The Gators' game in Knoxville is a must-win

The players won't say it. But this game is a must-win.

No one on the Gators’ football team would dare utter the words “must win” in reference to Saturday’s game against Tennessee.

So I’ll do it for them.

Maybe it’s too early to declare this the most pivotal game of the season. But the Gators will slip to 0-2 in the conference if they perish at the hands of their SEC East rival on Saturday night. That sounds pretty pivotal to me, especially given that the road only gets rougher from there: at Mississippi State, LSU at home, at Vandy and then to Jacksonville to face the Georgia Bulldogs.

It’s a doozy of an upcoming schedule.

That trip to Starkville alone will be an exhausting hurdle for this…