1979 Florida Gators football team

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.

1979 Florida Gators football
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
Record0–10–1 (0–6 SEC)
Head coach
CaptainBill Bennek
Nap Green
Chuck Hatch
Home stadiumFlorida Field
Seasons
← 1978
1980 →
1979 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf Overall
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
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

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

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DateOpponentSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 15at No. 13 Houston*L 10–1433,851[2]
September 22Georgia Tech*T 7–760,313[3]
September 29at Mississippi StateL 10–2438,000[4]
October 6at No. 17 LSUL 3–2073,073[5]
October 13No. 2 Alabama
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
L 0–4064,552[6]
October 27Tulsa*
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL
L 10–2060,126[7]
November 3at No. 20 AuburnL 13–1958,754[8]
November 10vs. GeorgiaABCL 10–3368,148[9]
November 17Kentucky
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
L 3–3155,760[10]
November 23No. 5 Florida State*
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
ABCL 16–2758,263[11]
December 1at Miami (FL)*L 24–3028,051[12]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[1][13]

Roster

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1979 Florida Gators football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
TE Bill Bell
OL Bill Bennek
QB 12 John Brantley Sr
QB Johnell Brown
TE 87 Mike Clark Jr
WR 21 Cris Collinsworth Jr
RB Calvin Davis
TE 80 Chris Faulkner Fr
WR Johnny Gaffney
OL Harold Galloway
QB Tim Groves
RB Frank Holloway
OL Wally Hough
WR Spencer Jackson
WR 18 Darrell Jones Sr
RB James Jones
OL Ray Lawrence
QB Larry Ochab Jr
OL Phil Pharr
OL Dan Plonk
RB Carl Prioleau
WR 19 Johnny Smith Jr
OL Jim Subers
RB John Whittaker
OL Joe Wickline
RB Derald Williams
RB Terry Williams
QB 7 Tyrone Young Fr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
DB 43 Thad Adams Fr
LB 55 Scot Brantley Sr
DB Derrick Burdgess
DB 24 Kyle Coburn Sr
DB Juan Collins
DL Dan Fike
DL Robin Fisher
DB Bill Fiorillo
DB Curt Garrett
DL David Galloway
DB 32 Napoleon Green Sr
DL Tim Golden
DB 25 Chuck Hatch Sr
DB Dozyier Hinton
DB Vernon James
DL Vince Jones
LB Jim Kreis
LB David Little
DB Gordon Pleasants
DL Bubba Pratt
DE 50 Yancey Sutton Jr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
K 3 Brian Clark So
P Bill Conover
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  •   Injured
  •   Redshirt

Postseason

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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

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "Backup Elston guides slumbering Coogs past Florida". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 16, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Tech, Florida: A 7–7 standoff". The Macon Telegraph & News. September 23, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Bulldogs upset Gators". The Daily Advertiser. September 30, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Florida leads early but loses to LSU 20–3". Tallahassee Democrat. October 7, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Gators lose, Tide rolls 40–0 in 'laugher'". The Orlando Sentinel Star. October 14, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Tulsa outlasts Florida, 20–10". The Daily Oklahoman. October 28, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Auburn squeaks past Gators". Fort Myers News-Press. November 4, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Georgia tramples winless UF, 33–10, eyes Sugar Bowl". The Miami Herald. November 11, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Sun shines on Portela, Jaffe as UK rips Florida". The Courier-Journal. November 18, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Seminoles win, but Gators happier". The Palm Beach Post-Times. November 24, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Coleman picks off Gators, 30–24". The Miami Herald. December 2, 1979. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Sports Publicity Department. "1980 Press Guide University of Florida" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved March 15, 2018.