Saturday afternoon is shaping up to be one of those special days of football at Neyland Stadium.

There will be a sold-out crowd of over 100,000 in the old barn. “Checker Neyland” will be enacted, giving us a tremendous visual of orange and white, on what is expected to be a beautiful day filled with blue skies and sunshine. ESPN’s College GameDay show will roll into Knoxville for the 1st time in 6 years.

And Tennessee will host one of its most bitter rivals with Florida making the trip north.

The Volunteers have only won this matchup once since the 2004 season, and they haven’t beaten the Gators since 2016.

But here are 5 reasons why Tennessee will be victorious over Florida:

1. Coaching advantage

Far too often over the past 10 to 15 years the Vols had coaches who wilted under the pressure of games like this one.

Lane Kiffin was more than satisfied simply keeping the game close in 2009 after his “Sing Rocky Top all night long” comment drew the ire of Florida fans.

Derek Dooley’s 2012 team collapsed the moment the Gators took a 3rd-quarter lead.

Butch Jones’ rosters in 2014, 2015 and 2017 were more talented, but Jones and his coaching staff let those rosters of players down at crucial moments.

I’m not even going to go into the 3 games Jeremy Pruitt was outcoached by Dan Mullen.

But Josh Heupel has had over a year and a half to put his system in place. New Florida head coach Billy Napier is still getting his bearings in the SEC and truth be told is fortunate to enter this game at 2-1.

Heupel has the Vols rolling with a No. 11 ranking in the new AP poll and a 3-0 record.

2. Solid QB play

The Vols have Hendon Hooker as their starting QB. This is his 6th year in a college program, and he has proven to be a steady force leading the Tennessee offense.

Since coming to Knoxville, Hooker has thrown 387 passes and had only 3 of them intercepted. He’s completed over 68 percent of his passes for an offense that needs to keep the ball off the ground to keep its high pace clicking.

Florida’s presumed starting quarterback, Anthony Richardson, is only completing 53 percent of his passes. And when he does connect, they don’t go very far, averaging only 5.5 yards per completion. Richardson also struggled and threw 2 interceptions in a tighter-than-expected win over South Florida last Saturday.

The Vols look to be in better shape than No. 20 UF at the most important position in football.

3. Veteran offensive line

The Volunteers have a veteran team, and that’s on display in no area more than on the offensive line.

Redshirt sophomore Gerald Mincey, senior Darnell Wright, junior Cooper Mays, senior Jerome Carvin and junior Javontez Spraggins make up an experienced unit which has been in big-game situations many times.

That group isn’t going to panic if things don’t go Tennessee’s way early.

Florida’s defensive line is pretty good, so the Vols will need their offensive line to be up to the task, and it will.

4. Turnover margin

Through the 1st 3 games of the season, Tennessee’s turnover margin is plus-3. Florida’s is 0.

On Saturday, the team that can steal a possession or 2 is going to have a better chance of winning. Through the opening quarter of the season, the Vols have proven to be more likely to be that team.

Expect the UT defense to be even more opportunistic come Saturday.

5. The Neyland Stadium experience

Neyland Stadium gets loud. Really loud.

When Florida comes to town every 2 years, that gets ramped up a notch. When Florida comes to town AND Tennessee has a good football team, it gets tough to hear yourself think.

The hype in Knoxville this week is going to be off the charts. Fans will start arriving over the next few days. The boats will stack up and the RV’s will be parked near campus.

This is going to be a lot of fun.

The Vols defense looks to be improved from a year ago, but it’ll need some help from most of the 100,000-plus in attendance. This will also be the 1st road game of the season for Florida. So far, the crowd has been on its side. That won’t be the case on Saturday afternoon.