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Florida trolls Tennessee in graphic announcing Gators' Players of the Week

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•09/18/23

For the 10th time in a row, the Florida Gators stood their ground in Gainesville and beat the Tennessee Volunteers in The Swamp.

Now that it’s happened 10 consecutive times, you may think such a win would lose its luster. Nope! Rather, this victory means as much as any of the others as Florida desperately needed a signature win in the Billy Napier era. They got it in dominant fashion as the Gators controlled the game from start to finish vs. the 12th-ranked Volunteers, flustering Joe Milton and the UT offense while racking up 350 total yards themselves.

In the days after the game, the Florida team Twitter account sent some subtle shots at Tennessee. While announcing the team’s players and job-takers of the week, the account posted a graphic that simply read: “SMOKED.”

Take a look at the graphic and the names honored in this tweet right here:

Napier spoke about the meaning of the 13-point win over the Volunteers in his postgame press conference. He said that, if nothing else, this is the kind of victory that shows proof of concept when it comes to what they’re teaching and how they’re working down in The Swamp.

“Look, I know we haven’t won as many games as we’d like to win. But the amount of work that our people have done since we hit the ground here until today? Obviously, we have a lot of work left to do. But you want to see your people experience some success, right? See the fruits of their labor,” said Napier. “I’m not just talking about the players. I’m talking about the adults too.”

“We worked hard and that’s the thing that it gives you. It validates your plan, it validates what you’re selling to some degree, the things that you continue to harp on,” Napier explained. “That’s what you want as a leader.”

Napier also knows that it now sets Florida up for a great rest of their season. That’s partially because they now sit at 2-1 and in the Top-25 but also in part because it’s going to motivate his players and their fans to continue to buy in the rest of the way with this on their resume.

“I think the most important thing is the players in that locker room,” said Napier. “I think, ultimately, for your players? It galvanizes your team a little bit.”

“Just the discipline, the attention to detail. We’re probably a little over the top at times. But I think, ultimately, it has helped us have success in the past. We ask a lot of our players,” Napier said. “Look, when you’re not getting the return on the investment? You take your money and you go somewhere else.”