History of Florida Gators football

Coach Urban Meyer led Florida to two additional national championships in 2006 and 2008 with quarterback Tim Tebow, who was the school's third Heisman Trophy winner.

[13] The 1905 football season was a lost one, since university president Andrew Sledd ruled several players ineligible for academic reasons, forcing the cancellation of four out of five games.

[14] Just half of season's final contest was played; it was suspended when it was discovered that Florida's opponent, The Julian Landon Institute of Jacksonville, included a professional player.

Because of the facility's limited capacity (about 5,000) and the relative inaccessibility of Gainesville in the early 20th century, most home games against top opponents were scheduled at larger venues in Jacksonville or Tampa; a handful were played in St. Petersburg and Miami.

[41] After the winless 1916 season the Gators hired Al Buser, a former All-American lineman for the Wisconsin Badgers, who promised to use a Midwestern, power-football style of play to revive the team.

[47] Georgia coach Herman Stegeman wrote in Spalding's Football Guide, "Florida, for the first time, had a strong team ... they combined a kicking game and a well-diversified offense to good advantage.

Led by new head coach Tom Sebring, a former football star for the Kansas State Wildcats, the 1925 Gators finished 8–2 (the first season with that many wins).

Bachman, who coached Tom Sebring at Kansas State, attended Notre Dame from 1914 to 1916; an All-American guard for the Fighting Irish football team in 1916, he was a disciple of Knute Rockne.

[86] Crabtree was ambidextrous and could throw passes with either hand or punt with either foot, while on the run or stationary,[87] The 1928 team's sole loss was to Robert Neyland's Tennessee, 12–13, in the final game of the season.

[101] Gator alumnus Dutch Stanley, an end (opposite Van Sickel) on the 1928 team, replaced Bachman as coach in the first SEC football season in 1933.

[114] However, Florida honored its second first-team All-SEC selection: senior end Fergie Ferguson, who led the team in points scored (36) and minutes played (420).

Dutch Stanley returned from Duke as dean of the college of physical education and hired Bear Wolf, prewar head coach of North Carolina, to replace Lieb.

In 1956, although the Gators produced first-team All-American guard John Barrow[33] and began the season with a 6–1–1 record, they lost the last two games to Georgia Tech and Miami.

[33][note 24] At this time, Robert Cade and other UF medical researchers developed Gatorade and tested it on the football team in the consistent heat and humidity in which they played.

The season highlight followed: a 10–6 upset of the Joe Namath-quarterbacked, third-ranked Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa,[156] one of only two home losses in Denny Stadium during Bear Bryant's 25 years at Alabama.

[158] The 1964 team, with sophomore quarterback Steve Spurrier and first-team All-American running back Larry Dupree, posted a 7–3 record and tied for second place in the SEC.

[172] Victory was assured, and Florida senior quarterback John Reaves needed 14 yards to break Jim Plunkett's NCAA record for career passing yardage; Miami had the ball.

Florida sealed its 27–0 victory against Georgia when SEC Player of the Year,[179] redshirt freshman quarterback Kerwin Bell, dropped back into his own end zone and threw a long pass to receiver Ricky Nattiel (who ran 96 yards for a touchdown).

Although he never had a losing season, Hall's subsequent teams did not match his early success when the scholarship losses for Pell's violations took their full effect; his first two recruiting classes had only 25 players.

Spurrier treasured the wins against the Crimson Tide: "Those victories early – '90, '91 – really got us started there at Florida ..."[216] The 1991 Gators won the team's first official SEC championship, 59 seasons after joining the conference as a charter member.

FSU coach Bobby Bowden opted to kick the extra point rather than attempt a two-point conversion, overruling nine assistants who begged him to go for the win (there was no overtime in college football at the time).

The Gators seized the moment, defeating FSU 52–20 for their first national championship as quarterback Danny Wuerffel received MVP honors for his shotgun formation.

FSU's final comeback attempt was stymied when senior linebacker Dwayne Thomas intercepted a third-down pass from Thad Busby, costing the Seminoles a chance at the national championship.

The preseason #1-ranked 2001 Gators appeared ready to return to the SEC Championship as favorites, but were upset 23–20 by Auburn in a last-minute field goal and lost 34–32 to Tennessee in a game postponed until December due to the September 11 attacks.

In their final regular-season SEC game, the Gators managed a slender 17–16 victory when Jarvis Moss blocked a fourth-quarter field-goal attempt by South Carolina.

Although the Gators began with a 4–0 record and were ranked as high as third in media polls, a mid-season slump in which they lost three of four games to conference foes ended their hopes for another national championship.

They beat defending national champion LSU 51–21, got revenge against Georgia, handed Steve Spurrier (now back in the college ranks at South Carolina[268]) the worst loss of his career, and defeated FSU 45–15.

Although they had the second undefeated regular season in program history, the departures of All-American Percy Harvin and offensive coordinator Dan Mullen decreased production.

Behind a defense which had grown into one of the nation's best and a ball-control offense, Florida outscored their opponents 115–30 in the fourth quarter, posted an 11–1 regular-season record and earned their first top-five ranking since 2009.

[349][350][351] After a 26–16 loss to Kentucky in the season's second game,[352][353] the Gators narrowly defeated in-state opponent South Florida 31–28[354][355][356] then lost to rival Tennessee by a score of 38–33.