Florida Gets Its Point Across : College football: Gators’ 31-0 victory is Tennessee’s worst home loss in 70 years.

Is there a mercy rule in the house? If so, please report immediately to all future Florida opponents. They’ll need it.

The No. 1-ranked Gators were at it again Saturday evening, pillaging and plundering their way to a 31-0 victory against 15th-ranked Tennessee at Neyland Stadium, the Volunteers’ worst home loss in 70 years. Many more of these routs and the NCAA might start checking Florida IDs.

“Just another little win on the road,” said Gator quarterback Terry Dean, who completed 18 of 26 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns before retiring to the sideline midway through the fourth period.

Dean smiled when he said it. He knew Florida hadn’t beaten a top 25 team on the road since 1990, Coach Steve Spurrier’s first season at Gainesville. He also knew that Gator haters couldn’t wait to add an eighth defeat to the running total.

Could you blame them? Sure, Florida had opened its season with a 70-21 victory against New Mexico State and then followed it up with a 73-7 victory against Kentucky. But this was Tennessee. At Neyland Stadium. In front of an orange sea of 96,656 fans.

Guess who wasn’t impressed?

“Before I came up here, everyone was telling me, ‘You’re going to see a lot of orange, you’re going to hear a lot of noise,’ ” said Florida freshman tailback Fred Taylor, who scored the evening’s first touchdown on a seven-yard run. “All I saw tonight was a lot of silver from all those empty seats. Yeah, I guess (Tennessee) had a chance. I guess they did . . . until the whistle blew.”

Gator gloating was the postgame posture of choice--and with good reason. Florida gained 439 total yards and was as balanced as a penny pincher’s budget: 31 rushes, 27 passes. Of the Gators’ 58 plays, 16 went for 10 yards or longer.

Florida used a two-tight end formation and gained 136 yards on the ground. Other times, it used five-receiver sets and caught Tennessee’s players glancing toward the sideline, arms raised in a “what-do-we-do-now?” position. Mismatches followed, like the time 6-2, 232-pound linebacker Scott Galyon found himself trying to keep up with Gator wide receiver Ike Hilliard, who leaves contrails when he runs.

Hilliard gained 19 yards on the play as Galyon groped air.

Even more impressive was Florida’s defense. Earlier in the week, Mike Archer, Kentucky’s defensive coordinator, told anyone who would listen that the Gators might be stronger defensively than offensively. He wasn’t kidding.

Florida forced Tennessee (1-2) to use all three of its quarterbacks, beginning with starter Todd Helton, followed by freshman Peyton Manning, followed by freshman Branndon Stewart . . . then Manning again, then Stewart again. It didn’t matter. The Gators recorded five sacks, dominating one of the best offensive lines in the nation, and shut out the Volunteers for the first time since 1981.

“There are lessons in football, lessons for life,” said Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer. “This was an opportunity to learn a lot of lessons.”

Lesson No. 1: Florida is no fluke.

The Gators used everyone in uniform except one of the Florida tuba players. They go three deep at nearly every position. And no team has matched the Gators in speed, strength or quickness.

“I told you on Tuesday that I felt they are the best football team in the country,” Fulmer said.

Maybe so, but not everyone believed him. In a strange way Florida’s 70-point scores prompted questions instead of answering them. The one heard the most: Florida--fact or fiction?

“We feel like we can’t be stopped,” said Florida wide receiver Jack Jackson. “We hope we silenced some of the critics.”

Muzzles were distributed to everyone, including the Volunteers, who were down, 7-0, midway through the first quarter and 24-0 by the end of the first half.

“It seemed like after the first couple of drives they were a lot, uh, softer,” said Florida center David Swain, who received the game ball from Spurrier.

Actually, Swain suggested Tennessee gave up shortly after Florida went ahead. The Volunteers were confused, intimidated.

“They seemed to be running around a lot right before we snapped the ball,” he said. “But that’s because if the run works and the pass works, you can do anything on them.”

Lesson No. 2: Florida can do anything it wants.

Things got so bad for Tennessee that with Florida ahead by those 31 points and Tennessee facing a fourth-down situation with 3:24 left in the game, Fulmer ordered his field-goal unit onto the field amid boos.

“We wanted to get something on the board and salvage what pride we had,” Fulmer said, but John Becksvoort’s 38-yard attempt sailed wide left.

“A lot of people said the Gators couldn’t win on the road,” said Florida defensive end Kevin Carter, who had seven tackles, two of them sacks. “Well, we dispelled that myth tonight.”