Great Games: 1966 Auburn
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 | Football
As part of the celebration of the 100th season of Florida football, gatorzone.com will run a series of historical features throughout the preseason and the 2006 campaign. The series will give Gator fans an appreciation and understanding of the past teams and players that helped build the Gator football program.
During preseason practice, readers can learn about ground-breaking Florida teams of the past on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the “Great Teams and Eras” series. In addition to those stories, each Friday from the beginning of preseason practice until the season's first game will feature a look at one of Florida's legendary players as part of the “Gator Greats” series.
Once the season is underway, the look back in time will continue on Tuesdays and Thursdays with “Rivalries and Series” and “Great Games” entries relevant to the week's opponent. Occasionally, additional stories will be unveiled on Wednesday of game weeks when the opportunity arises.
Each of the features is being reprinted in a way that mirrors the original as much as possible. While records, figures and statistics have been updated, all references to people who helped shape Florida football's history reflect the time period in which the feature was written.
As the 2006 football season approaches, take some time to sit back and reflect on the teams, players and moments that all lead up to this, the 100th season of Florida Gator football.
By Norm Carlson
Just a shade over 24 years ago one of the most memorable Florida-Auburn games in the series' 95-year history took place at Florida Field. It's script involved a mixture of magic, and over the years, myth about what happened as Steve Spurrier connected on “The Kick.”
There was a record crowd of 60,511 present on October 29, 1966. Listen to fans around the state today and you would swear there was over 100,000 there that day.
“The Kick” is what people remember. The facts surrounding it have created the myth.
Forgotten for the most part are the events which led up to the game's dramatic conclusion and the bizarre nature of the contest which caused it to be one of the strangest in a series dotted with unusual competition.
With 2:12 remaining in the game “The Kick” gave Florida a 30-27 victory.
The game was tied at that point despite statistics which indicated a blowout. Florida had 442 yards of total offense to Auburn's 18, completed 27-of-40 passes for 259 yards to seven-of-18 for 46 for the Tigers and rushed for a margin of 183-112.
How did the game stay so close?
After Auburn fumbled the opening kickoff at its own 13, Spurrier threw a 10-yard TD pass to Richard Trapp. Larry Ellis ran Florida's kickoff back 89 yards for a score to make it 7-7 with 13:29 left in the first quarter.
In the second quarter the Gators were going in for a touchdown when Tom Christian fumbled, the ball bouncing off Wayne Barfield's back and into the hands of Auburn linebacker Gusty Yearout, who promptly ran it 91 yards for a TD.
It was that kind of day for the Gators.
Spurrier kept them in the game as he passed for 259 yards, one TD and no interceptions, ran for 18 yards and another TD and punted five times for an average of 47.4 per kick.
“The Kick” came at the end of a 10-play drive which began at Florida's 26 and included four Spurrier completions. It was set up by a key penalty against the Gators which made it fourth and 14 at the Auburn 23-yard-line.
According to legend, Spurrier had never before attempted a field goal and waved Barfield, the regular placement man, off the field.
In fact, he kicked two field goals in the 1966 opener against Northwestern and attempted long field goals against Mississippi State and FSU, and a shorter 26-yarder against N.C. State that season. Barfield had only attempted two, connecting from 26 and missing from 34.
“We called time-out and I pointed to myself and asked Coach Graves if I could kick it,” Spurrier remembers. “I made one from that distance before (a 41-yarder) and was our long field goal man.
“What was scary was the snap came back and Larry Rentz, the holder, had to put it down with the laced pointed right at me, I just tried to concentrate on hitting them square and managed to get the ball over the post.”
Auburn's superb head coach, Ralph (Shug) Jordan, said later that several of his assistant coaches thought it would be a fake and that he hoped that was the case.
“I told them, if Spurrier tries it, he'll make it.”
That is the true story of “The Kick.”
