Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American former football player and coach. He played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often referred to by his nickname, "the Head Ball Coach". He played college football as a quarterback for the Florida Gators, where he won the 1966 Heisman Trophy. The San Francisco 49ers selected him in the first round of the 1967 NFL draft, and he spent a decade playing in the National Football League (NFL) mainly as a backup quarterback and punter. Spurrier was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1986.
Daniel Carl Wuerffel is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida Gators, where he was a prolific passer under head coach Steve Spurrier. Wuerffel led the NCAA in touchdown passes in 1995 and 1996 and set numerous school and conference records during his career. During his senior year in 1996, he won the Heisman Trophy while leading the Gators to their first national championship. In 2013, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, popularly known as "The Swamp", is a football stadium in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is located on the campus of the University of Florida and is the home field of the Florida Gators football team. It was originally known as Florida Field when it opened as a 22,000-seat facility in 1930, and it has been expanded and renovated many times over the ensuing decades. Most of the university's athletic administrative offices, along with most football-related offices and training areas, have been located in the stadium since the 1960s. Most of the football program's facilities are slated to move to a nearby $60 million building that began construction in 2020.
Michael Shane Matthews is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for all or part of fourteen seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. He played college football for the Florida Gators, where he was both a second-team All-American and SEC player of the year in 1991 and 1992. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins, and four other NFL teams. Since retiring as a player, Matthews has lived near his college alma mater in North Central Florida, where he has hosted a sports talk radio program and coached high school football. In 2017, Matthews was incarcerated for three months in a federal prison upon pleading guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of causing a drug to be misbranded, after playing a small part in a large health care fraud conspiracy organized by former Florida teammate Monty Grow.
The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) They play their home games on Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville campus.
The Florida–Florida State football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the teams of the two oldest public universities of the U.S. state of Florida: the University of Florida (UF) Gators and Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles. Both universities participate in a range of intercollegiate sports, and for the last several years, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has sponsored a "Sunshine Showdown" promotion that tallies the total number of wins for each school in head-to-head sports competition. However, the annual football game between the Gators and Seminoles has consistently been the most intense and notable competition between the in-state rivals.
Willie Bernard Jackson Jr. is an American former professional football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins. He played college football at the University of Florida. As a football coach, he was the wide receivers coach for the Orlando Apollos of the Alliance of American Football (AAF).
Christopher Paul Doering is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1990s and 2000s. Doering played college football for the Florida Gators, earning second-team All-American honors in 1995. He played professionally for the Indianapolis Colts, the Denver Broncos, the Washington Redskins, and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL.
The Florida–Tennessee football rivalry, also called the Third Saturday in September, is an American college football rivalry between the Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida and Tennessee Volunteers football team of the University of Tennessee, who first met on the football field in 1916. The Gators and Vols have competed in the same athletic conference since Florida joined the now-defunct Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1910, and the schools were founding members of the Southeastern Conference in 1932. Despite this long conference association, a true rivalry did not develop until the early 1990s due to the infrequency of earlier meetings; in the first seventy-six years (1916–91) of the series, the two teams met just twenty-one times. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) expanded to twelve universities and split into two divisions in 1992. Florida and Tennessee were placed in the SEC's East Division and have met on a home-and-home basis every season since. Their rivalry quickly blossomed in intensity and importance in the 1990s and early 2000s as both programs regularly fielded national championship contending teams under coaches Phil Fulmer of Tennessee and Steve Spurrier at Florida.
The 1996 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The 1996 season was the team's seventh under head coach Steve Spurrier. The Gators competed in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus.
The 1978 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Doug Dickey's ninth and last year as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The 1978 Florida Gators finished with a 4–7 overall record and a 3–3 Southeastern Conference (SEC) record, tying for fourth among ten SEC teams. After a disappointing 1977 season, Dickey had been under pressure to shake up his coaching staff, and he decided to abandon the run-oriented wishbone offense his teams had used for several seasons in favor of a more pro-style system. Former Florida quarterback Steve Spurrier, who had lived in Gainesville since wrapping up his NFL career in 1976, was tapped by Dickey to be the Gators' quarterback coach, his first coaching job.
The 1995 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 1995 NCAA Division I-A football season. The 1995 season was the Florida Gators' sixth year under head coach Steve Spurrier and was one of the most successful in school history, as the Gators finished the regular season unbeaten and untied for the first time.
Charles Kimberlin Helton is an American college and professional football coach. He served as the head football coach of the University of Houston from 1993 to 1999, compiling a record of 24–53–1. His sons Clay and Tyson Helton both rose to also become college football head coaches.
William Travis McGriff is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in two different professional football leagues. McGriff played college football for the University of Florida, where he was a member of a national championship team. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL), and the Orlando Predators and Nashville Kats of the Arena Football League (AFL).
George E. Edmondson Jr. was an insurance salesman from Tampa, Florida who was known to the University of Florida community as "Mr. Two Bits". Edmondson was a fan of the Florida Gators football team, for which he led a traditional "Two Bits' cheer" at football games beginning in 1949. Though he began the practice in an unofficial capacity, it eventually became so popular among fans at Florida Field that he was invited to lead the cheer from midfield before games, which he did from the mid-1970s until 2008. Citing health concerns, he retired from the role after the 2008 season and died in 2019.
Harmon Leon Wages is an American former college and professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons during the 1960s and 1970s. He played college football for the University of Florida and, thereafter, played professionally for the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL.
Elijah Elgebra Williams is an American former college and professional football player who was a defensive back and kick returner in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Williams played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter he played professionally for the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL.
The Auburn–Florida football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Auburn Tigers football team of Auburn University and Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida which was first played in 1912. The schools have been members of the same athletic conference for over a century and were founding members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) when it was established in 1933. The contest was an annual tradition from 1945 until 2002, when the SEC expanded and the rivalry became part of a rotation of other conference games. Since then, the teams have met only four times.
Lee Colson McGriff is an American former college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for a single season in 1976. McGriff played college football for the Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their inaugural season in 1976.
