It seemed like the ship was sinking.
The Tigers, fresh off one of the worst collapses in recent memory against Kentucky, were slated to go down to Gainesville and face a 10th ranked Gators team. Sitting at 4-4 with one win against a Power Five team, Barry Odom needed a win, and badly. This seemed to be a tough task, especially considering Odom at this point had zero wins against top 25 teams.
Both the coach and QB had been maligned for not being able to put it all together to beat good teams, but today was the day that would change.