Florida vs. Tennessee: Postgame Grades from the Gators' Win vs. the Volunteers

For the second consecutive week the Florida Gators were featured in ESPN's College Gameday and for the second consecutive week the orange and blue got a win on the road in an extremely hostile environment.

The Gators out-gained the Tennessee Volunteers in total yards, 555-340, as Muschamp's defense locked down Tyler Bray in the second half.

Florida trailed at the half, 14-10.

That didn't stop the Gators last week on the road at Texas A&M as they outscored the Aggies 10-0 in the second half.

This week's performance was even more impressive with a 27-6 second half advantage.

Here are your position-by-position postgame grades for the 3-0 (2-0) Florida Gators.

Quarterbacks

Overall Grade: A

Tonight, Jeff Driskel played the best game of his career thus far.  He finished 14-20 for 219 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

Driskel was equally impressive on the ground, rushing for 81 yards on eight attempts.

Perhaps most impressive was Driskel's decision making.  While the Gators had some early mishaps on exchanges, No. 6 remained focused on running the offense.

The Gators found themselves deep in the shadow of their own goal posts twice in the first half.  Neither time did the roaring Neyland Stadium crowd force Driskel to panic.

Although Florida only posted 10 points in the first half, Driskel managed to avoid mistakes and keep his team competitive despite terrible field position.

Then he really turned it on in the second half.

After Trey Burton scampered for an 80-yard touchdown on the previous drive to knot the score at 20, Driskel threw a perfect pass to Jordan Reed in the corner of the endzone.

That gave the Gators the lead, good.

It looks like Brent Pease and Will Muschamp picked wisely.  Driskel looks to be the guy at the University of Florida.

Runningbacks

Overall Grade: A-

The Florida runningbacks took their time getting going, tonight.  For much of the first half, the Gators struggled to move the ball.

Some of this can be attribute to the poor field position, the rest can be blamed on Mike Gillislee and the inability to run between the tackles.

Sound familiar?

Effectively running the ball has been something the Gators have struggled with in recent years.

Trey Burton's 14-yard touchdown rush was the lone bright spot for the running game in the first half.  Other than that, the Gators were forced to rely too heavily on Driskel.

In Florida's first four drives of the game, they only ran 13 plays.

The most impressive drive was the final one of the first half in which the Gators failed to punch it in with two tries from the one-yard line.

The Gators' continued to improve, notching a 68-yard drive to open the second half.

Then things got interesting.

On the first play of the following drive, Trey Burton reeled off his second touchdown run of the game, this time for 80 yards.

From there, it looked like the Gators' offense found another gear, scoring the final 24 points of the game.

Gillislee finished with 155 yards on 18 attempts while Burton chipped in 91 yards on three attempts.

Overall, Florida finished with a very impressive 336 rushing yards.

Wide Receivers

Overall Grade: C

The wide receivers provided one of the biggest plays of the game when Frankie Hammond Jr. turned a short completion into a 75-yard touchdown.

Sadly, that was basically the extent of their contributions.

The 75-yarder was Hammond's only reception while fellow receivers Quinton Dunbar, Solomon Patton, and Omarius Hines combined for only five receptions for 41 total yards.

If it were not for Hammond's big play, this unit would be walking a thin line between passing and failing.

Brent Pease and Will Muschamp were concerned with the unit during the offseason and tonight's performance doesn't help ease their feelings.

While the absence in the passing game is something the Gators will have to improve on, the receivers did do a very good job of blocking downfield for each other.  Several of the big plays were a block away from being contained.

 Still, while the receivers are developing, they are not where Pease and Muschamp want them to be at this point in the season.

Tight Ends

Overall Grade: A-

Jordan Reed has been the go-to target at Florida during recent years and he continued that trend tonight.

Reed led all Gators in receptions with six for a total of 60 yards. While he didn't provide one of the more electrifying plays of the night, Reed moved the chains.

He also hauled in a 23-yard touchdown from Driskel to put the Gators ahead for good, 27-20.

Offensive Line

Overall Grade: B+

After giving up eight sacks last week to the Aggies, the offensive line took a big step forward.

Driskel was not dropped for a single sack.

Some of that was thanks to Driskel slipping out of tackles, but overall, the Gators front line did a great job protecting their young quarterback.

On another note, the unit failed to impose their will in the running game early one. 

Muschamp and Pease will leave Neyland Stadium comforted that their offensive line can hold up, but they know there is still room to improve before the Gators take on the meat of their conference schedule.

Defensive Line

Overall Grade: A-

The Gators came into Neyland and accomplished what they set out to do. 

Tyler Bray had his moments, but as the pressure continued to come his way, he lost his touch.  As the game wore on, Bray became more and more ineffective.

On the ground, the Gators limited the Volunteers to only 83 yards rushing, a stat Florida has dominated recently in the series.

Defensive end, Lerentee McCray dropped into coverage early in the first quarter and picked off Bray.  That led to the first touchdown for the Gators.

Later in the third, pressure in Bray's face forced him into a bad throw that was picked off by Matt Elam.

They key to winning the game was getting Bray out of sync with his receivers.  The Gators' defensive line did this as Bray finished 22-44 with two interceptions.

Linebackers

Overall Grade: B+

Florida linebackers were a key factor to shutting down the Tennessee run game. 

Volunteer runningback, Rajion Neal, finished with 87 yards on 23 attempts giving him an average of 3.8 yards per carry.

Muschamp and Dan Quinn have got to be pleased with the performance of their entire defense, let alone, the talented linebacker unit.

However, it would have been nice to see a couple big plays out of the unit.  While Florida got to Bray, they didn't manage to drop him for a loss very often.

Defensive Backs

Overall Grade: B+

Matt Elam's interception in the third quarter was a huge turning point in the game.  Tennessee needed to respond after an 80-yard touchdown run by Trey Burton that tied the game.

Instead, Bray was under pressure and threw a poor pass over the middle.  Three plays later and Florida took the lead for good, 27-20.

All of the pregame talk surrounded the two star Volunteers' wideouts, Justin Hunter and Cordarrelle Patterson.  While the two combined for 151 yards, the Gators did a good job of limiting their big play ability.

The lone exception was a 42-yard reception by Hunter.

Tyler Bray and his two targets were touted as one of the best trios in the country, and the Gator secondary limited them to 20 points and 257 passing yards.

Special Teams

Overall Grade: A-

Big plays were absent, but the special teams unit still managed to provide an important part the game, especially in the first half.

While the Gators were stuck in the mud of poor field position, Kyle Christy continuously bailed Florida out with booming punt after booming punt.

Andre Debose had a couple opportunities to return kickoffs but failed to find a seem.

Caleb Sturgis finished a perfect 3 for 3 on field goals including a 49-yarder that sealed the deal.

While the unit could not provide any game-changing plays, the consistency was a great asset which gave the offense time to find their groove.

Coaching

Overall Grade: A

Florida fans have had their fair share of complaints about the playcalling during recent years.

You won't be hearing a peep out of them tonight.

A busted reverse that left the Gators inside their own five on the first drive and a failed fake punt attempt are two of the more questionable calls, but neither warrant extensive discussion.

The playcalling for Jeff Driskel was perfect.  While the offense struggled early, Brent Pease developed the playbook at the perfect pace.

Defensively, the Gators had some issues in the first half. Much like last week against Texas A&M, the defensive adjustments at halftime worked like a charm.  The Gators went on to outscore the Volunteers 27-6 in the second half.

Overall, this has got to be one of the better coached games fans have seen in recent years from the Gators. 

Confidence is building in Gainesville.