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GAINESVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- The nation's longest winning streak ended in Tennessee's house of horrors. Fourth-ranked Florida found its defense just in time, stopping Jamal Lewis on a 4th-and-3 with 2:10 left and holding on for a 23-21 victory over defending national champion and No. 2 Tennessee, which had its 14-game winning streak snapped. In "The Swamp," Florida has won 30 straight games, which is the best home mark in the nation. The Gators, who lost 20-17 in overtime at Tennessee last season, built a 23-7 lead and then held on as the Volunteers mounted a furious rally. "I'm real proud of our entire defense. All of them played their hearts out," Florida coach Steve Spurrier said. "God smiled down on the Gators tonight. 'The Swamp' prevailed. We were very fortunate to win the game. I think the fans' support of being in 'The Swamp' gave us a three-point edge." Defensive end Alex Brown, perhaps Florida's biggest trash-talker during the week, had a monster game with five sacks for 29 yards, an interception, a forced fumbled and two passes broken up. "I talked a little bit this week and I had to go out and back it up and I think I did that," Brown said. "Like I said before, when Alabama comes in here, we're going to be looking forward to making it 31, because we do not lose here. If we're playing here, we're going to win." In the Southeastern Conference opener for both schools, Florida turned over the ball five times but was able to overcome the miscues thanks to 338 passing yards from Doug Johnson, who hit Darrell Jackson 10 times for 156 yards. Johnson completed 21-of-44 passes with a pair of scores and was intercepted three times. "It took a team effort," Johnson said. "These players have a lot of heart and I'm proud to be a Gator. There is something special about these guys and it took a lot of heart to beat Tennessee." The Gators have a leg up in the race for the SEC East Division title and a trip to the Sugar Bowl, this year's national championship game. The winner of this game has gone on to win the national title in two of the last three seasons. Florida (3-0, 1-0 SEC East) put up 466 yards of offense but its defense, which entered the season with nine new starters and new coordinator Jon Hoke, was suspect in wins over Western Michigan and Central Florida. "Preparing for Tennessee made us change a few schemes," Hoke said. "We knew they were going to try and run the ball, and our first objective was to stuff the run. I didn't have to tell the guys to get fired up for this game. The crowd really supported the defense and was a real plus for us tonight." That unit held Tennessee to 278 yards, including just 86 on the ground. Lewis ran 22 times for 90 yards and Tee Martin completed 16-of-38 passes for 192 yards with one interception. With 6:29 left in the third quarter, the Volunteers turned on their championship form and began to work away at Florida's defense, as Lewis broke through for a one-yard scoring plunge to make it 23-14. With 9:42 to go, a punt by Alan Rhine pinned Tennessee at its 3, but 12 plays and 4:32 later Lewis scored on a four-yard run to cut the deficit to 23-21. On 2nd-and-7 from the Florida 33, Johnson was intercepted for the second time by Deon Grant with 3:41 left. But on 4th-and-3 from the Florida 42, Lewis took a toss left and barely got back to the line of scrimmage. Florida got a first down and ran out the clock. "They are not a better team than we are, they just played better than us," Grant said. "They made more plays today." The Gators are 32-1 inside the conference at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in the 1990s. They have won their last 17 SEC home games and are 18-0 here within the East in this decade. Florida improved to 2-7-2 all-time against teams coming off the national crown. Tennessee was issued a school-record 15 penalties for 112 yards, while Florida was flagged 10 times for the same amount of yardage. "We came in here a couple of years ago and our team didn't play very hard. Tonight we had a chance to win," Tennessee coach Philip Fulmer said. "Obviously it's very disappointing. I think we'll find an awful lot about ourselves from this. When you have that many penalties, you're probably going to get beat." Jeff Chandler, whose miss wide left last season gave Tennessee the win, opened the scoring for the Gators with a 23-yard field goal midway through the first quarter. The lead stood up until 9:17 remained in the second quarter, when Martin ran seven yards for a touchdown and a 7-3 lead. Chandler converted from 33 and 41 yards and Johnson threw an 11-yard scoring pass to Darrell Jackson 51 yards before the half to give Florida a 16-7 lead. Johnson hit freshman Reche Caldwell for a four-yard touchdown 2:56 into the third quarter to push the lead to 23-7 before the Vols began their comeback. Tennessee was 2-of-16 on third-down conversions and yielded seven sacks for 36 yards. In the season opener, the Vols recorded a school-record 13 sacks, but never got to Johnson.
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