![]() "We don't plan on doing a lot of punting"Īnybody who has played for or coached with Spurrier has a favorite Head Ball Coach moment. "We knew that a national championship that season was the only thing that would take away that feeling of getting embarrassed by Nebraska," Hilliard said. "We ran the table from start to finish that year, but then ran into one of the best teams in the history of college football, Nebraska, in the Fiesta Bowl."Īnd, in truth, Florida's 62-24 shellacking at the hands of Nebraska to cap the 1995 season played a major role in the Gators coming back and winning the national title in 1996. ![]() "I guess I'm a little envious because I think that '95 team gets overlooked," said Chris Doering, who finished his Florida career as the SEC's all-time touchdown receptions leader with 31 (since broken by Alabama's DeVonta Smith) and is now an SEC Network analyst. That 1995 Florida SEC championship team also will be honored Saturday after its 25-year reunion was postponed a year ago because of COVID-19. "We just got clobbered by Nebraska in '95, but they would have clobbered just about anybody." "I don't want to brag too much on that 1996 team because the '95 team was every bit as good," Spurrier told ESPN. The untold story of Mike Leach's 'lost' OU play script that fooled Texas."At the end of the day, we ruled the SEC for those three or four years." Foundation of dominance in 1995Įven though the 1996 team won the national championship, the 1995 version accomplished something none of the three Gators' national championship teams did: finish unbeaten in the regular season and win the SEC championship game. Ike Hilliard, a star wide receiver on those Florida teams who is now coaching in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers, summed it up best. Only Bear Bryant's Alabama teams from 1976 to 1980 have won more consecutive SEC games (27). Through the eyes of coaches, players, administrators and others close to that 1996 Florida team, we look back at that memorable season, part of an amazing run under Spurrier that saw the Gators win four straight SEC championships, from 1993 to 1996 (nobody has won four in a row since), and 25 straight games against SEC opponents - by an average margin of 28.6 points per game. And even more satisfying, it came over bitter rival Florida State in a 52-20 clobbering (one of Spurrier's favorite words for a beatdown) in the Sugar Bowl a month after the Seminoles had edged the Gators 24-21 in the regular-season finale.įlorida will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its 1996 national championship team this weekend in conjunction with Saturday's game against Tennessee in Gainesville (7 p.m., ESPN and ESPN App). ![]() It was a win that brought the Gators their first national championship. ![]() The son of a Presbyterian minister, Spurrier routinely offered divine thanks after a big Florida win. "Swanny, God has smiled on the Gators," Steve Spurrier told ABC sideline reporter Lynn Swann. It's been nearly 25 years since the Head Ball Coach, surrounded by a sea of triumphant Florida players, coaches and cheerleaders, stood on the turf at a raucous Louisiana Superdome and repeated one of his favorite sayings.
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