November 16, 1996, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, Gainesville, Fla.
Attendance: 85,701
Nineteen Florida seniors make their final appearance at "The Swamp" as the top-ranked Gators defeat South Carolina 52-25 to cap off another perfect season at home. The 1996 squad is just the second team in school history to go 10-0 and 8-0 in SEC play (the 1995 squad was also 10-0 and 8-0 in SEC action). Florida becomes the first school in SEC history to win at least eight league games for four straight years.
The victory makes head coach Steve Spurrier the winningest coach in school history as the seventh-year mentor wins his 71st game against just 13 losses and one tie. Spurrier passes his former coach Ray Graves, who posted a 70-31-4 record from 1960-69.
After not trailing in the first eight games of the year, Florida falls behind early for the second consecutive week after South Carolina's Anthony Wright scores on a seven-yard run seven-plus minutes into the game. Florida answers with three straight scores, the last coming on a 52-yard pass from Danny Wuerffel to Reidel Anthony. The pass puts Wuerffel over the 10,000-yard passing mark in his career to become only the 11th player in NCAA Division I-A and the second in SEC history to go over the 10,000-yard plateau.
Another Wright touchdown run, this one an eight-yarder makes the score 21-12 and the Gamecocks hold the Gators to three and out on the next possession. After a roughing the kicker call moves the ball to the Florida 39-yard line, up-back Terry Jackson takes the fake punt and goes 34-yards to the South Carolina 27. Jackson later gets the ball in the endzone on a four-yard run.
Jackson and the special teams unit strikes again to open the third quarter. The UF defense holds South Carolina to three and out on the initial drive of the second half and Jackson blocks the Gamecock punt, while Mike Peterson picks it up and runs nine yards for the score.
Junior Fred Taylor makes the most of his first start of the year, finishing with a career high 21 carries and 137 yards rushing with three TDs. Taylor falls just short of his career high of 140 yards rushing vs. Vanderbilt in 1994.
Wuerffel finishes the day with 290 yards on just 11 completions to average 26.4 yards per completion. Wuerffel also throws for two touchdowns and now has 30 TD tosses on the year, already the second best single-season total in UF and SEC history (Wuerffel threw for a UF and SEC record 35 last year).
Other Game Notes:
-Prior to coach Spurrier's arrival in 1990, no Gator team had ever won more than nine games in a season....Spurrier has now won 10 or more games in year five times (1993 - 11; 1994 - 10; 1995 - 12; 1996 - 10)....Prior to his arrival, Gator teams had achieved the nine win level in a season just seven times from 1906-1989....Spurrier has led the Gators to nine or more wins in all seven of his seasons.
-The 1996 senior class wins its school-record 43rd game, breaking the school record of 42 set by the 1995 class.
-UF wins its 23rd straight regular season game and is 27-0-1 in its last 28 regular season games dating back to midseason of 1994 (36-33 loss to Auburn).
-UF wins its 23rd straight game against an SEC Eastern Division foe and improves to 24-1 vs. Eastern teams since divisional play began in 1992.
-Florida rushes for four touchdowns, giving it 25 rushing TDs on the year to tie the school record of 25 set in 1976.
-Bart Edmiston scores 10 points, giving him 224 career points, just one point shy of tying the UF career record of 225 set by Judd Davis from 1992-94.
-The Gators start their fifth different combination on the offensive line.
Scoring Summary & Statistics
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
South Carolina 6 9 7 3 25
Florida 14 14 7 Game 2
Florida 62, Georgia Southern 14
September 7, 1996, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, Gainesville, Fla.
Attendance: 84,963
A week after the Florida defense steals the spotlight, the offense responds with an outstanding effort of its own as the fourth-ranked Gators defeat Georgia Southern 62-14 in front of 84,963 faithful.
The Gators score on their first four possessions and four of the five times they touch the ball in the first half to build a 35-7 halftime lead. It is more of the same in the second half, as Florida scores the first three times it has the ball. Overall, the offense finds itself in the endzone on seven of 11 possessions en route to 658 yards in total offense, the second most total yards in the Spurrier era and the third best effort in school history. Six of the touchdowns come on the ground, the most by a UF team since 1990. UF runs for 264 yards on the day and passes for 394 yards, while playing turnover-free football.
Danny Wuerffel leads the offensive charge - completing his first 11 passes on the day and finishes 15-of-16 for 267 yards with two touchdowns. Wuerffel's 11 straight completions ties a UF single-game record (Terry Dean completed 11 straight vs. Arkansas State in 1993). Wuerffel also sets a UF single-game mark with his 93.8 completion percentage. On the day, UF quarterbacks complete 23-of-28 passes and throw to 13 different receivers. Freshman Eugene McCaslin leads all ground gainers with 116 yards on just eight carries. Sixty-three of his yards come on a fourth-quarter touchdown burst - his second TD of the day.
The UF defense scores its fifth touchdown of the young season when Cameron Davis grabs a loose-fumble and rambles 40-yards for a second-quarter touchdown. The five defensive scores establishes a school single-season record.
Georgia Southern enjoys success operating its flexbone offense. The Golden Eagles control more than 37 minutes of the game clock and rush 65 times for 311 yards and two touchdowns. The 311 yards is the most by a Gator opponent in the Spurrier era.
Other Game Notes
- Danny Wuerffel's two TD passes allows him to pass John Elway and move into sixth place on the NCAA career passing TD chart with 78.
- Wuerffel also moved into second place on the UF all-time yards passing chart with 7,741 - passing John Reaves and Kerwin Bell.
- Wuerffel posts a passing efficiency of 275.18, the second best single-game performance of his career and the third best in UF history. Wuerffel now owns five of the top six single-game pass efficiency ratings in school history.
- Bart Edmiston sets a UF school record with his 85th consecutive PAT made. The old record was 82 held by Judd Davis.
- UF's 264 yards rushing is the second best single-game effort in the Spurrier era.
Scoring Summary & Statistics
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
GSU 7 0 7 0 14
Florida 14 21 20 7 62
1st Quarter
UF: 12:09 - Anthony 32-yard pass from Wuerffel (Edmiston PAT) - 3 plays, 54 yards, :51
GSU: 4:45 - Russell 5-yard run ( Stalnaker PAT) - 14 plays, 80 yards, 7:24
UF: 2:26 - T. Jackson 8-yard run (Edmiston PAT) - 8 plays, 74 yards, 2:19
2nd Quarter
UF: 10:38 - T. Jackson 12-yard run (Edmiston PAT) - 6 plays, 77 yards, 2:26
UF: 9:57 - C. Davis 40-yard fumble recovery (Edmiston PAT)
UF: 4:52 - E. Williams 1-yard run (Edmiston PAT) - 7 plays, 90 yards, 2:43
3rd Quarter
UF: 13:26 - Green 28-yard pass from Wuerffel (Edmiston PAT) - 4 plays, 53 yards, 1:34
Florida: Wuerffel 15-16-267-2-0; Schottenheimer 5-5-90-0-0; Johnson 3-7-37-0-0.
GSU: Robinson 7-7-60-0-0; Hill 0-3-0-0.
Receiving (Receptions-Yards-Touchdowns)
Florida: Hilliard 4-72-0; McGriff 3-28-0; Green 3-61-1; Williams 3-58-0; Anthony 2-62-1; Richardson 1-34-0; Allen 1-27-0; McCaslin 1-16-0; Kinney 1-15-0; Ross 1-11-0; Dean 1-5-0; Nabavi 1-5-0; T. Jackson 1-0-0.
