Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The 1979 Florida football season was the worst in the program's 74-year history. 

Only twice before had the Gators gone winless. The first time was in 1918, smack in the middle of World War I, when UF lost 14-2 to Camp Johnson and finished 0-1. Repeat: 0-1.

The Gators went 0-9 in 1946 as the program tried to rebuild after World War II. 

Then came '79, the first year under Charley Pell, a former player and graduate assistant groomed by Paul "Bear" Bryant who came to UF by way of Clemson. With the Tigers, Pell went 18-4-1 in two seasons, including a 10-1 mark and unbeaten Atlantic Coast Conference championship in '78. It would later come to light that Pell's program at Clemson had committed major rules violations during his two seasons.

Call it foreshadowing.  

Pell used the same aggressive (and behind-the-scenes rule-skirting) blueprint to rebuild the Gators. Though it didn't show in that '79 campaign -- only a 7-7 tie against Georgia Tech prevented an 0-11 mark -- Florida got national attention in 1980 in starting the season 6-1 and jumping into the national rankings again. UF lost to No. 2 (and eventual national champion) Georgia 26-21 on the infamous Lindsey Scott play, triggering a 1-3 finish. But at 7-4, the mark was good enough for a call from the Orlando folks, who paired the Gators against Maryland, which went 8-3 and finished second in the ACC. 

To the time machine we go.  



FOR HISTORICAL CONTEXT 
(Elsewhere in the news on Dec. 20, 1980)

 

* In Moscow, Alexei N. Kosygin, who fashioned detente with the West and was the Kremlin's diplomatic troubleshooter in 16 years as premier, died at age of 76. He had resigned two months earlier for health reasons. There was no government announcement of the death in the Soviet media. The news came the same day Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev celebrated his 74th birthday. 

* President-elect Reagan named Elizabeth Dole an assistant to the president for public liaison, making her the first woman named to a post in the Reagan administration. Dole served his campaign for president and was director of the human services group in the transition operations.
 
* In Washington, the U.S. said Iran's latest terms for freeing the American hostages raised new problems that rule out an early resolution to the crisis. Vice president Walter Mondale, when asked by a reporter if the Iranian message raised hope, replied, "No, it is not hopeful." 

* Three-time world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali was debating whether to get in the ring again. He did not want his final match to be the dismal showing in a 10-round loss to WBC champion Larry Holmes nearly two months earlier. 

* At San Diego, BYU erased a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit to shock Southern Methodist 46-45 in the Holiday Bowl. Quarterback Jim McMahon passed for 446 yards, with 250 yards in the last 12 minutes, including a 41-yard touchdown to tight end Clay Brown as time expired to tie the game. The PAT won it, making it the highest-scoring bowl game in history.
 

* At the movies: "The Jazz Singer," starring Neil Diamond and Lucie Arnaz; "Nine to Five," starring Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin; "Popeye" starring Robin Williams. 

* On television: The hour that preceded "Monday Night Football" was filled with "That's Incredible," hosted by John Davidson, Kathy Lee Crosby and Fran Tarkenton. On at the same time on NBC was "Little House on the Prairie" with Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert. Friday night on CBS was "Dukes of Hazzard," starring John Schneider and Tom Wopat, followed by Larry Hagman in "Dallas." 

* On the radio: The countdown of the Billboard 100 top three songs of that year ended like this: No. 3 -- "Magic" by Olivia Newton-John; No. 2 - "Another Brick In the Wall, Part II" by Pink Floyd; No. 1 -- "Call Me" by Blondie. 



THE SETUP  

The 47th Tangerine Bowl was a rematch of the 1975 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, where Maryland humiliated Florida 13-0 in what remains the worst postseason performance in school history. 

The '80 version of the Gators, though, was much different than that '75 Doug Dickey-led squad that faced the Terrapins. UF had a handful of future NFL players (including high-round draft picks) and was armed with a nice balance of run and pass, plus a defense that gave up just 15.5 points per game (28th in the country). 

Maryland had it going under Coach Jerry Claiborne, locking up their fifth bowl trip in six seasons, with three ACC titles mixed in. They had a defense -- the ol' Claiborne trademark "Wide Tackle 6" -- that rated 26th in the nation, but their best player was running back Charlie Wysocki, who rushed for 1,359 yards and 11 touchdowns. 

For Florida, it marked just the 12th bowl appearance and first in three years. 

It was a big deal. 


 

THE GAME 

Freshman quarterback Wayne Peace completed 20 of 34 passes for 271 yards, including a pair of touchdown tosses to classmate Cris Collinsworth, as the Gators pounded the Terps 35-20 in front of a partisan UF crowd of 54,541. 

Collinsworth caught eight passes for 166 yards, with touchdowns of 24 yards in the second quarter and 21 in the third. Collinsworth was named MVP of the game. 

Maryland led 3-0 after the first period, but UF erased that for a 14-9 edge at halftime behind the first Peace-to-Collinsworth TD and a 2-yard run by fullback James Jones. 

The Terps surged ahead in the third quarter, with a 1-yard scoring run by Wysocki (39 carries, 159 yards) and 43-yard field goal by Dale Castro to lead 19-14 before a 1-yard QB sneak by Peace kicked in UF's three unanswered touchdowns to put the game away. 

The Florida defense intercepted Maryland quarterback Mike Tice three times. 



THE QUOTES 

* "The changing of the guard has officially taken place. I can't think of a better way. I want to thank all the seniors." -- Pell 

* "We just got zapped by a superior passing team. We were probably prepared for their passing game, but we did little to stop it." -- Maryland cornerback Lloyd Burruss 

* "They gave us the coverage we wanted, play after play. The offensive line gave me plenty of time to throw." -- Peace

* "We checked off 20 or 25 times. He should have got the MVP trophy, not me. Everybody's got to love him. I've never seen him nervous." -- Collinsworth on Peace 

* "Maryland was kind of cocky. They were doing a lot of talking early about what they were going to do to us, but nobody's beat up on us all year and they weren't going to beat up on us. There was no trouble getting ready for this one." -- senior defensive lineman David Galloway 



THE FALLOUT 

A year after the embarrassment of 0-10-1, the Gators became the first major college program to go winless one season and win a bowl game the next. Florida actually snuck into one of the final polls (No. 20 in UPI), the first time the Gators had been ranked at the end of a season since 1974. Of course, time would reveal the program's rapid-fire ascension up the ladder came at a painful cost when the NCAA pounded UF football four years later with some of the most severe sanctions -- costing Pell his job -- ever handed down by the governing body of collegiate sports.

Coming Tuesday: Citrus Bowl Lesson 3 -- Penn State (1997)