The Beginning

Where to start? Let’s go to the beginning briefly if I can. The Florida Gators started their program officially in 1906 where the Gators started 5-3. The program didn’t really take off until the 1950’s where the Gators under Bob Woodruff where he led the Gators to their first official bowl game (Technically their first bowl game in the 1912 season in Cuba but it wasn’t sanctioned by the NCAA) in 1952 in the Gator Bowl where they beat Tulsa 14-13. It was also the first season where the Gators finished in the top 20 in the AP poll. Woodruff led the Gators to a 53-42-6 (yes ties were allowed back then) and another bowl game appearance (again the Gator Bowl) in 1958. Then came Ray Graves who took over for Woodruff as head coach and led the Gators to new heights leading them to five bowl game appearance in his decade as coach including the Sugar Bowl in 1965 and the Orange Bowl in 1966 and Steve Spurrier became the first Heisman winner for the Gators in 1966. That 1966 season was the first season the Gators were contenders for the National Championship (unless you count 1928 which that team lost their last game to Tennessee) but sadly Georgia fans took their Gatorade (allegedly I can’t really proof it though Gatorade was stolen from the Gators in Jacksonville. Also how the fuck do you allowed your stuff to be stolen in your home state? Seriously?) and beat the Gators 27-10 in their rivalry game. In fairness, the Hurricanes of Miami also beat the Gators in home two weeks later and the Gators can’t blame someone stealing their Gatorade for that game (no one did). Both those teams had good seasons as well and even if the Gators did go 11-0, the writers who decided whose the National Champions gave the title to Notre Dame and Michigan State even though Alabama was 11-0 because Bama had an all-white team and probably because the shit that happened in Alabama during the civil rights era and there’s was a lot of shit that happened in Alabama and in Florida as well (we're infamous here for a lot of crazy shit). The Gators would have been punished as well even if they went 11-0 because the Gators also had an all-white team in 1966. Also, the team behind the 1966 Alabama team was the 10-1 Georgia Bulldogs who lost to the 8-2-1 Hurricane team by one point (yeah, those suck). After a 9-1-1 record in 1969 and a win in the Gator Bowl, Ray Graves resigned as head coach to be the Athletic Director full-time hiring former Gator Quarterback Doug Dickey from University of Tennessee to take his place. I wonder what would have happened if Graves coached a few more seasons especially with John Reaves, Carlos Alvarez, and the rest of the Super Sophs. Maybe another Heisman for the Gators either for Reaves or Alvarez and possibly a SEC/national championship as well. Why Tennessee allowed that I have no idea and I know it won’t happen again even if the guy was a former player of a conference rival. Plus Again there was highs and lows during Dickey’s time. Highs included recruiting Willie Jackson Sr. and Leonard George as the first black players in Gator Football history then three years later having Don Gaffney as their first black starting quarterback in program history. Record wise it was ok 58-43-2 including an appearance in the Sugar Bowl against the University of Nebraska in the 1974 and their coach Tom Osbourne which the Gators lost 13-10, sadly that would not be the only time that happened. Also there’s a 9-3 season in 1975 where the Gators finished the season losing to the University of Maryland 13-0 and lost to the same Georgia Bulldogs 10-7. However, Dickey couldn’t match the success of Graves and was fired after a 4-7 season in 1978 which also ended the return of Steve Spurrier as an assistant coach that year but he would be back. Things got worse under new coach Charley Pell in 1979. How bad? The Gators went 0-10-1. Yeah that bad. The sad part not the only time the Gators went winless (1916 and 1946 were the other winless seasons). However, in 1980, they turned it around by going 8-4 and won the Tangerine Bowl (now known as the Citrus Bowl) and would have beaten the eventual national champions Georgia Bulldogs if not for Buck Belue and Lindsay Scott. How did you do allowed a 92-yard pass play like that? Pell led them to a 6^th place finish in 1983 which was the highest-ranked the Gators finished going 9-2-1 and a Gator Bowl victory against Hayden Fry’s  Iowa Hawkeyes. However, things would be bad for the Gators in 1984. They started the season by losing to the defending Champions Miami Hurricanes in Tampa which my parents attended while my mom was pregnant with me and then I was born three days after. 1-1-1 start isn’t terrible but the NCAA was investigating the Gators during the 1982 and 1983 seasons. They committed 59 NCAA infractions which led to the Gators on two years of probation which including being barred from bowl games in 1984-1986, barred from live TV in 1985-1986, loss of 20 scholarships, and it led to the firing of Charley Pell. The team under new head coach Galen Hall and actually won their next eight games to finished 9-1-1 and finished 3^rd in the AP poll and actually won their first SEC title ever, and 22 publications declared Florida Gators National Champions that year especially since BYU played no one good and the Washington Huskies only beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl and lost their only game a team that had a winning record against USC.I still think that Gators team should have won the national championship in 1984 despite the NCAA punishment because they played four ranked teams (beating three of them). Also tying a LSU team that finished 15th and beat Kentucky who finished 19^th.
 However, six mouths winning the title the SEC retroactive removed the SEC title away from the Gators. Honestly, that’s messed up. For starters, I believe the NCAA should never punish a program during the season. The Gators should have played in the Sugar Bowl against Nebraska and I believe that the SEC should have allowed the SEC title especially since 1981 SMU and 1978 Clemson (also coached by Pell) were allowed to keep Conference titles. Also, the 1982 Clemson Tigers were also denied their bowl game appearance days after the regular season ended once again due to the sins of Pell and Danny Ford however they were also allowed to keep their ACC title again. Seriously does the NCAA play favorites? Would have done that to Alabama, Notre Dame, Michigan, Oklahoma, among others? After another 9-1-1 finish in 1985 where they finished number one in the SEC but once again couldn’t claim the conference title to due NCAA punishment however they should have been ahead of Tennessee in the rankings (both in the conference and Nationally) because they beat Tennessee, Come on NCAA. Then finished fifth in the nation but it should have been fourth, I know like that would have been much of a difference. The Gators would be so-so for the next four years however they landed a guy who would be one of the greatest running backs in NFL History in Emmitt Smith. He made in the 1987-1989 seasons enjoyable to watch.  Like Pell, Galen Hall was fired due to committing NCAA infractions. Maybe Florida should’ve hired guys didn’t break NCAA rules.