1994 Florida Gators football team

The 1994 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1994 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Steve Spurrier's fifth as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Spurrier's 1994 Florida Gators posted an overall record of 10–2–1 and a 6–1 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), placing first among the six SEC Eastern Division teams and winning the SEC championship.[2]

1994 Florida Gators football
SEC champion SEC Eastern Division champion
SEC Championship Game, W 24–23 vs. Alabama
Sugar Bowl, L 17–23 vs. Florida State
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	Eastern Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 7
1994 record	10–2–1 (7–1 SEC)
Head coach	Steve Spurrier (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Bob Pruett (1st season)
Captain	Terry Dean Aubrey Hill Ellis Johnson Larry Kennedy Henry McMillian
Home stadium	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Capacity: 83,000)[1]

1994 Southeastern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Eastern Division
No. 7 Florida x$	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	1
No. 22 Tennessee	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
South Carolina	4	–	4	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Georgia	3	–	4	–	1			6	–	4	–	1
Vanderbilt	2	–	6	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Kentucky	0	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
Western Division
No. 5 Alabama x	8	–	0	–	0			12	–	1	–	0
No. 9 Auburn	6	–	1	–	1			9	–	1	–	1
No. 24 Mississippi State	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
LSU	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Arkansas	2	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Ole Miss	2	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Championship: Florida 24, Alabama 23
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Before the season

The Gators were eyeing a national title[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	New Mexico State*	No. 1	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL		W 70–21	84,721
September 10	Kentucky	No. 2	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	ABC	W 73–7	85,238
September 17	at No. 15 Tennessee	No. 1	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN (rivalry)	ESPN	W 31–0	96,656
October 1	at Ole Miss	No. 1	Vaught–Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS	JPS	W 38–14	38,360
October 8	LSU	No. 1	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	JPS	W 42–18	85,385
October 15	No. 6 Auburn	No. 1	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ABC	L 33–36	85,562
October 29	Georgia	No. 5	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ESPN	W 52–14	85,604
November 5	Southern Miss*	No. 4	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL		W 55–17	85,448
November 12	South Carolina	No. 4	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	JPS	W 48–17	85,028
November 19	at Vanderbilt	No. 3	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN	PPV	W 24–7	33,508
November 26	at No. 7 Florida State*	No. 4	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	ABC	T 31–31	80,210
December 3	vs. No. 3 Alabama	No. 6	Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA (SEC Championship)	ABC	W 24–23	74,751
January 1, 1995	vs. No. 7 Florida State*	No. 5	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl) (rivalry)	ABC	L 17–23	76,244
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

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

Roster

1994 Florida Gators football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 91 Tremayne Allen Jr WR 89 Reidel Anthony Fr QB 12 Terry Dean Sr WR 28 Chris Doering Jr WR 83 Jacquez Green Fr WR 19 Ike Hilliard Fr WR 1 Jack Jackson Jr QB 10 Eric Kresser So WR 81 Travis McGriff Fr G 71 Jeff Mitchell So T 74 Jason Odom Jr RB 33 Fred Taylor Fr QB 17 Danny Wuerffel So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 67 Mark Campbell Jr DE 57 Kevin Carter Sr DT 61 Ellis Johnson Sr SS 4 Lawrence Wright So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Steve Spurrier Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Rankings

Main article: 1994 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	1 (15)	1 (14)	2 (15)	1 (27)	1 (33)	1 (31)	1 (39)	1 (44)	5	5	4	4	3	4	6	5	7
Coaches	1 (17)		2 (23)	2 (18)	2 (20)	2 (22)	1 (34)	1 (43)	6	6	5	5	5	4	6	4	7

Season summary

New Mexico State

New Mexico State at #1 Florida

1 2 3 4 Total Aggies 7 14 0 0 21 • Gators 28 28 0 14 70 Date: September 3 Location: Ben Hill Griffith Stadium Game attendance: 84,721

Scoring summary Q1 FLA Hillard 6 yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 7–0 Q1 NMS L. Davis 73 yard pass from Ledbetter (Culin kick) Tie 7–7 Q1 FLA Jackson 13 yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 14–7 Q1 FLA Jackson 8 yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 21–7 Q1 FLA Hill 15 yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 28–7 Q2 NMS L. Davis 27 yard pass from Ledbetter (Culin kick) FLA 28–14 Q2 FLA Palmer 10 yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 35—14 Q2 FLA Jackson 8 yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 42–14 Q2 NMS L. Davis 7 yard pass from Ledbetter (Culin kick) FLA 42–21 Q2 FLA Jackson 3 yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 49–21 Q2 FLA Hillard 7 yard pass from Kresser (Davis kick) FLA 56–21 Q4 FLA Taylor 9 yard run (Davis kick) FLA 63–21 Q4 FLA Malone 13 yard run (Davis kick) FLA 70–21

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

[4]

• Terry Dean tied an NCAA record by throwing for seven touchdowns in the first half.[5]

Kentucky

Kentucky at #2 Florida

1 2 3 4 Total Wildcats 0 7 0 0 7 • Gators 14 17 21 21 73 Date: September 10 Location: Ben Hill Griffith Stadium Game attendance: 85,238

Scoring summary Q1 FLA Hill 16-yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 7–0 Q1 FLA Williams 15-yard run (Davis kick) FLA 14–0 Q2 FLA Hill 4-yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 21–0 Q2 KEN Curtis 36-yard pass from O'Ferral (Sivinski kick) FLA 21–7 Q2 FLA Davis 31-yard field goal FLA 24–7 Q2 FLA Doering 5-yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 31–7 Q3 FLA Williams 2-yard run (Davis kick) FLA 38–7 Q3 FLA Anthony 65-yard pass from Dean (Davis kick) FLA 45–7 Q3 FLA McCray 33-yard fumble return (Davis kick) FLA 52–7 Q4 FLA Hillard 25-yard pass from Wuerffel (Davis kick) FLA 59–7 Q4 FLA Bowen 15-yard pass from Kresser (Davis kick) FLA 66–7 Q4 FLA Baker 15-yard run (Davis kick) FLA 73–7

See also: 1997 Kentucky Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
27–17	1993	W 24–20

• E. Williams 13 Rush, 115 Yds

[6]

Tennessee

Ole Miss

LSU

Auburn

Georgia

Southern Mississippi

South Carolina

Vanderbilt

Florida State

#4 Florida at #7 Florida State

1 2 3 4 Total Gators 7 17 7 0 31 Seminoles 3 0 0 28 31 Date: November 26 Location: Doak Campbell Stadium Game attendance: 80,210 Television network: ABC

Main article: Choke at Doak

See also: 1994 Florida State Seminoles football team and Florida–Florida State football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
23–12–1	1993	L 21–33

SEC Championship

Main article: 1994 SEC Championship Game

Florida State (Sugar Bowl)

#7 Florida State vs. #5 Florida

1 2 3 4 Total • Seminoles 3 17 3 0 23 Gators 3 7 0 7 17 Date: January 2 Location: Louisiana Superdome Game weather: Indoors (dome) TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger and Dick Vermeil

Main article: 1995 Sugar Bowl (January)

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
23–12–2	1994	T 31–31

Postseason

The Seminoles then won a rematch in the Sugar Bowl, 23–17, referred to as "The Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter."

References

1. University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 1994 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.
3. "National title Gators' goal". Rome News-Tribune. August 17, 1994. p. 4-B.
4. Ocala Star-Banner. 1994 Sep 04. Retrieved 2018-Nov-17.
5. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-Nov-17.
6. Gainesville Sun. 1994 Sep 11. Retrieved 2018-Nov-17.