'You can't spell Citrus without U-T': Revisiting Steve Spurrier's jab against Tennessee

On Dec. 4, shortly after Tennessee’s matchup against Iowa was revealed, the Citrus Bowl on X came to a realization.

The bowl posted on its X account (formerly Twitter), the word ‘Citrus,’ which was spelled out in dark blue letters — all except for the letters T and U, which appeared in orange (and with the T replaced by Tennessee’s Power-T logo).

“Turns out we’ve been spelling it wrong for 20 years,” the account wrote.

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They aren’t the first ones to have discovered it.

While Monday’s game against Iowa will mark the first time Tennessee has appeared in the Citrus Bowl in more than 20 years, the Vols were one of the Orlando-based bowl game’s most frequent participants of the 1990s. While those appearances often capped off strong seasons, they became fodder for jokes for one of their chief rivals.

Steve Spurrier and his '90s-era Florida teams regularly tormented the Vols by shattering their SEC and national championship dreams, often with verbal jabs from the Head Ball Coach. There’s one in particular, though, that still stands out two decades later: In 1997, while speaking at a Florida booster function, Spurrier famously (or infamously, depending on where you are) quipped that “You can’t spell ‘Citrus’ without U-T.”

With Tennessee back in the Citrus Bowl, here’s a look back at Spurrier’s quote and the Vols-Gators rivalry of the 1990s:

Tennessee vs. Florida 1990s rivalry

In the 1990s — and in the back half of the decade, in particular — Tennessee was a southern and national college football powerhouse.

The Vols, under coach Phil Fulmer for much of that time, went 97-23-3, including a 45-5 mark from 1995-98. For many of those years, though, there was a persistent obstacle in Tennessee’s path to a conference or national title, one it consistently stumbled over: Florida.

The SEC in 1992 split into two six-team divisions with the addition of Arkansas to the league. Florida and Tennessee ended up together in the East and, in the 10 years from 1992-2001, were the only two teams to represent the division in the SEC championship game.

For the winner of the division, a feasible road to the national championship was still in front of it. The loser, however, was typically shut out from the race for the sport’s biggest prize. For all of Tennessee’s achievements in the 1990s, its losses to Florida would place a hard ceiling of the heights it could reach in a given season. (Florida went seven times to the SEC championship game, Tennessee three).

For as excellent as the Vols were during that era, Florida was often better. During that decade, the Gators went 102-22-1, with many of their most notable wins coming against Tennessee in games that profoundly shaped the national championship picture. In each of the 12 meetings between the programs during Spurrier’s Florida tenure, both teams were ranked in the top 15. For nine of those matchups, the Vols and Gators were both in the top 10.

Yet from 1993-2000, the Gators lost just once to Tennessee in their annual contest, which included an undefeated record against Peyton Manning. Those defeats were setbacks that stung in the moment and loomed large by the end of the season.

The 1995 season in particular is notable because Florida was Tennessee's only loss of the season: The Vols finished 11-1 and as Citrus Bowl champs. The Vols' 62-37 loss kept them from not only the SEC championship game, but also a Fiesta Bowl meeting with No. 1 Nebraska and a shot at the national championship. (Cold comfort, the Cornhuskers demolished Spurrier and Co. 62-24 for the national title).

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Steve Spurrier's Citrus Bowl quote, explained

While one of college football’s major bowls awaited the SEC champion, the league’s second-place team would earn a spot in the Citrus Bowl.

For stretches of the 1990s, Tennessee took that trip to Orlando, Florida. It played four times in the Citrus Bowl from 1993-2001, including three times in four years from 1993-96. It was all the ammunition Spurrier would need.

While speaking during the summer of 1997 at a function of the Gator Club, an organization made up of Florida boosters with various chapters across the state, delivered the one-liner.

It was a mix of words that was devastating as it was accurate. Not only does ‘Citrus’ literally include a U and a T, but at the time, Tennessee had competed in three of the previous four Citrus Bowls. Spurrier had even more of a reason to feel chesty, too, as his Gators were the reigning national champions and entered the 1997 season as the No. 1 team in the preseason Coaches Poll.

It wasn’t the only time Spurrier would sneak in a Citrus Bowl-related barb against the Vols. When Manning, one of college football’s top players and a can’t-miss NFL prospect, opted to come back to Tennessee for his senior year, Spurrier said it was because he wanted to be the first three-time MVP of the Citrus Bowl.

While Florida went on to beat the Vols in 1997, Manning’s fourth and final year in Knoxville, Tennessee got something close to the final laugh. It was the Vols, not the Gators, who won the division and claimed their first SEC championship game victory before playing in the Orange Bowl. With losses to LSU and Georgia, Florida finished the regular season 9-2 and earned a spot in, of all places, the Citrus Bowl.

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Steve Spurrier record vs. Tennessee

Spurrier finished his Florida career with an 8-4 record against Tennessee, including a 5-1 mark in games played in Gainesville.

In 10 full seasons at South Carolina, his teams went 5-5 against the Vols, a mark that’s even more impressive given where the series stood when he was hired ahead of the 2005 season. In the 23 all-time meetings before Spurrier’s arrival at South Carolina, the Gamecocks went 2-19-2 against Tennessee.

Tennessee Citrus Bowl appearances

Tennessee has played in the Citrus Bowl five times, with Monday’s game marking its sixth appearance. Here is how the Vols have fared in their previous trips to Orlando, with the years reflecting the season

Editor's note: Year denotes season, not actual year in which game was played.

• 1983: Tennessee 30, Maryland 23

• 1993: Penn State 31, Tennessee 13

• 1995: Tennessee 20, Ohio State 14

• 1996: Tennessee 48, Northwestern 28

• 2001: Tennessee 45, Michigan 17

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Revisiting Steve Spurrier's Citrus Bowl jab vs. Tennessee football