GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Another trip to The Swamp produced the same disappointing result for No. 2 Tennessee.

The Volunteers have not won in Gainesville since 1971, going 0-7 since then, and Saturday night's 23-21 loss to No. 4 Florida left coach Phil Fulmer and his players grasping for words to describe their frustration.

	Dominique Stevenson shows his fatigue after Tennessee's 23-21 loss to Florida.

"To me, in my heart, it felt like we won. We never quit, we never gave up," quarterback Tee Martin said.

"Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward. ... I know the guys on this team, and everybody's going to work hard to come back from this."

For the Vols, it was a night of squandered opportunities by an offense that, despite scoring three touchdowns, never solved the Florida defense.

Martin's 48-yard completion to Eric Parker set up the fourth-quarter TD that trimmed Florida's lead to 23-21, however, the Vols' first two scoring drives covered 32 and 15 yards.

"Obviously, it's very disappointing. I think we'll find out a lot about ourselves when we watch the films," Fulmer said, predicting his players will handle the loss well and learn from their mistakes.

"They know how they got to win 14 in a row -- with hard work, togetherness and trying to get better," Fulmer said.

Martin agreed. He said there no outbursts in the losing locker room, no signs of negativity.

"There was no fingerpointing. We don't have enough fingers to point at all the things we did wrong. We'd have to borrow some hands," he said.

Tennessee trailed 16-7 despite having the ball for nearly nine minutes more than Florida in the first half.

Jamal Lewis averaged almost 5 yards per carry, rushing for 99 yards on 22 attempts. However, the Vols weren't able to balance their attack with an effective passing game.

Martin was just 7-of-21 for 60 yards in the first two quarters and threw his first interception in 60 regular season attempts. He finished 16-of-38 for 192 yards.

Tennessee's second-quarter touchdown was set up by Andre Lott's fumble recovery at the Florida 32, and Deon Grant returned an interception 35 yards to the Gators' 15 to help the offense get in the end zone the next time.

"They did a good job of mixing their defensive packages, and when they found something that worked, they kept going back to it," Martin said.

"We just never picked up on what they were doing early enough. We started moving the ball better in the fourth quarter, but it was a little too late."