In the mid-1990s Steve Spurrier said you couldn't spell "Citrus Bowl" without a U and a T.

After Memphis upset Tennessee in 1996, he pointed out the Vols were still Knox County champions.

But whatever Spurrier might have said about Tennessee at booster meetings in the 1990s, what he and his Florida teams did to them on the field hurt far worse.

After a three-year hiatus from the SEC, Spurrier returns to Neyland Stadium on Saturday night. And odd as it is to see him in the garnet and black of South Carolina, you can bet he still has Tennessee's full attention.

"There's a lot of similarities,'' UT defensive coordinator John Chavis said Tuesday, comparing the 2005 Gamecocks to the '90s Gators.

"He likes to throw the football and let the kids have fun and make plays.''

After two humbling years with the Washington Redskins and a season away from the game, Spurrier dusted off his old Florida playbook when he took the South Carolina job.

"We'll see open sets and a lot of balls in the air,'' said UT coach Phillip Fulmer. "That's just what he likes to do.

If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

In his 12 years at Florida, Spurrier's teams won 122 games. They won six SEC titles, including four in a row from 1993-96.

The Gators finished in the top 10 nine times, the top five six times and won the national title in 1996.

If the Gators were playing in all those SEC championship games, it meant the Vols weren't.

Spurrier was 8-4 against UT while at Florida (and 1-1 at Duke). He was 7-3 against Fulmer.

"Steve's a great football coach,'' said Fulmer, "and he accomplished a lot of things at Florida.

"But to win the ACC at Duke (in 1989)? That's a great accomplishment.''

Winning an SEC title at South Carolina would be almost as astonishing, given the Gamecocks' utter lack of success against Eastern Division rivals Tennessee, Florida and Georgia.

Still, in sophomore quarterback Blake Mitchell and freshman receiver Sidney Rice, Spurrier has tutored one of the top passing combinations in the SEC.

"The last time I looked,'' said Chavis, "(The Gamecocks) were in the top 25 recruiting in the country the last four years.

"So they've got talent and they've been doing a great job moving the ball and scoring points.''

Moving and scoring were Spurrier's trademarks at Florida.

During his heyday, from 1993-97, the Gators averaged 39.0 points against the Vols. UT was 0-5 in that stretch.

His last four years, the average was down to 24.75. Not coincidentally, the Vols went 2-2. It would have been 3-1, but for a controversial touchdown catch that won the 2000 game for Florida.

Chavis became UT's defensive coordinator in 1995. His first meeting with Spurrier wasn't much fun.

The Gators won 62-48 and rang up 584 yards of offense. Chavis points out that his defense played just fine while the Vols were building a 31-14 lead in the first half.

"We played the first 30 minutes and they played the last 30 minutes,'' Chavis said.

"We had a bunch of turnovers in the second half and we came unraveled a little bit and he can certainly make you pay. He made us pay in a big way.''

The last time the Vols faced Spurrier, they made him pick up the tab -- a 34-32 upset in his final game at The Swamp in 2001.

The only guys still around are the fifth-year seniors who redshirted that year. Linebacker Jason Mitchell, one of them, looks forward to, at long last, taking on a Spurrier offense.

"You've got to expect the unexpected,'' Mitchell said. "You never know what he'll come out with.

"He's pretty much a mastermind of his craft.''

Which nobody knows better than the Vols.