Both programs showed glimmers of improvement in the middle of the decade under coaches McElwain and Jones. Florida made back to the SEC Championship Game in 2015 and 2016, and both Florida and Tennessee were ranked in the AP top 25 coming into their 2016 and 2017 meetings. However, both the Gators and Vols faded to losing records in 2017, and both programs dismissed their once-promising head coaches before the end of the season. New coaches Dan Mullen of Florida and Jeremy Pruitt of Tennessee met in 2018 and 2019, both Gator victories.