Reasons to Watch UF – UT

I know Florida and Tennessee fans are a small subset of college football fans, which are again a small subset of all football fans, which are still a subset of people generally. This weekend, however, there's a reason for almost anyone to watch Florida play Tennessee (Saturday, CBS, 3:30 Eastern). There's some human interest / drama going on. The following is what you will see during the game that has almost nothing to do with the football game itself.

1. Lane Kiffin. Newly appointed 34 year old Tennessee football coach, Lane Kiffin accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of recruiting violations at one of his early public events. The SEC asked him to apologize, which he sort of did. The spunky youngster has since made a few other comments to get under the skin of the Gators. Urban Meyer claims not to be mad, but the players are talking about it. After Urban Meyer got pissed at Georgia and ran up the score last year before calling two end-of-game timeouts to make Georgia stay on the field, who knows what could happen if Florida plays well in this game.

2. Layla Kiffin. Lane Kiffin's wife is an absolute lightening rod. Today, deadspin.com had this picture with a caption that said: “The vivacious Mrs. Kiffin was decked out in Circus Peanut orange for game day. And whore shoes.” If a UF student doesn’t have a poster that says “Lane Kiffin’s wife wears whore shoes,” I will be surprised.


3. Tim Tebow. You can count on the announcers gushing about Tebow ad nauseam. I am a Tebow fan. A big one. But if you listen to what the announcers say about him just to fill the empty space between plays, it can really get a little weird. They will talk about him so much that you can make a drinking game of it. Pick any Tebowesque phrase as your drink word and you will find yourself on the floor in the third quarter. Examples are: Heisman; character; leadership; Philippine(s) and/or orphanage; or, if you just want to kill yourself from alcohol poisoning, take the word Tebow. Even if you don't play the drinking game, you might still puke from all the man on man Tebow love (not that there's anything wrong with that).

4. Layla Kiffin's Dad. Layla Kiffin's dad, John Reeves is a former Florida quarterback. At one time he held the NCAA record for career passing yards and still holds the NCAA record for most interceptions thrown in a game (9 vs. Auburn in 1969). Actually, that's just trivia, but I say there's a 50/50 chance it will be the Aflac trivia question during the game. If the game is on and you see a duck walk across the screen, yell "John Reeves!" and you will either look very smart or very crazy.

So, there's your Florida-Tennessee preview that involves absolutely no Xs or Os. Happy viewing and Go Gators.