November 30, 1996, Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Fla.
Attendance: 80,932
In front of a Doak Campbell Stadium record crowd of 80,932 and an ABC national television audience, top-ranked Florida is defeated by No. 2 Florida State, 24-21, ending the Gators' hopes for an undefeated season and a second consecutive appearance in the National Championship Game. FSU's Warrick Dunn rushed for 185 yards to key the Seminole victory.
Florida's bid to tie the largest road comeback (17-0) in school history fell short as Florida State held on for the victory, with the help of a fourth quarter score by Pooh Bear Williams that put the Seminoles up 24-14. Danny Wuerffel found Reidel Anthony for a two-yard score with 1:19 left in the game, but Florida's ensuing effort to recover the onside kick failed. The touchdown reception for Anthony marked the 10th straight game in which he had caught at least one touchdown pass, tying him with Desmond Howard of Michigan for the NCAA Division I-A record.
The Gators fell behind early as the Seminoles capitalized on several UF mistakes to take a 17-0 first quarter lead. Scott Bentley hit a 26-yard field goal following a Wuerffel interception and a blocked punt led to a three-yard touchdown run by Williams.
Florida rallied though, to cut the lead to 17-14 at the half on two touchdown passes from Wuerffel to Jacquez Green. The first came with 12:22 remaining in the second quarter on a one-yard pass, which was set up by a 50-yard completion to Reidel Anthony. The second touchdown, a nine-yard pass play, capped a 71-yard, six play drive.
The Gator offense totaled 443 yards on the day against a Florida State team that had surrendered only 208.1 yards per game in its previous 10 games. Wuerffel, who was harassed all game by a highly ranked FSU defensive unit, completed 23-of-48 passes for 362 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions behind his sixth different starting offensive line this season, including the fourth in the past four games.
Other Game Notes:
-The loss is Florida's first in the regular season since midseason of 1994, when it fell to Auburn, 36-33.
-Anthony had a career-high 193 yards receiving, the third-best single-game effort in school history. He now owns two of the top five UF single-game performances. Anthony also became the fourth player in school history to record 1,000 or more receiving yards in a season.
-Bart Edmiston became the school's all-time leading scorer with 226 points as he connected on both of his PAT attempts.
-With his three touchdown passes, Wuerffel became just the second quarterback in major college history to throw for 33 or more touchdowns in back-to-back seasons. He is also the first in SEC history to throw for 30-plus in back-to-back seasons.
-Wuerffel also became the third quarterback in SEC history to throw for over 3,000 yards in consecutive seasons. A 12-yard pass to Anthony in the second quarter put him over the 3,000-yard plateau for the season.
