1991 Florida Gators football team

Last updated

1991 Florida Gators football
SEC champion
Sugar Bowl, L 28–39 vs. Notre Dame
Conference Southeastern Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 8
APNo. 7
Record10–2 (7–0 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive scheme Fun and gun
Defensive coordinator Ron Zook (1st season)
Base defense 4–4–3 [1]
Captains
Home stadium Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Seasons
  1990
1992  
1991 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 7 Florida $ 7 0 010 2 0
No. 5 Alabama 6 1 011 1 0
No. 14 Tennessee 5 2 09 3 0
No. 17 Georgia 4 3 09 3 0
Mississippi State 4 3 07 5 0
LSU 3 4 05 6 0
Vanderbilt 3 4 05 6 0
Auburn 2 5 05 6 0
Ole Miss 1 6 05 6 0
Kentucky 0 7 03 8 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1991 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1991 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Steve Spurrier's second as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The Gators were led by quarterback Shane Matthews and first-team All-American defensive tackle Brad Culpepper. [2]

Contents

Spurrier's 1991 Florida Gators compiled the first-ever ten-win season in program history, an overall record of 10–2 and a perfect SEC record of 7–0. [3]

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 7 San Jose State *No. 6W 59–2183,067 [4] [5]
September 147:30 p.m.No. 17 Alabama No. 6
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
ESPN W 35–085,069 [6]
September 213:30 p.m.at No. 18 Syracuse *No. 5 ABC L 21–3849,823 [7] [8]
September 28vs. No. 21 Mississippi State No. 14 TBS W 29–769,328 [9]
October 58:00 p.m.at LSU No. 13 PPV W 16–072,019 [10]
October 127:30 p.m.No. 4 Tennessee No. 10
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
ESPNW 35–1885,165 [11]
October 191:00 p.m. Northern Illinois *Dagger-14-plain.pngNo. 6
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL
W 41–1083,708 [12]
November 23:30 p.m.at Auburn No. 6ABCW 31–1083,714 [13]
November 94:00 p.m.vs. No. 23 Georgia No. 6ESPNW 45–1381,679 [14]
November 16 Kentucky No. 5
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
W 35–2684,109 [15]
November 3012:00 p.m.No. 3 Florida State *No. 5
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
ABCW 14–985,461 [16]
January 1, 19928:00 p.m.vs. No. 18 Notre Dame *No. 3ABCL 28–3976,477 [17]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Dagger-14-plain.pngHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time

[3]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
AP 5 (1)66 (1)5 (1)141310666655537
Coaches 7675 (1)151310666655548

Game summaries

San Jose State

The season opened with a 59–21 victory over the San Jose State Spartans.

Alabama

The Gators defeated Alabama, 35–0. Spurrier treasured the wins against the Crimson Tide: "Those victories early – '90, '91 – really got us started there at Florida ..." [18]

Syracuse

The 1991 season also included a disappointing 38–21 road loss to the seventeenth-ranked Syracuse Orangemen in the Carrier Dome. [3]

Mississippi State

The Gators had a dominating confidence win over the twenty-first-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs, 29–7.

LSU

Florida blanked the LSU Tigers 16–0.

Tennessee

#4 Volunteers at #10 Gators
1234Total
Tennessee2103318
Florida7147735
  • Date: Saturday, October 12
  • Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida
  • Game attendance: 85,165
  • Television network: ESPN

The Gators defeated the fourth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers 35–18. [19]

Northern Illinois

Florida beat Northern Illinois 41–10 .

Auburn

The Auburn Tigers fell to Florida 31–10.

Georgia

#6 Florida vs. #23 Georgia
1234Total
Florida72131445
Georgia337013
  • Date: Saturday, November 9
  • Location: Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, Florida
  • Game attendance: 81,769

The Gators defeated rival and twenty-third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs 45–13. [20]

Kentucky

Florida clinched its first SEC title with a hard-fought win over the Kentucky Wildcats, 35–26. "The Gators appeared on their way to a comfortable victory with a 28-6 lead in the third quarter. That's when the UF band started playing the song "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard and students began throwing little sugar packets into the air. Then UK quarterback Pookie Jones went wild, almost spoiling the party. " [21]

Florida State

#3 Florida State Seminoles (10–1) at #5 Florida Gators (9–1)
Quarter1234Total
Florida St03069
Florida077014

at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida

Game information

Among the Gators' 1991 victories, the 14–9 defensive upset of the Florida State Seminoles was a particularly memorable victory played in front of a record home crowd (the previous record set only five weeks earlier vs. Tennessee). [3] The Gators scored touchdowns on a first-quarter run by tailback Errict Rhett, and a 72-yard bomb from Shane Matthews to wide receiver Harrison Houston in the third quarter, and held on to win. Gators defensive ends Darren Mickell and Harvey Thomas kept Seminoles quarterback Casey Weldon off balance and on the run in the second half, and, in the fourth quarter, Gators safeties Will White and Del Speer combined to break up a fourth-down pass to the end zone by Weldon with two minutes remaining§, thus saving the victory for Florida. [22]

Sugar Bowl

1234Total
Fighting Irish07102239
Gators10601228

The Gators closed out their season with their first New Year's Day bowl appearance since 1974, a 39–28 defeat by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Sugar Bowl, and were ranked seventh in the final Associated Press Poll. [3] Florida won the team's first official SEC championship, 59 seasons after joining the conference as a charter member. Quarterback Shane Matthews repeated as SEC Player of the Year in 1991. [23]

Roster

1991 Florida Gators football team roster
PlayersCoaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
RB Brady Ackerman
RB Chris Bilkie
OL 69Brian Fisher
TE Charlie Dean
QB 12 Terry Dean
C 59Cal DixonSr
WR Monty Duncan
WR Tre Everett
WR Lester Ferdinand
TE Jim Franklin
WR Kevin Glenn
WR Aubrey Hill
WR 84Harrison Houston
OL Hesham Ismail Sr
TE Terrell Jackson
WR Willie Jackson
QB G. A. Mangus
QB 9 Shane Matthews Jr
RB Willie McClendon
RB Dexter McNabb
RB Kelvin Randolph
WR Ted Reynolds
RB 33 Errict Rhett So
OL Tony Rowell
TE George Rushing
WR Alonzo Sullivan
OL Jim Watson
OL Mark White
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DB Myrick Anderson
DB Ephesians Bartley
DL Kevin Carter
DL 50 Brad Culpepper Sr
DL William Gaines
DB Lawrence Hatch
CB Larry Kennedy
DL Tony McCoy
DE Darren Mickell
LB Carlton Miles
DB Marquette Oliver
LB Tim Paulk
LB Ed Robinson
CB Del Speer Jr
DE Harvey Thomas
S 2Will White
FS 20 Sammy McCorkle Fr
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K Arden Czyzewski
P Shayne Edge
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injury icon 2.svg Injured
  • Redshirt.svg Redshirt

NFLdraft

The following Gators were selected in the 1992 NFL draft after the season. [24]

RoundPickPlayerPositionNFL team
4105 Tony McCoy Defensive tackle Indianapolis Colts
5119 Dexter McNabb Fullback Green Bay Packers
5127 Cal Dixon Center New York Jets
6156Tony RowellCenter Los Angeles Raiders
7182Tim Paulk Linebacker Atlanta Falcons
8206 Hesham Ismail Guard Pittsburgh Steelers
9241Ephesians BartleyLinebacker Philadelphia Eagles
10264 Brad Culpepper Defensive tackle Minnesota Vikings
12309 Mike Brandon Defensive end Indianapolis Colts

References

  1. "Zook's defense was offensive to foes". Tampa Bay Times . December 2, 1991. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  2. Carlson, University of Florida Football Vault, pp. 107–108.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine , University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 107 (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  4. "Florida's air attack too much for San Jose". The San Francisco Examiner. September 8, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Big West". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. September 8, 1991. p. C18. Retrieved April 21, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. "Gators pummel Tide 35–0". The Tampa Tribune. September 15, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  7. Dame, Mike (September 22, 1991). "Orange Crush Gators, 38-21". The Orlando Sentinel . p. 31. Retrieved January 16, 2021 via Newspapers.com Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg .
  8. Sari Linn, Debra (September 22, 1991). "Orangemen Offer Gators an Option". The Orlando Sentinel . p. 39. Retrieved January 16, 2021 via Newspapers.com Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg .
  9. "Gators run to win over Miss. St". The Pensacola News-Journal. September 29, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Czyzewski's FGs, defense help UF beat LSU 16–0". The Palm Beach Post. October 6, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Florida's revenge, Tennessee falls 35–18". The Tennessean. October 13, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Florida struggles, but whips NIU". Chicago Tribune. October 20, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Gators a step closer". St. Petersburg Times. November 3, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Gators win 45–13, clinch tie for SEC". The Palm Beach Post. November 10, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  15. "How sweet! Gators rule SEC". The Miami Herald. November 17, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Florida finally solves slumping Florida State". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. December 1, 1991. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Irish thwart Florida". Wisconsin State Journal. January 2, 1992. Retrieved November 12, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Steve Spurrier says early '90s wins over Alabama 'got us started there at Florida'". AL.com.
  19. "Florida drops UT 35-18". Ocala Star-Banner. October 13, 1991 via Google News Archive Search.
  20. Larry Savage (November 10, 1991). "No. 6 Florida rules SEC". Ocala Star-Banner via Google News Archive Search.
  21. "Gators' streak vs. 'Cats filled with close calls". Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  22. Gainesville Sun. 1991 Dec 1.
  23. "SEC Player of the Year Winners". College Football at Sports-Reference.com.
  24. "1992 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 20, 2023.