Florida Gators’ Orange Bowl history: Four games, a lot of Spurrier and nothing but wins
Josh Hammond remembers sitting in the stands at what is now Hard Rock Stadium as the Florida Gators closed out their most recent national championship.
It was Jan. 8, 2009. A Thursday. Hammond was 10 years old, still a few years away from starring at Hallandale High on his way to eventually playing for the Gators. His older brother Frankie was a freshman receiver for UF.
Hammond soaked in the atmosphere of 78,468 fans cheering as Florida claimed its third national football title with a 24-14 win over the Oklahoma Sooners.
“Didn’t go to school that Friday,” Hammond said. “I definitely remember it. A fun experience to be around.”
That game was the last time the Gators have played a postseason contest in South Florida.
That changes Monday.
Hammond and the ninth-ranked Gators (10-2) will face off against the No. 24 Virginia Cavaliers (9-4) in the 86th annual Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN.
“We haven’t played in a lot of Orange Bowls,” said second-year Florida coach Dan Mullen, who was the Gators’ offensive coordinator for that national championship. “But for all our fan base I think it’s really exciting.”
The Gators have played in just four games hosted by the Orange Bowl.
But if history is to repeat itself, Florida should have a good showing when it takes the field at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night.
Why? The Gators are a perfect 4-0 in those Orange Bowl-hosted games.
A bettor would make the easy case for Florida to make it 5-0 on Monday. UF is a two-touchdown favorite against Virginia.
Spurrier’s swan song No. 1
The Gators’ first appearance in the Orange Bowl followed Steve Spurrier’s Heisman Trophy-winning 1966 season.
And even though he struggled at the Orange Bowl, Florida sent his playing career out on a high note with a 27-12 win over Georgia Tech.
Spurrier completed just 14 of 30 passes with an interception and the Yellow Jackets took an early 7-0 lead, but the Gators scored 27 consecutive points to run away with the win. Running back Larry Smith ran for 187 yards in the win, a single-game Orange Bowl record that stood for 11 years and now ranks third all-time.
Three decades later...
The Gators had to wait 32 years and went through five head coaches before they returned to the Orange Bowl after the 1998 season.
A familiar face was at the helm: Steve Spurrier.
The Gators and their Fun ‘n’ Gun offense make quick work of Syracuse, winning 31-10 in the final postseason game played at the original Orange Bowl Stadium.
Travis Taylor earned Most Outstanding Player honors after catching seven passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
“Our defense played very well,’‘ Spurrier, who was in his ninth season as UF’s head coach during the ‘98 season and is now an ambassador for UF’s athletic program, recently said in a FloridaGators.com article. “Doug Johnson had a good game. Travis Taylor caught a fade route and went about 60 yards with it. We soundly beat Syracuse.”
Spurrier’s swan song No. 2
Spurrier closed out his playing career at Florida with an Orange Bowl win.
He closed out his time coaching the Gators by winning one, too.
The final score in this one on Jan. 2, 2002: Florida 56, Maryland 23.
And in typical Spurrier fashion, the offense dominated.
Florida put up 659 yards of offense, which still stands as the single-game Orange Bowl record. Their 56 points are still the most in program history for a bowl game and ranks third in Orange Bowl history.
“This was probably our best game of the year,” Spurrier said after the win.
Two days later, Spurrier resigned from his post as head coach after 12 seasons.
“It’s certainly a sad day for our program,” former Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said at the time. “It’s a passing of an era. It’s been a lot of fun for a lot of people. He brought us a program that we could only dream about.”
National championship
A little more than seven years to the day from Spurrier’s resignation, the Gators were back in South Florida for the postseason.
This time, Jan. 8, 2009, had national championship implications.
Florida, under coach Urban Meyer, used a strong second half to outlast Oklahoma 24-14 at what was then called Dolphin Stadium.
Tim Tebow threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another 109.
It still remains the last time the Gators have hoisted a national championship trophy.
Back to relevance
Florida might not have the opportunity to win the national championship this season, but playing in the Orange Bowl is another sign the program is heading in the right direction under Mullen.
He took over a program that won just four game in the 2017 season.
Since then? Two 10-win seasons. Two New Years Six Bowls.
And if a win comes on Monday, two top-10 rankings at the end of the season.
Hammond will be on the field for this one after watching that national championship a little more than a decade ago from the stands.
It’ll be the final game of his Florida career.
But he has a strong feeling what the Gators have done over the last two seasons is just the start.
“You can see the national prominence that the Florida Gators have at the moment,” Hammond said. “Back to back New Year’s Six bowls, 10-win season, getting top recruits in the recruiting game. It’s definitely headed in the right direction. I think it’ll be within the playoffs in the next couple years, and as long as they continue to work hard, I think they’ll be fine.”
