Tennessee threw a knockout punch when it took a 17-point lead against Florida with less than 8 minutes left.

No jinx, no bad karma, no voodoo, no bizarre play could keep the Vols from finally breaking through against their hated rival.

But the Gators kept getting off the deck. And before you knew it, Florida was within another miracle late-game pass to upend the startled Vols.

Alas, Anthony Richardson, who passed for 435 yards in a sterling performance, was hit by Byron Young as he heaved a pass toward the UT end zone that was intercepted by Kamal Hadden at about the 5-yard line.

Game. Set Match. Breath, Vol Nation.

Hadden’s pick finally sealed the deal in a game the Vols appeared to salt away midway through the fourth quarter. Tennessee gigged the Gators 38-33, setting off an eruption not seen at Neyland Stadium since the last time the Vols beat Florida at home, 2016.

On a day when ESPN’s GameDay kicked things off at 9 am, Vol fans checkered Neyland, the Vol Village had a watch party, and Tennessee finally delivered, fireworks seemed to be the appropriate ending.

The ghosts of Antonio Callaway and Tyler Murphy and Felipe Franks were finally exorcised.

No. 11 Tennessee (4-0) needed a brilliant performance by Hendon Hooker to expel No. 20 Florida. Hooker was 22 of 28 for 349 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 112 yards and another score on 13 carries in one of the greatest efforts by a UT quarterback against Florida (2-2).  

Bru McCoy picked up the slack in the absence of All-SEC receiver Cedric Tillman (ankle) with five catches for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Tennessee’s offense was practically unstoppable, scoring touchdowns on five of its first eight possessions and adding a field goal. The only time UT didn’t score was when it fumbled twice. UT managed 576 total yards, 349 passing.

Good thing the offense was clicking because the defense was awful. Florida picked UT apart for 594 yards. Richardson, who hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass this season, threw two. He was 24 of 44 for 453 yards and often times had two receivers open on the same play against a porous UT secondary.

Richardson also ran for two scores, looking more like the quarterback than beat Utah than the struggling signal caller that was held in check by Kentucky and South Florida.

And UT’s defense couldn’t get off the field. Florida converted 7 of 15 third downs and was 5 of 6 on fourth down. That against a defense that had held opponents to 42% conversion rate on third down.

Tennessee appeared to have the game in hand when Jaylen Wright scored on a 5-yard run with 7:55 left in the game, putting the Vols up 38-21.

Florida responded with a touchdown with 4:49 left and coach Billy Napier inexplicably went for two. The pass failed, leaving the Gators down by 11, instead of 10. That proved to be critical.

After UT failed to run out the clock, Florida drove 71 yards to score with 17 seconds left. Another two-point try failed.

But you could feel the tension in the air.

The Vols weren’t going to blow another game against the Gators, were they? They weren’t going to choke away a huge lead against a heated rival, were they?

All UT had to do was recover the onside kick and that was that.

But no, Florida recovered a well executed onside kick, eliciting a collective gasp from the 100,000-plus at Neyland.

Florida moved to the UT 39 with 6 seconds left, a Hail Mary away from a helluva win.

But Young hit Richardson as he threw, the ball fluttered well short of the goal-line and Hadden had the game-clinching play to set off a wild celebration.

Tennessee benefitted from two terrible decisions by Napier.

First, late in the first half, UT was content to run out the clock, facing third-and-9 from its 12- yard line. Instead, Florida, ahead 14-10, called timeout with 1:33 left in the second quarter.

Why not wait to see what UT does on third down before expending a timeout? Instead, UT completed a 10-yard pass, then Hooker hit Ramel Keyton for 43 yards. Seven plays later, the Vols scored a touchdown to take a 17-14 halftime lead.

“That’s when the game changed,’’ said UT running back Jabari Small.

Tennessee then took the second-half kickoff and scored another touchdown to take a 24-14 lead.

Florida kept fighting back, even when down 17 in the fourth quarter.

But this time, the football gods were on Tennessee’s side.