Pac-12 Tuesday: The Last Time Florida Went West
When Utah and Florida kick off Thursday in Rice-Eccels Stadium, it will mark the first time in 40 years almost to the day that the Gators last played a regular-season game in the West.
Florida’s aversion to venturing beyond the Southeastern Conference footprint became something of a recurring gag by the time the SEC expanded in 2012. In something of a Netflix crossover event, one of the first UF teams post-Urban Meyer era ventured further west than Louisiana for the first time in more than 20 years to beat Texas A&M, 20-17, in the debut of Johnny Manziel1.
College Station became Florida’s furthest-west outpost until December’s Las Vegas Bowl, the first time any Gators team visited the Pacific Time Zone since 1989 in the Freedom Bowl.
UF lost the ‘89 Freedom to Washington, 34-7, in the Gators’ last game before former Florida Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Steve Spurrier returned as head coach.
Although none of the 2022 Gators were alive for the Freedom Bowl — and a sizable portion of the roster were born after Spurrier exited Gainesville for the lunacy of Dan Snyder Land — the Las Vegas Bowl was a case of deja vu.
Oregon State ran roughshod in a 30-3 romp that set the stage for the Beavers’ preseason Top 20 ranking.
Venturing West hasn’t gone well for Florida, and that’s not limited to losses. In 1983, the Gators played their last regular-season game in the Pacific Time Zone, an early-season showdown against No. 9-ranked USC.
Expectations were high for the Trojans entering the 1983 campaign coming off an 8-3 mark and final AP Top 25 ranking of No. 15 in 1982. Each of USC’s three losses were by one possession, including a 20-19 heartbreaker against crosstown rival UCLA that effectively denied the Trojans a Pac-10 championship and berth in the Rose Bowl Game.
USC also dropped a 17-10 decision on Halloween eve to Arizona State, which reached the peak of Darryl Rogers’ short-lived ride on the Frank Kush wave in Tempe.
And, at the beginning of the ‘82 season, the Trojans fell in Florida’s Swamp to the Gators, 17-9.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium — then known simply as Florida Field — debuted a renovated south end zone that September day, and the spectators seated there were part of a new-record 73,238 in attendance.
The Swamp now seats around 15,000 more than that, but in 1982 it was an eye-popping total for UF.
Seventy-three thousand-plus witnessed College Football Hall of Famer Wilber Marshall put on a performance that had John Robinson praising Marshall as one of the best players he’d ever seen.
Given the defensive players Robinson coached in his career to that point, including Ronnie Lott and having Joey Browner on that particular Trojans roster, the coach’s praise was meaningful.
What’s more, the packed Florida Field also saw a fourth-and-goal call drawn by coordinator Mike Shanahan — yep, that Mike Shanahan — that sealed Florida’s win. From the Sept. 12, 1982 Palm Beach Post:
The first half of the home-and-home set a high standard that the second leg in Los Angeles cleared.
Like in 1982, the ‘83 installment opened the season for USC; it was Florida’s second game, but more on that in a moment.
Once again, both the Trojans and Gators were ranked in the preseason top 20; USC at No. 9, Florida at No. 18.
And, in a replay of ‘82, the return matchup came down to the fourth quarter with Florida making a critical play.
But whereas in Gainesville the scene described from the Florida sideline was one of jubilation — of coach Charley Pell seeing a plan executed to perfection — UF committed a critical error that snatched a win from the Gators’ jaws.
“Florida watches in horror as USC gets extra chance,” reads the headline from the Sept. 11, 1983 Daily Breeze.
“…Charley Pell could only watch with a feeling of hopelessness as his football team was caught in a near-fatal mistake,” Phil Collin’s missive opens. “As time ran out on the apparent last play…at the Coliseum Saturday, Pell — and most of his team — knew there was an extra man on the field. But it was too late.”
Leading 19-13 with just seconds remaining, Florida needed only to keep USC out of the end zone. But the penalty for too many men on the field gave the Trojans an untimed down and Sean Salisbury — yes, that Sean Salisbury — threw a touchdown to Timmie Ware.
Yet, after an improbable second chance produced the tying score and seemingly served up the win on a platter, USC missed the extra point.
The closing sequence thus managed to be a blunder for both sides, resulting in a 19-19 tie. However, the stalemate may have proven more detrimental to Florida.
USC limped to a 4-6-1 finish in 1983, the program’s first under coach Ted Tollner. That ‘83 marked the Trojans’ first losing record since 1961, it comes as no surprise Tollner’s tenure was short-lived.
Florida, meanwhile, went 9-2-1 and beat Iowa in the Gator Bowl. UF bookended the 1983 season with marquee wins, kicking off the docket with a 28-3 rout of Miami.
The tie at USC one week after a resounding defeat of The U was one of three blemishes on the Gators’ slate that totaled eight points: UF lost at Auburn, 28-1, and in Jacksonville to Georgia the next week, 10-9.
Miami, meanwhile, won its next 11 including the Orange Bowl. The Hurricanes’ 31-30 defeat of top-ranked Nebraska was enough to elevate Miami to the program’s first national championship.
Now, it’s not quite accurate to posit that its visit to Los Angeles cost Florida the national championship; both Auburn and Georgia finished with one loss and ranked ahead of the Gators, No. 6 in the final AP Top 25 poll.
A defeat of one of the two and denying USC on its last-play mulligan, however? That’s another story.
I originally intended to review both the Swamp Kings and Johnny Football installments of Untold, and may still. But really, there isn’t much to say about either others haven’t already done well.