Leading up to Saturday’s meeting with Tennessee, Florida talked a big game. They talked about the Gators beating the Volunteers as a fact of life because it was all they had ever experienced. The Vols might have been the media darling, but the Gators were always there to put UT in its place, usually with a reference to The Streak.

The Streak is dead. And its death certificate lists the time of death as the play that CB Teez Tabor lost his footing and Vols WR Jauan Jennings successfully juggled a Joshua Dobbs pass into a reception that turned into a 67-yard scoring play to put UT up 24-21.

Tabor was the public face behind the big game the Gators had talked all offseason. So after losing to Tennessee 38-28, what did his teammates want to talk about? College football’s Big Game.

The postgame recaps out of Knoxville indicate that the Florida locker room settled on a party line before meeting with the media: None of the three national championship teams in school history completed the regular season without a loss. Some variation of that stat appeared in postgame comments made by Austin Appleby, Alex Anzalone, Mark Thompson and Quincy Wilson.

Pump the brakes, guys. Before you can start thinking about making the College Football Playoff, you should probably worry about your secondary’s embarrassing second-half performance or your offense’s inability to move the ball on the ground when it mattered most.

I’ve seen this attitude at Florida before, and it wasn’t on a national championship team. I saw it from members of a frustrating-to-watch 8-5 squad that had issues in the leadership department.

The 2010 Gators entered the month of October 4-0. They were feeling especially confident after a blowout win over Kentucky (48-14). The first big test of the season came in a primetime showdown with No. 1 Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

They failed that test miserably. Alabama dominated Florida in a 31-6 blowout that served as confirmation that the magic of the Tim Tebow era was long gone.

After that game, senior center Mike Pouncey had an interesting take.

“Florida beat Florida,” Pouncey said.

He somewhat softened his comment in the following days, acknowledging the Crimson Tide played well and citing Florida’s turnover issues as the reason behind saying the team beat itself. But it still reeked of arrogance and indicated that the team’s senior leader was out of touch with reality. Two coaching staffs and six years later, that attitude still seems to be a part of Florida football’s culture.

In 2016, the reality is that the Gators have no business talking about the national championship game. The national championship is awarded to the winner of the College Football Playoff. In its first two years, the four teams in the CFP have been conference champions. The SEC championship will be decided in a game between division winners.

Entering Week 5, the SEC East is out of Florida’s control. When you don’t control your own destiny in your division, it’s probably best to avoid talking about your postseason.

That’s unless, of course, the Gators want to embrace arrogance in place of confidence, and stumble down the path to 8-5.