History Lesson: 20 Years Ago -- Back to 'Knocksville'

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — We've written a lot about Steve Spurrier since he rejoined the Florida family he never really left. Well, considering i'ts Tennessee week, we figured we'd write a little more about him.

Spurrier, after all, has some skin in the game when it comes to the Volunteers.

And the Volunteer State.

In fact, Spurrier took a couple days from his ambassador duties this week to return to his hometown of Johnson City, Tenn., where he did a signing stop for his new book, "Head Ball Coach -- My Life in Football," and is to be honored Friday night when he returns to Science Hill High to watch his Hilltoppers play for the first time in decades.

Book signing at Barnes & Noble & high school football in Johnson City, TN.
FL vs Tenn
Huge weekend. pic.twitter.com/1db1U9QLei
— Coach Steve Spurrier (@SteveSpurrierUF) September 20, 2016

On Saturday, Spurrier will be at UF-UT game and is expected to make a cameo on-camera appearance with notable celebrity from the other side of the rivalry. Could be fun.

So while on the subject of fun, I figured this was a good week for one of my "history lessons." OK, so they're not really lessons. A lot of people already know these moments as well as I do, but that doesn't mean we don't enjoy reliving them.

Take Sept. 21, 1996, for example.

It was that day, 20 years ago this week, Florida and Tennessee met during the apex of their rivalry. Just three weeks into the season, it was as big and as hyped a showdown as there would be the entire college footballl season. Which meant the elation for the victor would be diametrical opposite to the deflation of the loser. In other words, vintage Gators vs. Vols.

Usual outcome, also.

To the time machine we go.

THE SETUP

If you think the present-day (as in 2016) installment of the rivalry was talked about a lot over the summer, then you weren't around in '96. Mutliply it by 100.

The Vols, a 3-point favored, were ranked second. The Gators, with three straight Southeastern Conference titles and three consecutive wins in the series, were fourth.

Florida was coming off its 12-1 season that ended with humiliation in the Fiesta Bowl; a 62-24 beat down at the hands of Nebraska. That UF team in '95 had destroyed UT 62-37 in Gainesville in '95, yet after the season Vols coach Phillip Fulmer put the Gators 13th on his final ballot, which skewed the USA Today/CNN Coaches Poll enough to vault the Vols to No. 2, just ahead of the Gators at No. 3.

Tennessee, of course, had junior quarterback Peyton Manning, who already was pegged as the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft and Heisman Trophy favorite. Florida had Danny Wuerffel, who had placed third in the Heisman balloting the year before and had destroyed the Vols in that '95 meeting with six touchdown passes.

Neyland Stadium had undergone a massive renovation, blowing up to 107,000 and expecting the largest crowd in college football history, not to mention more than 500 credentialed media.

The winner would grab early control of SEC East Division and remain a significant player in the national-title conversation. The loser? Not so much.

Simply put, it was as hyped a football in September as any in the decade. In Rocky Top, they were calling it the "Game of the Century."

THE GAME

Reidel Anthony vaults into Neyland Stadium stands after his 4th-down TD.

Not 20 minutes in, the Gators had a five-touchdown lead.

The final score was Florida 35, Tennessee 29, but Manning spent nearly three quarters trying to rally his team from the six turnovers committed in the first half that buried his Vols in a 35-0 hole.

On the game's first series, Spurrier kept his offense on the field to go for a fourth-and-10 from the UT 35 in the rain. Wuerffel fired a perfect pass to wideout Reidel Anthony for a touchdown. Anthony finished the play by running through the end zone and hopping (momentarily) into the UT stands. It was on.

Three players later, Teako Brown intercepted a high and tipped Manning pass, returned it 24 yards and set up a 10-yard TD throw from Wuerffel to Terry Jackson to make it 14-0. Tennessee, on its next possession, did some panicking. The Vols went for a fourth-and-7 at the Florida 40 and didn't convert. The Gators answered with a 60-yard march that ended with a 5-yard scoring toss to Ike Hilliard.

On the next series, another tipped Manning passes fell into the hands of linebacker and Tennessee product James Bates, whose interception led to Wuerffel's fourth scoring strike — a 15-yarder to Jacquez Green.

When running back Jay Graham fumbled the ball into the air and cornerback Anthone Lott plucked it out of the air and raced 27 yards for the defensive score with 10:06 to play in the first half, it was almost comical.

Unless you were a Vols fan, many of whom left by halftime.

Manning got UT on the board to make it 35-6 at the half and chipped away at the lead on his way to completing 37 of 65 attempts for 492 yards — all school records — and four touchdowns to match his four interceptions. His final TD toss came with 10 seconds to play and wasn't much more than cosmetic for the scoreboard. The game was a rout.

Wuerffel finished 11 of 22 for just 156 yards, but for those four scores and no interceptions. UF also had 149 yards rushing, compared to nine for UT, and actually held the ball for nearly six minutes more than the home team.

Four straight wins in the series for the Gators and command of the SEC East. Again.

THE QUOTES

Orlando Sentinel sports section, Sept. 22, 1996

>>> "We would've liked to have been accused of running up the score, but it didn't work out that way." — Spurrier

>>> "They got a lot of pub, didn't they? People kept talking about how Tennessee was 'beatable' and it was driving me crazy. Of course, they're beatable. We'd beaten 'em the last three years and beat 'em again." — UF center Jeff Mitchell

>>> "If you've been around long enough, you expect the unexpected from Coach Spurrier. It was a great call. You get a big play like that at the start of the game and it really helps get you excited." — Wuerffel on the first-quarter fourth-down gamble for a TD

>>> "I didn't hear too much from the crowd in the first half. That's what big plays do." — UF safety Lawrence Wright

>>> "Peyton played a fine game — for the last three quarters." — UT coach Phillip Fulmer

>>> "They said I broke some records or something, but it doesn't matter on a night that you lose. I know there are going to be nights when you throw interceptions all over. I picked a bad night to do it." — Manning

>>> "I don't look at statistics too much. I don't know how many yards they had — I'm sure it was a bunch — but you don't come up to Tennessee to face a Heisman Trophy kind of guy, go up 35-6 at halftime and not feel good about it." — UF defensive coordinator Bob Stoops

>>> "And they thought they were gonna win." — UF linebacker Johnny Rutledge, shaking his head as he looked up at a few cat-calling UT fans as he exited the field.

>>> "I don't know where all those Tennessee fans went. Maybe 'The Jeff Foxworthy Show' was on." -- Bates

THE FALLOUT

Florida, ascended to No. 1, and stayed there while high-balling through an unbeaten SEC season before an upset loss to Florida State at Tallahassee in the final regular-season game. The Gators bounced back a week later by defeating Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and thanks to some fortuitous circumstances got a rematch with the Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl that — due to some even more fortuitous circumstances — turned out to be for the national title. Florida destroyed FSU 52-20. Along the way, Wuerffel won the Heisman.

Tennessee went 10-2 on the season, with a shocking midseason loss to Memphis, and defeated Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl. Manning, who finished eighth in the Heisman voting, was MVP of the game. The Vols finished ninth in the final Associated Press poll.

Gators Calendar

History Lesson: 20 Years Ago -- Back to 'Knocksville'

Footer

Upcoming Events

History Lesson: 20 Years Ago -- Back to 'Knocksville'

Related News

Related Videos

Footer