A point spread five decades in the making.
As of now, the Tennessee Volunteers are 10.5-point favorites at home against the Florida Gators on Saturday, after opening up as low as 4.5-point favorites after Florida's loss to Kentucky.
In the last 50 years, Tennessee and Florida have faced off a total of 36 times.
Saturday marks the largest spread for the Volunteers in the chalk role.
Prior to this week, Tennessee's largest point spread against the Gators came all the way back in 2002 as just a five-point favorite, which turned into a 30-13 Florida upset.
On the other side of the spectrum, things haven't been so friendly for Tennessee in the series.
Florida's been a double-digit favorite nine times over Tennessee (3-5-1 against the spread), including the last three meetings entering this season.
In Tennessee's last 36 meetings over the last 50 years vs. Florida, the Volunteers are just 14-20-2 ATS, including 4-7-1 since 2010.
In that span, Florida is Tennessee's third least-profitable opponent against the spread, ahead of just Vanderbilt (4-8 ATS) and Alabama (3-9 ATS).
The question is, what would a win and a cover on Saturday mean to the Vols? In short, a lot.
Florida has won 16 of the last 17 meetings straight up in the series, with the lone loss coming in 2016 (also the last time College GameDay came to Knoxville).
From a historical perspective, Florida has been listed as a double-digit underdog against an SEC opponent just 14 times in the last 20 years, including this Saturday.
Of those 14 games, twelve have come against Alabama, Georgia and LSU.
The other two? This year against Tennessee, and back in 2013 as a 15.5-point underdog against South Carolina (a 19-14 SC win).
