November 9, 1996, Commodore Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.
Attendance: 40,249
Florida holds off a late Vanderbilt second-half rally to clinch its fifth straight SEC Eastern Division title with a 28-21 victory over the Commodores. UF is the only school in the conference to advance to all five SEC Championship Game since the inception of the contest in 1992. UF is now 9-0 for just the second time in school history (joining the 1995 team) and 7-0 in league action.
The Gators trail for the first time all year when Vanderbilt blocks a Gator punt after UF's initial drive of the game and converts it into a field goal. The Gators answer with three touchdowns in the first half, all on Danny Wuerffel touchdown passes to build a comfortable 21-3 halftime edge. The Gators look to be on their way to another dominating performance after holding Vanderbilt to just five yards in total offense in the first quarter and 64 yards in total offense in the first half.
Another Vanderbilt field goal is followed by Wuerffel's fourth TD pass of the day and it appears the Gators have the game in hand with a 28-6 margin in the middle of the third quarter. The Commodores, however, close the gap on a 31-yard fumble return by Jamie Duncan with just over two minutes left in the third quarter and add another score on a 34-yard run by Jason Dunnavent to pull Vanderbilt within seven.
Vanderbilt has the ball two more times to try to even the score in the final 11 minutes, but the Gator defense forces a missed field goal and stops the Commodores on downs in UF territory. Florida converts a crucial fourth and one late in the game to seal the win.
The win is Florida's 20th consecutive in SEC action, tying Alabama and Tennessee for the third longest in conference history. (Alabama holds the league mark at 27 and Georgia also put together a streak of 23). The victory is also number 70 for Steve Spurrier at Florida , tying him with his former coach Ray Graves as the all-time winningest coach in school history.
Wuerffel throws for four or more TDS for the 11th time in his career. His four TD tosses makes him just the second player in NCAA history to throw for over 100 or more in his career (he has 103 in his career).
Other Game Notes:
-The Gators 7-0 SEC record marks the first time in SEC history that a school has won seven or more conference games in a season for four consecutive years (1993-96).
-The 1996 senior class wins its 42nd game, tying the '95 class for the school record for the most wins in their career. The '96 senior class now has a 42-5-1 overall record since 1993 and has now posted a 32-2 record in SEC play, the most league wins for a senior class in school history.
-UF wins its 22nd straight game against an SEC Eastern Division foe and improves to 23-1 vs. eastern teams since divisional play began in 1992.
-UF wins its 22nd straight regular season games and is 26-0-1 in its last 27 regular season games dating back to midseason of 1994 (36-33 loss to Auburn).
-Wuerffel's four TD passes come against a Vanderbilt defense that had yielded just five total TD passes in eight previous games in 1996.
-Reidel Anthony records his 100th career reception, becoming the seventh player to catch 100 or more passes since Steve Spurrier arrived in 1990. Prior to Spurrier's arrival, just six players had 100 or more catches in their career in the previous 83 years (1906-89) of football at Florida.
