also got a 25-yard field goal from PK Joey Ijjas as Florida scored the final 35 points of the game.  Tebow finished with 299 yards passing with his 2 touchdowns but an interception while Harvin added 4 catches for 120 yards to his rushing score.  For Tennessee, Ainge threw for 249 yards with a touchdown & an interception in the loss.  The Volunteers finished the season 10-4, ranked 12^th nationally while Florida finished the season 9-4, 13^th ranked nationally.  Tennessee would play for The Belt again in 2009.