1960 Florida Gators football team

Last updated

1960 Florida Gators football
Gator Bowl, W 13–12 vs. Baylor
Conference Southeastern Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 16
APNo. 18
Record9–2 (5–1 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinator Pepper Rodgers (1st season)
Home stadium Florida Field
(capacity: 44,000)
Seasons
←  1959
1961  →
1960 Southeastern Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 2 Ole Miss $ 5 –0 –110 –0 –1
No. 18 Florida 5 –1 –09 –2 –0
No. 9 Alabama 5 –1 –18 –1 –2
No. 13 Auburn 5 –2 –08 –2 –0
Tennessee 3 –2 –26 –2 –2
Georgia 4 –3 –06 –4 –0
Georgia Tech 4 –4 –05 –5 –0
LSU 2 –3 –15 –4 –1
Kentucky 2 –4 –15 –4 –1
Tulane 1 –4 –13 –6 –1
Mississippi State 0 –5 –12 –6 –1
Vanderbilt 0 –7 –03 –7 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1960 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1960 NCAA University Division football season. The season was Ray Graves' first of ten and one of his three most successful as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Graves' 1960 Florida Gators finished with a 9–2 overall record a 5–1 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), placing second among the twelve SEC teams [1] —their best-ever SEC finish to date.

Contents

Before the season

Graves was a former Tennessee Volunteers lineman and assistant under coach Robert Neyland, and became a long-time Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defensive assistant for coach Bobby Dodd. [2] Graves' arrival in Gainesville heralded a change in the Gators' football outlook: no longer would the Gators espouse Bob Woodruff's conservative, ball control, "go for the tie" philosophy.

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 17vs. George Washington *
W 30–717,000 [3]
September 24 Florida State *
W 3–038,000 [4]
October 1No. 10 Georgia Tech
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL
W 18–1739,000 [5]
October 8vs. Rice *No. 18
L 0–1017,535 [6]
October 15 Vanderbilt
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL
W 12–031,000 [7]
October 22at Louisiana State
W 13–1047,000 [8]
October 29No. 14 Auburn
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
L 7–1040,000 [9]
November 5vs. Georgia
  • Gator Bowl Stadium
  • Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)
W 22–1448,622 [10]
November 12 Tulane Dagger-14-plain.pngNo. 20
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL
W 21–644,000 [11]
November 26at Miami (FL) *No. 19
  • Miami Orange Bowl
  • Miami, FL (rivalry)
W 18–060,122 [12]
December 31vs. No. 12 Baylor *
 CBS W 13–1250,112 [13]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Dagger-14-plain.pngHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[1] [14]

Postseason

The Gators capped their first-ever nine-win season with a hard-fought 13–12 victory over the twelfth-ranked Baylor Bears in the Gator Bowl on New Year's Eve 1960. In the Gator Bowl, the Gators defense halted a 75-yard drive by Baylor on the half-yard line in the first quarter, then set the stage for two second quarter touchdowns. Baylor dropped a pass for the two-point conversion and the win, and quarterback Libertore was voted game MVP. [15]

Related Research Articles

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The 1961 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. The season was Ray Graves' second as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team, and the Gators posted their only losing season in Graves' ten years as their coach. Graves' 1961 Florida Gators finished with a 4–5–1 overall record and a 3–3 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), placing sixth among the twelve SEC teams.

The 1962 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1962 NCAA University Division football season. The season was the third of Ray Graves' ten seasons as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Graves' 1962 Florida Gators posted a 7–4 overall record and a 4–2 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), placing fifth in twelve-team SEC. The Gators won the Gator Bowl again in 1962, upsetting ninth-ranked Penn State. They wore the Confederate Battle Flag on the side of their helmets to pump up the southern team facing a favored northern school.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1966 Florida Gators football team</span> American college football season

The 1966 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 1966 NCAA University Division football season. The Gators competed in the University Division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). In their seventh season under head coach Ray Graves, the Gators compiled a 9–2 overall win–loss record, finished 5–1 and placed third among the SEC's ten teams. Led by quarterback Steve Spurrier, the Gators outscored their opponents by a combined total of 265 to 147 and concluded their 1966 season with a 27–12 victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the 1967 Orange Bowl. The Gators were not ranked in the final AP Poll, but finished No. 11 in the final UPI Coaches Poll.

The 1968 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1968 NCAA University Division football season. The season was Ray Graves' ninth of ten years as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The Gators offense was led by senior tailback Larry Smith, a first-team All-American. Among the season's highlights were the Gators' conference wins over the Mississippi State Bulldogs (31–14), Tulane Green Wave (24–7) and Kentucky Wildcats (16–14), and victories over the in-state rival Florida State Seminoles (9–3) and Miami Hurricanes (14–10). The Gators also suffered their worst loss since 1942—a 51–0 blowout by the Georgia Bulldogs. Graves' 1968 Florida Gators finished 6–3–1 overall and 3–2–1 in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), tying for sixth among the ten teams of the SEC.

The 1969 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1969 NCAA University Division football season. The season was the tenth, last, and arguably most successful season for Ray Graves as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Graves' 1969 Florida Gators finished their regular season with an overall record of 8–1–1 and an SEC record of 3–1–1, placing fourth among the ten SEC teams. Florida concluded the year with a Gator Bowl victory over SEC-champion Tennessee. Afterwards, Graves resigned from the head coaching position to become the university's athletic director, and was replaced by Tennessee head coach Doug Dickey.

The 1992 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1992 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Steve Spurrier's third as the Florida Gators football team's head coach, and the wins were harder to come by as the star-studded senior classes from 1990 and 1991 had graduated. The Gators racked up six tough Southeastern Conference (SEC) wins over the Kentucky Wildcats (35–19), LSU Tigers (28–21), Auburn Tigers (24–9), seventh-ranked Georgia Bulldogs (26–24), South Carolina Gamecocks (14–9), and Vanderbilt Commodores (41–21). They also suffered two crushing SEC losses to the fourteenth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers (14–31) in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the twenty-fourth-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs (6–30) on a Thursday night in Starkville, Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Libertore</span> American football player (1939–2017)

Lawrence Paul "Lightning" Libertore Jr. was an American college football player, real-estate agent and politician in the state of Florida.

The history of Florida Gators football began in 1906, when the newly established "University of the State of Florida" fielded a football team during its first full academic year of existence. The school's name was shortened to the University of Florida in 1908, and the football team gained the nickname "Gators" in 1911. The program started small, usually playing six to eight games per season against small colleges and local athletic club teams in north Florida and south Georgia. The Orange and Blue developed early rivalries with the Stetson Hatters from nearby Deland and Mercer Bears from Macon. During the 1910s, Florida began playing a wider range of opponents from more established football programs across the southeastern United States and faced off against several future rivals - such as Georgia, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, and Auburn - for the first time.

References

  1. 1 2 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine , University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 110–111 (2015). Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  2. ↑ Julian M. Pleasants, Gator Tales: An Oral History of the University of Florida, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, p. 189 (2006).
  3. ↑ "Gators crunch Colonials, 30–7". The Miami Herald. September 18, 1960. Retrieved February 8, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Cash's boot lifts Gators by Seminoles, 3–0". Pensacola News Journal. September 25, 1960. Retrieved October 9, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Gators upset Tech in wild contest 18–17". Fort Myers News-Press. October 2, 1960. Retrieved October 9, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Rugged Rice rips ragged Gators, 10–0". The Miami Herald. October 9, 1960. Retrieved October 9, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Gator sophs sink Vanderbilt, 12 to 0". The Miami Herald. October 16, 1960. Retrieved October 9, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Gators 'cash' in with two 3-pointers, nip LSU, 13–10". The Bradenton Herald. October 23, 1960. Retrieved October 9, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Auburn nips Gators, 10–7". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. October 30, 1960. Retrieved October 9, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Florida smacks Georgia by 22–14". Daily Press. November 6, 1960. Retrieved October 9, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Gator defense makes sure its greatest SEC season ever, 21–6". Tampa Bay Times. November 13, 1960. Retrieved September 19, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Florida makes 18–0 shambles of Hurricanes". The Miami Herald. November 27, 1960. Retrieved October 9, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Florida wins Gator Bowl, 13–12". Monroe Morning World. January 1, 1960. Retrieved October 9, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Department of Sports Publicity. "University of Florida 1961 Football Brochure" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  15. ↑ University Athletic Association / IMG College copyright 2015. "Gator Bowl Memories: Gators Hold Off Baylor in Wild Finish to Claim 1960 Gator Bowl". gatorzone.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
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