Florida football locker room trying to stay together despite historic loss to Tennessee

Florida football found itself on the wrong side of history after its humiliating loss to Tennessee.

The Volunteers handed the Gators their worst loss in 35 years after suffering a 31-11 loss on Saturday, Nov. 22.

"It’s frustrating man," Florida quarterback DJ Lagway said. "Just the tradition and everything. It’s just hard, especially losing to Tennessee. It’s a big rivalry. I wanted to come home and pull this out."

As a testament to the low, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium found itself filled with clearly more Volunteer fans than those representing the Florida faithful by the beginning of the fourth quarter.

For Florida interim coach Billy Gonzales, it’s a sentiment that he shared with his locker room.

“It's not great because everybody wants to win, and nobody wants to lose,” said Gonzales when asked about the vibe inside the locker room. “So if you're asking what it feels like to lose, it's not fun. It's not good. It sucks for me to be up here in front of you guys, obviously."

Saturday's game wasn't the worst in the series as Tennessee defeated UF 45-3 in 1990, the largest margin of victory of the rivalry. However, the Vols did snap the Gators' 10-game winning streak against Tennessee at the Swamp.

“We put in so many hours together, you know, from winter workouts to spring practice, to summer offseason OTAs, to fall camp,” said senior cornerback Devin Moore. “It's some tough times. There are a lot of ups and downs throughout, being a college football player, and being held to such a high standard like this at the University of Florida.

“I've bled, I've cried, I've sweat with these guys. That just means the world to me and all the other guys in the locker room.”

Yet the night was also the worst defeat in the Swamp since losing to Missouri 42-13 back in 2014, adding to the frustration of the 2025 season as the Gators extended their losing streak.

“So just the motive is just to keep going,” Moore said. “It's the standard here at the University of Florida, especially the guys leaving, including myself. We're playing for each other.”

Not to mention, should Florida (3-8, 2-6 SEC) lose next week, it’ll be the program’s worst year since the winless 1979 season.  But with one game left, admittedly, it’ll be a challenge for the locker room to not look ahead as the program’s search for its next head coach drags on.

“It is hard not to look ahead,” Lagway said. “It’s kind of just focusing on one day at a time, and just kind of focus on the little things that we can get better at. I came into this game with some things I wanted to get better at. I did get better at them. A lot of players had those same type of goals, but collectively, we have got to play better. That’s the story.”

Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at [email protected] or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at Andrew Abadie Sports Reporter or on Instagram @andrewabadie_sports.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football trying to keep together after loss to Tennessee