1989 Florida Gators football team

The 1989 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Galen Hall's sixth and final season as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team; Hall was replaced as the Gators head coach after five games by his defensive coordinator, Gary Darnell. Hall and Darnell's 1989 Florida Gators posted an overall record of 7–5 and a Southeastern Conference (SEC) record of 4–3, tying for fourth place in the ten-team SEC.[2]

1989 Florida Gators football
Freedom Bowl, L 7–34 v. Washington
Conference	Southeastern Conference
1989 record	7–5 (4–3 SEC)
Head coach	Galen Hall (6th season, resigned after 5 games) Gary Darnell (interim)
Offensive coordinator	Whitey Jordan
Defensive coordinator	Gary Darnell (2nd season)
Home stadium	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Capacity: 72,000)[1]

1989 Southeastern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 Tennessee +	6	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 9 Alabama +	6	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 6 Auburn +	6	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
Florida	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Ole Miss	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Georgia	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Kentucky	2	–	5	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
LSU	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Mississippi State	1	–	6	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Vanderbilt	0	–	7	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 9	Ole Miss		Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	TBS	L 19–24	70,014
September 16	Louisiana Tech*		Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL		W 34–7	65,109
September 23	at Memphis State*		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN		W 38–13	25,163
September 30	vs. Mississippi State		Tampa Stadium Tampa, FL		W 21–0	68,189
October 7	at LSU		Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)		W 16–13	74,527
October 14	Vanderbilt	No. 25	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL		W 34–11	69,121
October 21	New Mexico*	No. 20	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL		W 27–21	72,578
November 4	at No. 12 Auburn	No. 19	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	ESPN	L 7–10	85,214
November 11	vs. Georgia	No. 20	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	TBS	L 10–17	81,577
November 18	Kentucky		Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL		W 38–28	71,432
December 2	No. 6 Florida State*		Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ESPN	L 17–24	75,124
December 30	vs. Washington*		Anaheim Stadium Anaheim, CA (Freedom Bowl)	NBC	L 7–34	33,858
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Primary source: 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide.[2]

Personnel

1989 Florida Gators football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR Terence Barber OL Chris Bromley OL Cal Dixon QB Donald Douglas OL John Durden OL Brad Hatcher WR Tony Jones TE Greg Keller TE Kirk Kirkpatrick WR Tony Lomack RB Willie McClendon RB Dexter McNabb WR Ernie Mills QB Kyle Morris RB Darryl Perry RB Errict Rhett WR Stacey Simmons RB Cedric Smith RB Emmitt Smith QB Lex Smith OL Richard Starowesky WR Alonzo Sullivan TE Harvey Thomas	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB Ephesians Bartley DL Mike Brandon DL Brad Culpepper DB Richard Fain LB Monty Grow DL Tony McCoy LB Pat Moorer DL Mark Murray DB Godfrey Myles DL Glenn Neely LB Jerry Odom LB Tim Paulk LB Huey Richardson DB Jimmy Spencer DB Kerry Watkins DB Will White	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K John David Francis	Head coach Galen Hall Coordinators/assistant coaches Gary Darnell (DC) Whitey Jordan (OC) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Season summary

Ole Miss

See also: 1989 Ole Miss Rebels football team

Ole Miss Rebels (1–0) at Florida Gators (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Ole Miss	7	0	14	3	24
Florida	3	3	0	13	19

at Florida Field, Gainesville, Florida

• Date: September 9, 1989
• Game attendance: 70,014
• Gainesville Sun, 1989 Sep 10.

Game information

First quarter FLA – John David Francis 36-yard field goal. Florida 3–0. Drive: MISS – Randy Baldwin 9-yard pass from John Darnell (Greg Hogue kick). Ole Miss 7–3. Drive: Second quarter FLA – John David Francis 34-yard field goal. Ole Miss 7–6. Drive: Third quarter MISS – Randy Baldwin 1-yard run (Greg Hogue kick). Ole Miss 14–6. Drive: MISS – Chauncey Godwin 58-yard interception return (Greg Hogue kick). Ole Miss 21–6. Fourth quarter FLA – Emmitt Smith 5-yard run (pass failed). Ole Miss 21–12. Drive: MISS – Brian Lee 40-yard field goal. Ole Miss 24–12. Drive: FLA – Emmitt Smith 2-yard run (John David Francis kick). Ole Miss 24–19. Drive: Top passers MISS – John Darnell – 6/14, 48 yards, TD, INT FLA – Kyle Morris – 18/35, 216 yards, 2 INT Top rushers MISS – Randy Baldwin – 13 rushes, 35 yards, TD FLA – Emmitt Smith – 29 rushes, 117 yards, 2 TD Top receivers MISS – Reid Hines – 2 receptions, 26 yards FLA – Kirk Kirkpatrick – 6 receptions, 83 yards

at Auburn

See also: 1989 Auburn Tigers football team and Auburn–Florida football rivalry

#19 Florida Gators at #12 Auburn Tigers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida	7	0	0	0	7
Auburn	0	0	3	7	10

at Jordan–Hare Stadium, Auburn, Alabama

• Date: November 4, 1989
• Game attendance: 85,214
• TV: ESPN
• Gainesville Sun, 1989 Nov 05.

Game information

First quarter FLA – Emmitt Smith 5-yard run (John David Francis kick), 4:09. Florida 7–0. Drive: Third quarter AUB – Win Lyle 47-yard field goal, 2:18. Florida 7–3. Drive: AUB – Shayne Wasden 25-yard pass from Reggie Slack (Win Lyle kick), 0:26. Auburn 10–7. Drive: Top passers FLA – Donald Douglas – 1/5, 6 yards AUB – Reggie Slack – 12/19, 143 yards, TD Top rushers FLA – Emmitt Smith – 27 rushes, 86 yards, TD AUB – James Joseph – 26 rushes, 55 yards Top receivers FLA – Kirk Kirkpatrick – 1 reception, 6 yards AUB – James Joseph – 3 receptions, 47 yards

References

1. University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 1989 Football Guide" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
2. 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 107 (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2015.