Joey Aguilar has played well throughout his senior season at Tennessee after arriving in Knoxville early in the summer. But Aguilar’s season, and Tennessee’s season, had lacked a defining moment. That was until Saturday night when the Vols’ jumped on Florida in the first half and coasted to a 31-11 victory.
It marked Tennessee football’s first win at Florida since 2003 and Joey Aguilar was enjoying it postgame. First, Aguilar gator chomped while walking around the field and towards the Tennessee section following the game.
CHOMP THEM JOEY AGUILAR pic.twitter.com/gDkalGlDtm
— gmannVOLS (@gmannVOLS) November 23, 2025
Then Aguilar climbed the conductor steps and led the Pride of the Southland Band in Rocky Top as all the Vol fans that made the trip to Florida made their way to the seats behind the Tennessee sideline and around the band.
Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar leads the #Vols band for Rocky Top after a win over the Florida Gators in The Swamp pic.twitter.com/RZnsYGll8C
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) November 23, 2025
Joey Aguilar, the quarterback who snapped Tennessee’s 22-year losing streak in Gainesville.
BUT….he’s also Joey Aguilar, the band conductor. #Vols pic.twitter.com/PvvBdmEpTW
— Sam Rothman (@samrothman_) November 23, 2025
More From RTI: Four Quick Takeaways As Tennessee Dominates Florida, Exorcises Demons In The Swamp
Aguilar started red-hot for Tennessee against Florida, completing his first nine passes for 126 yards and a touchdown. From there, Tennessee largely leaned on its ground game while Aguilar managed the game well and kept the ball out of harms way.
The transfer quarterback finished the game completing 17-of-22 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown while Tennessee totaled 248 rushing yards.
With the win, Tennessee improved to 8-3 (4-3 SEC) on the season ahead of its regular season finale matchup against Vanderbilt next week at Neyland Stadium.
This season is the last time that Tennessee and Florida will play annually as the SEC goes to a nine-game conference schedule and a new scheduling format. The Gators and Vols played every season from 1990-2025 with Florida holding a 26-10 advantage in those 36 meetings.
However, Tennessee finished strong. The Vols won the final two meetings and three of the final four meetings. Through five seasons at the helm, Josh Heupel holds a 3-2 record against Florida.
