Swampcast talks latest Lane Kiffin speculation, Florida football hosting No. 20 Tennessee

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In this week's Swampcast, Kevin Brockway and Noah Ram from the Gainesville Sun discuss the latest Lane Kiffin speculation and Florida football returning to The Swamp to host No. 20 Tennessee.

At this point, it's a three-team race between Florida, LSU and Ole Miss to land the 50-year-old Kiffin, and Brockway wonders whether the Florida Gators will need to wait until Ole Miss is eliminated from the College Football Playoff. Kiffin refused to confirm or deny reports that his family visited Gainesville and Baton Rouge, La., or that he spoke with Louisiana Governor Jeff Landy.

"He's the guy you've got to find a way to get and now with LSU in the mix, it certainly complicates things," Brockway said.

Ram wonders whether Kiffin is the sure thing that Florida fans project him to be, based on Ole Miss trailing in the fourth quarter before pulling away late for a 34-24 win over the Gators on Nov. 15.

"They ended up winning so nobody really paid attention," Ram said. "But again, that's what I keep coming back to, all the uncertainty that surrounds it, not being here until January, the amount of money he wants, I don't know, I continue to think he's not as much of a sure thing as people make him out to be."

Later Brockway and Ram were joined by Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, who said Tennessee's 10-game losing streak against Florida at The Swamp remains in the heads of fans of the Vols more than the players. Tennessee (7-3, 3-3 SEC) will aim to break that streak against the Gators (3-7, 2-5 SEC) on Nov. 22 (7:30 p.m., ABC).

"Tennessee has often played poorly in this game, and Florida has usually played above its standard in these games, whether it's been a good Florida team or a bad Florida team," Sparks said. "This is one of those if not now, when, because Billy (Napier) is gone, Florida is looking like a team where most of its roster should be looking at the transfer portal or saying did Lane like how I played last week."

Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Swampcast previews Florida football vs Tennessee matchup, talks UF coach opening

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