FLORIDA GATORS
1996 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
1997 Sugar Bowl January 2, 1997
Florida Gators 52 Florida St. Seminoles 20
Third-ranked Florida staked a claim to its first-ever national
championship as Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel threw three
touchdown passes to Ike Hilliard and ran for another score in a
52-20 victory over top-ranked Florida State in the Sugar Bowl at
New Orleans.
Wuerffel connected on touchdown passes to Hilliard in each of
the first three quarters -- of nine, 31 and seven yards -- and
added a 47-yard completion to the receiver to set up another
score. The third touchdown pass to Hilliard began a 28-point
explosion that broke open a close game and enabled the Gators to
avenge a 24-21 setback to Florida State on November 30th.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden dreaded the idea of playing his
intrastate rival for the second time in a season, and with good
reason. The Seminoles (11-1) were denied their second national
title in four years and allowed their highest point total since
a 59-27 loss to Auburn in 1985.
The defeat was extra bitter since it came against Gators coach
Steve Spurrier, who spent the past week complaining about late
hits on Wuerffel in the November meeting. The controversy grew
heated during the week, with Bowden warning Spurrier that the
attacks became too personal.
Spurrier's comments helped disguise his poor record against
Bowden. Tonight was just his third win against Bowden in nine
tries, but no game was nearly as important.
"First of all, I'll say what Danny always says. God looked down
on the Gators this year," Spurrier said. "We have a lot to be
thankful for. I want the players to realize that divine guidance
or something like that helped us this year."
The Gators (12-1) also erased the memory of last season's 62-24
loss to Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl, a defeat that kept Spurrier
from his first national title that come when the polls were
released this morning.
Wuerffel scrambled 16 yards for a touchdown with 13 seconds left
in the third quarter and Terry Jackson scored on runs of 42 and
one yard in the fourth quarter to complete the rout. Wuerffel
can become the second Heisman Trophy winner in four years to
also win a national championship, following Charlie Ward of
Florida State in 1993.
"It's been a wonderful career with many great moments," said the
polite Wuerffel, whose demeanor is directly opposite that of his
outspoken coach. "This is one of the best."
Wuerffel completed 18-of-34 passes for 306 yards, with Hilliard
catching seven for 150 yards.
Spurrier, however, was not about to take credit, instead
thanking his quarterback and the series of events that put him
in the de facto national title game.
"Danny is the best quarterback that has ever played college
football," added Spurrier, who noted that a win by Texas over
Nebraska in the Big 12 title game and Ohio State's triumph over
Arizona State in Wednesday's Rose Bowl put his team in position
to claim a national title.
Wuerffel had a touchdown pass to Hilliard called back by an
illegal formation penalty before finding him again on a slant
pattern over the middle with 9:48 left in the first quarter. The
Gators drove 77 yards after linebacker Mike Peterson stopped
Seminoles fullback Pooh Bear Williams short of a first down on
4th-and-2 at the Gators 22.
As expected, Wuerffel has worked primarily out of the shotgun
formation, giving him more time to throw. Facing a three-man
blitz, Wuerffel was able to loft the 47-yard pass to Hilliard. A
roughing-the-passer penalty was tacked on the end of the play,
putting a smile on the face of Spurrier.
Fred Taylor scored on a two-yard run two plays later, increasing
the lead to 17-3 with 11:28 left in the quarter.
"Steve left his running backs in more tonight and it gave
Wuerffel more time," Bowden said. "Their protection scheme was
oustanding."
A defensive lapse by the Gators helped the Seminoles cut the
deficit to seven points. Two Florida defensive backs collided,
leaving E.G. Green all alone in the end zone for a 29-yard pass
from Thad Busby midway through the second quarter. Busby
completed just 17-of-41 passes for 271 yards, with 55 of those
yards coming on the first play from scrimmage.
Florida needed a little more than two minutes to rebuild its
two-touchdown lead as Wuerffel threw the 31-yarder to Hilliard,
who caught the ball over the middle, stopped on a dime and
reversed field into the end zone.
Florida State answered again, this time on a 12-yard touchdown
run by Warrick Dunn with 40 seconds left in the half. Dunn, who
rushed for 185 yards in the November meeting with Florida, was
held to 28 yards on nine carries and saw limited action in the
second half due to cramps.
"It hurts because in a game like this you need to play well on
both sides of the ball, you need to be able to have a balanced
offense and not having Warrick out there kept us from being able
to do that," Busby said.
The Seminoles moved within four points on a 45-yard field goal
by Scott Bentley early in the third quarter, but that would be
the last time they would score.
Jacquez Green had a 26-yard punt return to the 24 and Wuerffel
drilled a seven-yard touchdown pass to Hilliard on 3rd-and-goal
with 5:43 left in the quarter. Special teams, a problem for the
Gators this season, played a role in another first half score as
Reidel Anthony had a 27-yard punt return to set up a 32-yard
field goal by Bart Edmiston.
The Gators won despite playing the second half without star
linebacker James Bates, who suffered a concussion.
The longest current current winning streak in the country -- 12
games -- ended, as did the Seminoles' 11-game bowl winning
streak. Florida State was unbeaten in its previous 14 bowls
(13-0-1) since a 18-17 setback to Oklahoma in the 1981 Orange
Bowl.
The game included 29 penalties for 127 yards, including 15 for
102 on the Gators.
Box Score
NCAAF 1 2 3 4 F
- - - - --
Florida (3) 10 14 14 14 52
Florida St (1) 3 14 3 0 20 FINAL
Florida-Hilliard 9 pass from Wuerffel (Edmiston kick)
Florida St-FG Bentley 43
Florida-FG Edmiston 32
Florida-Taylor 2 run (Edmiston kick)
Florida St-Eg Green 29 pass from Busby (Bentley kick)
Florida-Hilliard 31 pass from Wuerffel (Edmiston kick)
Florida St-Dunn 12 run (Bentley kick)
Florida St-FG Bentley 45
Florida-Hilliard 7 pass from Wuerffel (Edmiston kick)
Florida-Wuerffel 16 run (Edmiston kick)
Florida-T Jackson 42 run (Edmiston kick)
Florida-T Jackson 1 run (Edmiston kick)
Florida Florida St
First downs 26 13
Rushed-yards 43-168 21-42
Passing yards 306 271
Sacked-yards lost 5-26 3-25
Return yards 76 98
Passes 18-34-1 17-42-2
Punts 7-48.1 8-46.4
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 15-102 14-115
Time of possession 36:27 23:33
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Florida-T Jackson 12-118, Taylor 18-60, Williams 4-2,
Schottenheime 1-0, Mccaslin 2-minus 2, Wuerffel 6-minus 10.
Florida St-Dunn 9-28, Warrick 1-12, P Williams 2-7, Feaster
2-1, Busby 7-minus 6.
PASSING: Florida-Wuerffel 18-34-1-306. Florida St-Busby
17-41-1-271, Kendra 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING: Florida-Hilliard 7-150, Green 5-79, Anthony 4-50,
Mobley 1-16, Taylor 1-11. Florida St-Messam 5-48, Cooper 4-82,
Eg Green 3-86, Pearsall 1-25, Dunn 1-12, Abdullah 1-10, Warrick
1-7, P Williams 1-1.
Att: 78,344
Season Results
- Aug 31 - Florida 55 SW Louisiana 21
- Sep 7 - Florida 62 Georgia Southern 14
- Sep 21 - Florida 35 Tennessee 29
- Sep 28 - Florida 65 Kentucky 0
- Oct 5 - Florida 42 Arkansas 7
- Oct 12 - Florida 56 LSU 13
- Oct 19 - Florida 51 Auburn 10
- Nov 2 - Florida 47 Georgia 7
- Nov 9 - Florida 28 Vanderbilt 21
- Nov 16 - Florida 52 South Carolina 25
- Nov 30 - Florida 21 Florida St. 24
- Dec 7 - Florida 45 Alabama 30 SEC Championship Game
- Jan 2 - Florida 52 Florida St. 20 Sugar Bowl
- Total - Florida 611 Opponents 221
Final Record: 12-1 9-0 SEC
Team Statistics
TOTAL OFFENSE
PLAYER G PLAY RUSH PASS TOTAL AVG
Wuerffel 12 423 -100 3625 3525 293.8
Taylor 9 104 629 0 629 69.9
Williams 12 106 671 0 671 55.9
Jackson 12 80 388 0 388 32.3
McCaslin 9 41 290 0 290 32.2
Schottenheimer 9 28 3 194 197 21.9
Johnson 8 30 -10 171 161 20.1
Baker 11 16 80 0 80 7.3
Hilliard 11 4 33 0 33 3.0
Brindise 3 4 -10 17 7 2.3
Anthony 12 4 27 0 27 2.3
Green 12 6 21 0 21 1.8
-----------------------------------------------------
Florida 12 854 2040 4007 6047 503.9
Opponents 12 826 1303 2070 3373 281.1
RUSHING
PLAYER G ATT YDS AVG PG TD LP
Taylor 9 104 629 6.0 69.9 5 30
Williams 12 106 671 6.3 55.9 4 46
Jackson 12 79 388 4.9 32.3 8 34
McCaslin 9 41 290 7.1 32.2 4 63
Baker 11 16 80 5.0 7.3 0 18
Hilliard 11 4 33 8.3 3.0 0 13
Anthony 12 4 27 6.8 2.3 0 21
Green 12 6 21 3.5 1.8 1 10
Mobley 12 2 17 8.5 1.4 0 10
Evans 11 2 11 5.5 1.0 0 9
Dubose 12 2 9 4.5 0.8 0 6
Schottenheimer 9 7 3 0.4 0.3 1 3
Richardson 9 1 0 0.0 0.0 0 0
Brindise 3 1 -10 -10.0 -3.3 0 0
Johnson 8 3 -10 -3.3 -1.3 0 1
Wuerffel 12 63 -100 -1.6 -8.3 2 18
--------------------------------------------------------
Florida 12 441 2059 4.7 171.6 25 63
Opponents 12 463 1303 2.8 108.6 13
PASSING
PLAYER G ATT CMP INT PCT YDS PG TD
Wuerffel 12 360 207 13 .575 3625 0.0 39
Schottenheimer 9 21 13 0 .619 194 0.0 1
Brindise 3 3 2 0 .667 17 0.0 0
Johnson 8 27 12 3 .444 171 0.0 2
Jackson 12 1 0 0 .000 0 0.0 0
------------------------------------------------------------
Florida 12 412 234 16 .568 4007 333.9 42
Opponents 12 355 159 16 .448 2070 172.5 11
RECEIVING
PLAYER G REC YDS AVG RPG TD LP
Anthony 12 72 1293 18.0 6.0 18 56
Hilliard 11 47 900 19.2 4.3 10 46
Green 12 33 626 19.0 2.8 9 85
McGriff 8 14 167 11.9 1.8 0 27
Williams 12 14 253 18.1 1.2 1 45
Jackson 12 13 163 12.5 1.1 1 43
Taylor 9 8 120 15.0 0.9 0 38
Allen 11 7 118 16.9 0.6 1 32
Richardson 9 5 75 15.0 0.6 1 34
Ross 11 4 93 23.3 0.4 1 45
Mobley 12 4 51 12.8 0.3 0 19
Karim 9 3 47 15.7 0.3 0 27
McCaslin 9 3 40 13.3 0.3 0 19
Kinney 12 3 40 13.3 0.3 0 15
-----------------------------------------------------
Florida 12 230 3986 17.3 19.2 42 85
Opponents 12 159 2070 13.0 13.3 11
INTERCEPTION
PLAYER G NO YDS AVG TD LP
Brown 7 3 73 24.3 1 26
Weary 12 5 117 23.4 1 65
Lott 11 2 25 12.5 0 25
Bates 11 1 9 9.0 0 9
George 11 1 2 2.0 0 2
Jackson 11 1 0 0.0 0 0
Showers 11 1 0 0.0 0 0
-----------------------------------------------------
Florida 12 14 226 16.1 2 65
Opponents 12 16 132 8.3 0
SCORING ------PAT------
PLAYER TD 2PT XP DXP SAF FG PTS
-----------------------------------------------------------
Florida 76 1-0 71-75 0-0 0 10-18 559
Opponents 26 1-0 20-22 0-0 1 7-11 201
SCORING BY QUARTERS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOT AVG
Florida 137 207 102 113 559 46.6
Opponents 47 38 63 53 201 16.8
PUNTING
PLAYER G NO YDS AVG LP BLK
Stevenson 12 35 1475 42.1 64 0
-----------------------------------------------------
Florida 12 35 1475 42.1 64 0
Opponents 12 85 3477 40.9 1
KICKOFF RETURNS
PLAYER G NO YDS AVG TD LP
-----------------------------------------------------
Florida 12 0 0 0.0 0 0
Opponents 12 55 *** 19.5 0
PUNT RETURNS
PLAYER G NO YDS AVG TD LP
Green 12 25 324 13.0 2 79
-----------------------------------------------------
Florida 12 25 324 13.0 2 79
Opponents 12 15 137 9.1 0
MISCELLANEOUS YARDS (Blocked FGs and Fumbles Advanced)
PLAYER G ATT YDS AVG PG TD
-----------------------------------------------------
Florida 12 0 0 0.0 0.0 0
Opponents 12 5 73 14.6 6.1 2
FLORIDA FOOTBALL
TEAM STATISTICS Florida OPP
Total First Downs 303 192
First Downs-Rushing 118 81
First Downs-Passing 167 87
First Downs-Penalty 18 24
Fumbles/Lost 16-7 27-14
Penalties/Yards 125-1095 90-748
Sacks by/Yds Lost 47-293 34-214
Third Down Conversions 58-144 48-188
Third Down Conversion Pct. .403 .255
Fourth Down Conversions 12-19 8-23
Fourth Down Conversion Pct. .632 .348
Avg. Time of Possession 28:42 31:18
AP Poll
January 3, 1997
TOP 25 TEAMS (RECORD) POINTS PVS
1. FLORIDA (65.5) (12-1) 1,673.5 3
2. Ohio State (1.5) (11-1) 1,585.5 4
3. Florida State (11-1) 1,529 1
4. Arizona State (11-1) 1,486 2
5. Brigham Young (14-1) 1,360 5
6. Nebraska (11-2) 1,316 6
7. Penn State (11-2) 1,293 7
8. Colorado (10-2) 1,228 8
9. Tennessee (10-2) 1,172 9
10. North Carolina (10-2) 1,070 12
11. Alabama (10-3) 977 16
12. Louisiana State (10-2) 849 17
13. Virginia Tech (10-2) 786 10
14. Miami (Fla) (9-3) 690 19
15. Northwestern (9-3) 663 11
16. Washington (9-3) 643 13
17. Kansas State (9-3) 625 14
18. Iowa (9-3) 535 21
19. Notre Dame (8-3) 511 18
20. Michigan (8-4) 466 15
21. Syracuse (9-3) 451 23
22. Wyoming (10-2) 314 22
23. Texas (8-5) 169 20
24. Auburn (8-4) 130 NR
25. Army (10-2) 71 24
Florida
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