The University of Florida is located in Gainesville, Florida and was founded in 1853. The first football game was in 1906 and since then I had a record of 597 – 364 – 40. The history of the Gators is very similar. The history of the Chicago Cubs has shown a lot of promise over many decades, putting several winning teams on the field and in 1928, 1966, 1969, and 1985, the Gators went deep into the season with a shot at the National Championship. he came up short. Fortunately, the Gators weren’t the Cubs and finally broke through with their first National Championship in 1996.
The Gators’ seasons weren’t always great, though, from 1933 to 1950 the Gators only had one winning season and their SEC record that span was 18-57-6, never finishing higher than sixth in the conference. Coach Bob Woodruff began to turn the program around, and then Ray Graves turned Florida into a consistent winning team. But it was in 1990 when Steve Spurrier became head coach that the Gators really took off.
When Steve Spurrier returned to the Florida Gators, the coach promised to keep his football head wide open. His first game resulted in a 50 – 7 victory over Oklahoma State and the Gators went from there. The fans love him for the same reasons that other fans hate him: boldness, confidence, arrogance. He was often accused of name-calling in sports and never really denied it. One game Florida was leading Mississippi State 35 – 0 at halftime and Spurrier was telling his team to throw the ball. , after the game’s reporters asked him if he thought about running the ball up the middle to make Mississippi State’s bottom team miserable and run the clock to keep the shutout. Answered Spurrier “Running to keep it closed? No, I wasn’t thinking. We felt we had 35 points in the half, we only need to break 17 plus 50.” In those 12 seasons Spurrier won six SEC Championships, one National Championship, 11 bowl games and his record was 122 – 27 – 1. One stretch from late 1992 to mid 1997 Steve Spurrier’s Gators went 51 – 6 – 1. Gators scored 50 points or more In twenty-five occasions with Spurrier as coach, he also had a 70-point game in 1994 and an 80-point game in 1997.
Florida’s best player, Danny Wuerffel, also came into Spurrier’s tenure. Danny Wuerffel has 708 of his 1,170 passes and 10,875 career yards. In 1995 he posted a 178.4 QB rating, the highest in NCAA history. Steve Spurrier can be very demanding and proud of his QB and has often dried up but Wuerffel was indomitable and succeeded under Steve Spurrier. Wuerffel is also known for his behavior on the field. After throwing all of Wuerffel’s touchdown passes, he points his fists together and points to the air, a sign of his religious faith. Wuerffel was also the first player in NCAA history to win the Heisman Trophy and win the Draddy trophy in the same year; an award-athlete given to the top student in the country.
The Gators have had many memorable games over the years, the most memorable being the National Championship game in 1997. The Gators won their first 10 games of the 1996 season including 35 – 29 shooting between Danny Wuerffel and Peyton Manning before their arch rival. Florida State. FSU won Florida 21 – 24 but there was a lot of controversy because the FSU players were obviously trying to get Wuerffel and told him to hit on every play. This resulted in many late hits that were not called by the referees. Fortunately, the Gators took down Alabama 45 – 30 in the SEC CHAMPIONSHIP and Texas upset #3 Nebraska moving Florida to #3 and getting a rematch in the Sugar Bowl against FSU. This season Florida cruised to a 52 – 20 win over FSU and #2 Arizona State was knocked off by #4 Ohio State. In the State Bowl, Florida won the National Championship.
In addition to the 1997 championship game, Florida’s most notable game also included their arch rival FSU but it was not a win but a heart breaker. In 1994 Florida Travel to Doak Campbell Stadium for the annual Florida-Florida State game. With less than 15 minutes left in the game Florida had a 31 – 3 lead. The Seminoles, led by Danny Kannell, staged an amazing comeback to tie the score at 31 – 31. If the match is like kissing your sister, then tie a bow to your rival, when you 31 – 3 is like a full session do.
