Tennessee celebrated its 1990 homecoming by dismantling its hated SEC rival Florida 45-3 in what also served as a homecoming of sorts for the Gators’ coach at the time, Steve Spurrier.

Spurrier, a graduate of Florida, returned to his alma mater prior to the 1990 season to become the Gators’ new football coach. And although Spurrier was born in the Sunshine State (Miami Beach in 1945 to be exact), he played his high school ball during the early 1960s at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tenn., about 90 minutes away from Knoxville.

Spurrier was an excellent quarterback that was being recruited by virtually every major college football program out of high school. But he supposedly never considered joining the Volunteers because of their single-wing offense at the time, which called for a more mobile quarterback. Spurrier went on to become Florida’s first Heisman Trophy winner in 1966.

This particular meeting between the Gators and Volunteers during Spurrier’s inaugural season as the head honcho in Gainesville also happened to be the first time the two teams played each other while being simultaneously ranked in the Associated Press’ top 10. Florida came into Knoxville ranked No. 9 with a 5-0 record, and Johnny Majors’ Tennessee squad was at 3-0-2 and ranked No. 5 in the country.

The game started off as a defensive battle with Tennessee taking a 7-3 lead into halftime. However, Volunteers kick returner Dale Carter set the tone for the rest of the game by returning the second-half kickoff 91 yards for a Tennessee touchdown.

On the Gators’ ensuing drive, they fumbled the ball for what would be the first of six turnovers in the second half. The Volunteers used those turnovers to bust the game wide open and create the largest margin of victory by either team in the series.

The outcome might have spoiled Spurrier’s return to Tennessee this time, but this was actually not his first time coming back to coach against the Volunteers in Knoxville. As the football coach of the Duke Blue Devils in 1988, Spurrier and his team marched into Neyland Stadium and pulled off the upset by defeating Tennessee 31-26.

Spurrier enjoyed the glory years of his coaching career while at Florida from 1990-2001, winning six SEC titles and one national championship (1996). He was also named SEC coach of the year three times in that span.