1991 Florida Gators football team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 7

1991 Southeastern Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 Florida $	7	–	0	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 5 Alabama	6	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 14 Tennessee	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 17 Georgia	4	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Mississippi State	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
LSU	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Vanderbilt	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Auburn	2	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Ole Miss	1	–	6	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Kentucky	0	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1991 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1991 college football season. The season was Steve Spurrier's second as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The Gators were led by quarterback Shane Matthews and first-team All-American defensive tackle Brad Culpepper.

Spurrier's 1991 Florida Gators compiled the first-ever ten-win season in program history, an overall record of 10–2 and a perfect SEC record of 7–0.

Schedule and results

9–7–1991San Jose State*No. 6

• Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
• Gainesville, Florida

W 59–2183,067 9–14–1991No. 17 AlabamaNo. 6

• Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
• Gainesville, Florida

ESPNW 35–085,069 9–21–1991No. 17 Syracuse*No. 5

• Carrier Dome
• Syracuse, New York

ABCL 21–3849,823 9–28–1991No. 21 Mississippi StateNo. 14

• Citrus Bowl
• Orlando, Florida

TBSW 29–769,328 10–5–1991Louisiana StateNo. 13

• Tiger Stadium
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana

PPVW 16–072,019 10–12–1991No. 4 TennesseeNo. 10

• Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
• Gainesville, Florida

ESPNW 35–1885,165 10–19–1991Northern Illinois*No. 6

• Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
• Gainesville, Florida (HC)

W 41–1083,708 11–2–1991AuburnNo. 6

• Jordan-Hare Stadium
• Auburn, AL

ABCW 31–1083,714 11–9–1991No. 23 GeorgiaNo. 6

• Gator Bowl
• Jacksonville, Florida

ESPNW 45–1381,679 11–16–1991KentuckyNo. 5

• Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
• Gainesville, Florida

W 35–2684,109 11–30–1991No. 3 Florida State*No. 5

• Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
• Gainesville, Florida

ABCW 14–985,461 1–1–1992No. 18 Notre Dame*No. 3

• Superdome
• New Orleans, Louisiana (Sugar Bowl)

ABCL 28–3976,477

Template:CFB Schedule End Primary source: 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide.

Game notes

San Jose State

The season opened with a 59–21 victory over the San Jose State Spartans.

Alabama

The Gators defeated Alabama, 35–0. Spurrier treasured the wins against the Crimson Tide: "Those victories early – '90, '91 – really got us started there at Florida ..."

Syracuse

The 1991 season also included a disappointing 38–21 road loss to the seventeenth-ranked Syracuse Orangemen in the Carrier Dome. As of 2015, that game is still the most recent non-conference road game for the Gators played outside the state of Florida.

Mississippi State

The Gators had a dominating confidence win over the twenty-first-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs, 29–7.

LSU

Florida blanked the LSU Tigers 16–0.

Tennessee

#4 Tennessee at #10 Florida

1 2 3 4 Total Tennessee 2 10 3 3 18 • Florida 7 14 7 7 35 Date: Saturday, October 12 Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida Game attendance: 85,165 Television network: ESPN

Scoring summary 1 TENN C. Smith tackles Matthews for a safety TENN 2-0 1 FLA T. Jackson 2 yard pass from Matthews (Czyzewski kick) FLA 7-2 2 FLA Everett 29 yard pass from Matthews (Czyzewski kick) FLA 14-2 2 TENN Fleming 4 yard pass from Kelly (Becksvoort kick) FLA 14-9 2 FLA Rhett 4 yard run (Czyzewski kick) FLA 21-9 2 TENN Becksvoort 43 yard field goal Florida 21-12 3 FLA Rhett 3 yard run (Czyzewski kick) FLA 28-12 3 TENN Becksvoort 23 yard field goal Florida 28-15 4 TENN Becksvoort 23 yard field goal Florida 28-18 4 FLA Kennedy 44 yard interception return (Czyzewski kick) Florida 35-18

The Gators defeated the fourth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers 35–18.

Northern Illinois

Florida beat Northern Illinois 41–10 .

Auburn

The Auburn Tigers fell to Florida 31–10.

Georgia

#6 Florida vs. #23 Georgia

1 2 3 4 Total • Florida 7 21 3 14 45 Georgia 3 3 7 0 13 Date: Saturday, November 9 Location: Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, Florida Game attendance: 81,769

Scoring summary 1 FLA W. Jackson 4 yard pass from Matthews (Czyzewski kick) FLA 7-0 1 UGA Parkman 41 yard field goal FLA 7-3 2 FLA Rhett 13 yard run (Czyzewski kick) FLA 14-3 2 FLA Houston 36 yard pass from Matthews (Czyzewski kick) FLA 21-3 2 FLA Sullivan 61 yard pass from Matthews (Czyzewski kick) FLA 28-3 2 UGA Parkman 25 yard field goal FLA 28-6 3 FLA Czyzewski 25 yard field goal FLA 31-6 3 UGA Hastings 5 yard pass from Zeier (Peterson kick) FLA 31-13 4 FLA W. Jackson 9 yard pass from Matthews (Czyzewski kick) FLA 38-13 4 FLA W. Jackson 24 yard pass from Fox (Czyzewski kick) FLA 45-13

The Gators defeated rival and twenty-third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs 45–13.

Kentucky

Florida clinched its first SEC title with a hardfought win over the Kentucky Wildcats, 35–26. "The Gators appeared on their way to a comfortable victory with a 28-6 lead in the third quarter. That’s when the UF band started playing the song “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard and students began throwing little sugar packets into the air. Then UK quarterback Pookie Jones went wild, almost spoiling the party. "

Florida State

#3 Florida State at #5 Florida

1 2 3 4 Total Florida St 0 3 0 6 9 • Florida 0 7 7 0 14 Date: Saturday, November 30 Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida Game attendance: 85,461 Television network: ABC

Scoring summary 2 Florida St Thomas 19 yard field goal Florida St 3-0 2 Florida Rhett 3 yard run (Czyzewski kick) Florida 7-3 3 Florida Houston 72 yard pass from Matthews (Czyzewski kick) Florida 14-3 4 Florida St Lee 25 yard pass from Weldon (pass failed) Florida 14-9

Among the Gators' 1991 victories, the 14–9 defensive upset of the Florida State Seminoles was a particularly memorable victory played in front of an overflow home crowd at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The Gators scored touchdowns on a first-quarter run by tailback Errict Rhett, and a 72-yard bomb from Shane Matthews to wide receiver Harrison Houston in the third quarter, and held on to win. Gators defensive ends Darren Mickell and Harvey Thomas kept Seminoles quarterback Casey Weldon off balance and on the run in the second half, and, in the fourth quarter, Gators safeties Will White and Del Speer combined to break up a fourth-down pass to the end zone by Weldon, thus saving the victory for Florida.

Postseason

The Gators closed out their season with their first New Year's Day bowl appearance since 1974, a 28–39 defeat by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Sugar Bowl, and were ranked seventh in the final Associated Press Poll. Florida won the team's first official SEC championship, 59 seasons after joining the conference as a charter member. Quarterback Shane Matthews repeated as SEC Player of the Year in 1991.