1979 Florida Gators football team
| 1979 Florida Gators football | |
|---|---|
| Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Record | 0–10–1 (0–6 SEC) |
| Head coach |
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| Captain | Bill Bennek Nap Green Chuck Hatch |
| Home stadium | Florida Field |
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 1 Alabama $ | 6 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 12 | – | 0 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Georgia | 5 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 16 Auburn | 4 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 8 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LSU | 4 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 7 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tennessee | 3 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 7 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kentucky | 3 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ole Miss | 3 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mississippi State | 2 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 8 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vanderbilt | 0 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 1 | – | 10 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florida | 0 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 10 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1979 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Charley Pell's first of six as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Pell arrived in Gainesville with a new plan for building the Gators football program—new offensive and defensive schemes, new assistant coaches, a new attitude and new boosters fund-raising model to support the program and improve the stadium and training facilities. Pell's plan would produce many on-the-field victories over the next five years, but his first campaign as the Gators coach produced the most losses in any single season in Gators football history, ending with a winless 0–10–1 overall record and a 0–6 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team, which was plagued by injuries, placed dead last among ten SEC teams.[1] This was the last time until 2013 that Florida fielded a team with a losing record.
The 1979 Florida team had 4 starting quarterbacks: Tim Groves, Tyrone Young, John Brown and Larry Ochab, and John Brantley also played at quarterback, though he did not start. Brantley was projected to start at quarterback, but he was injured in the preseason.
Schedule
[edit]| Date | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 15 | at No. 13 Houston* | L 10–14 | 33,851 | [2] | ||
| September 22 | Georgia Tech* | T 7–7 | 60,313 | [3] | ||
| September 29 | at Mississippi State | L 10–24 | 38,000 | [4] | ||
| October 6 | at No. 17 LSU | L 3–20 | 73,073 | [5] | ||
| October 13 | No. 2 Alabama |
| L 0–40 | 64,552 | [6] | |
| October 27 | Tulsa* |
| L 10–20 | 60,126 | [7] | |
| November 3 | at No. 20 Auburn | L 13–19 | 58,754 | [8] | ||
| November 10 | vs. Georgia | ABC | L 10–33 | 68,148 | [9] | |
| November 17 | Kentucky |
| L 3–31 | 55,760 | [10] | |
| November 23 | No. 5 Florida State* |
| ABC | L 16–27 | 58,263 | [11] |
| December 1 | at Miami (FL)* | L 24–30 | 28,051 | [12] | ||
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Roster
[edit]| 1979 Florida Gators football team roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Offense
| Defense
| Special teams
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Postseason
[edit]The next year, in 1980, the Florida Gators made a remarkable turnaround. They won the first three games of that season before a loss to Louisiana State crushed Florida's hopes of being undefeated, but they ended the regular season with 7 wins and 4 losses, and in the Tangerine bowl they defeated Maryland 35-20 to improve to 8-4. At the time, this Florida season was an NCAA record turnaround, and this was the first team to make a bowl game after being winless the previous season.
References
[edit]- ^ a b 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.
- ^ "Backup Elston guides slumbering Coogs past Florida". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 16, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Tech, Florida: A 7–7 standoff". The Macon Telegraph & News. September 23, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bulldogs upset Gators". The Daily Advertiser. September 30, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Florida leads early but loses to LSU 20–3". Tallahassee Democrat. October 7, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Gators lose, Tide rolls 40–0 in 'laugher'". The Orlando Sentinel Star. October 14, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Tulsa outlasts Florida, 20–10". The Daily Oklahoman. October 28, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Auburn squeaks past Gators". Fort Myers News-Press. November 4, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Georgia tramples winless UF, 33–10, eyes Sugar Bowl". The Miami Herald. November 11, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Sun shines on Portela, Jaffe as UK rips Florida". The Courier-Journal. November 18, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Seminoles win, but Gators happier". The Palm Beach Post-Times. November 24, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Coleman picks off Gators, 30–24". The Miami Herald. December 2, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sports Publicity Department. "1980 Press Guide University of Florida" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved March 15, 2018.