GAINESVILLE, Fla. - While his Florida teammates dejectedly walked to the locker room, Todd McCullough stood in the tunnel and watched Tennessee quarterback Casey Clausen climb a ladder and start directing the band.
Clausen led countless choruses of "Rocky Top" and mockingly performed the "Gator Chomp" after Tennessee's 24-10 victory at Florida Field in 2003.
"Tears were almost rolling down my cheeks," said McCullough, a senior linebacker. "I hated it so bad. It ate me up. It wrenched at me. It was just like a knot in your stomach watching that. I won't ever forget it."
And he doesn't want to see it happen again.
The Gators went 68-5 at The Swamp during Steve Spurrier's 12-year tenure - winning 30 in a row between 1994 and 1999 - and created one of the best home-field advantages in college football. That changed under Ron Zook as Florida foundered to a 13-6 home record in three angst-filled seasons.
The No. 6 Gators (2-0) want to reverse that trend beginning Saturday against fifth-ranked Tennessee (1-0).
"If we're going to take back The Swamp it's got to start Saturday," center Mike Degory said. "We know that. We've had this date marked since January, so we understand the importance of this game."
New coach Urban Meyer has been talking about taking back The Swamp for eight months. He refused to practice at Florida Field during the spring and fall, even when the team's practice fields were being redone. It would have been easy, too. After all, the stadium is centrally located on campus and houses the team locker room and weight room.
Instead, Meyer had the players bused back and forth across campus to intramural fields used by students for recreational football and soccer.
"We've made a big deal about, 'That's our stadium. That's a sacred place,'" Meyer said. "That's a place that at one point the Gators didn't lose very often. We've discussed it at great length."
Meyer mentioned it before the season opener against Wyoming and again last week against Louisiana Tech. But it means much more against Tennessee, which has won two in a row in Gainesville.
"I think we all have a sour taste in our mouth because we haven't been on the winning end of many of those games," Degory said. "We have this year to change it."
The Vols won in Gainesville in 1971, but lost the next seven games there, including five in a row against Spurrier. They even lost twice with Peyton Manning running the offense.
Coach Phillip Fulmer was 0-4 in Gainesville until 2001, when the annual game was moved to the end of the season because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The Vols were 17 1/2-point underdogs and pulled out a 34-32 victory behind Travis Stephens' 226 yards rushing and a strong defensive effort. It turned out to be Spurrier's final game at Florida Field.
Zook didn't fare any better against Tennessee two years later. Clausen completed a desperation pass into the end zone before halftime that propelled Tennessee to victory.
Clausen added to the Gators' misery by directing the band on their turf.
"You can't grasp it," McCullough said. "It's not life or death, but it's damn near close. You invest so much into this program and the winning, to have a loss in your home stadium in front of your family, in front of your friends, it hurts."
The Gators also lost to Miami, Florida State, Ole Miss and LSU twice at The Swamp under Zook. His record might have been more acceptable had the Gators not been so dominant at home under Spurrier.
"When I was a kid, you came to the Florida games and it wasn't a matter of if they were going to win. It was a matter of how badly they were going to win," said McCullough, who grew up in nearby Macclenny. "The talent we have on this team and the coaches we have, there's no reason that shouldn't be the expectations here."
