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Meyer, Florida continue dominance of Tennessee

Sep 21, 2008 - 1:45 AM KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- The Florida-Tennessee rivalry has become one-sided with Urban Meyer roaming the sideline.

Behind a strong defensive performance and a pair of touchdown passes by Tim Tebow, Meyer and the fourth-ranked Gators cruised to their fourth straight win against the Volunteers on Saturday, a 30-6 triumph.

"We just came out and played relentless," Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes said. "If we come out every week and do that it's going to be tough on opponents."

Meyer joined Steve Spurrier as the only coaches to post four straight victories against Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer. He also became the first Gators coach to win in his first two visits to Tennessee.

The reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Tebow completed 8-of-15 passes for 96 yards. He also rushed for 26 yards.

"(The defense is) playing great," Tebow said. "It helps you out so much. You can really count on them. You don't have to force anything. It's a great thing. They're out there and they're playing hard and making plays."

Brandon James' opening kick return gave Florida (3-0, 1-0 SEC East) good field position and Tebow connected with tight end Aaron Hernandez on a 2-yard jump pass for a TD.

After Janoris Jenkins' fumble set up a 39-yard field goal by Jonathan Phillips, James reeled off a 78-yard punt return for touchdown to give the Gators a 17-0 edge with 4:42 left in the first quarter.

"I thought the one against Hawaii was the best one I'd seen. He topped it with this one," Meyer said of James' TD. "He even said to me that might have been his best. The guys are blocking well for him."

The Vols had a golden opportunity to get back in the game but failed to get any points on two opportunities inside the 5-yard-line in the second quarter against a stout Florida defense.

"As I told our football team in the locker room, that loss is on me," Fulmer said. "I've got big shoulders, and I take responsibility. That wasn't us. The penalties, the orange-area efforts - we've been outstanding in those areas (in our previous games)."

Quarterback Jonathan Crompton was responsible for both turnovers, fumbling early in the period and throwing an interception in the final seconds of the half.

"Obviously, this hurts right now," Crompton said. "We just have to come back tomorrow and start work for Auburn. We moved the ball great at times on offense. We stopped ourselves. We shot ourselves in the foot."

"I think they just mishandled on their handoff and we got lucky and jumped on it," Spikes added. "We just wanted to swarm to the ball and play relentless. When stuff happens, we want to be there to make the play."

Tebow found Percy Harvin on a 15-yard TD strike with 4:29 left in the third quarter to extend Florida's advantage to 27-0, sending many Tennessee fans to the exits at Neyland Stadium.

Crompton passed for 162 yards with an interception and Arian Foster added 37 rushing yards for the Volunteers (1-2, 0-1), who outgained the Gators by a 258-243 margin but committed four turnovers.

"I think our defensive team played really hard today," Fulmer said. "(The Gators are) a good offensive team, they're going to make some plays along the way."