1993 SEC Championship, Part IV: A Second Shot at Bama on its 'Neutral Site' Home Field
Thursday, September 6, 2018 | Football, Chris Harry
Sugar Bowl or Gator Bowl?
Which will it be?
It's up to us. No one else.
UF had played in the Gator Bowl at Jacksonville the previous New Year's Eve. It was the consolation "prize" for losing a heartbreaker to eventual national champion Alabama in the inaugural Southeastern Conference Championship Game at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala. Now the ninth-ranked Gators (9-2), repeat winners of the league's East Division, had a rematch with the 15th-ranked Crimson Tide (8-2-1) at the same venue that doubled as one of 'Bama's home stadiums, with an opportunity to claim just the second league crown in school history. A very, very big deal, Coach Steve Spurrier reminded his players over and over.
To the winner went a berth in the Sugar Bowl to face unbeaten West Virginia.
Translation: New Orleans or Jacksonville?
"Playing in the Gator Bowl is like playing in a bowl game here," senior offensive guard Jim Watson said. "I mean, why bother?"
"The players will have to be ready, but I can't speak for them," Tide coach Gene Stallings said. "I'm sure they're disappointed. We all are. But there's still a conference championship out there to win and that's been a goal of ours all season."
Those words just as easily could have come from Spurrier. And did. A bunch. The difference was the Gators, unlike the Tide, were in no position to take a shot at a league title for granted. 'Bama was working on nearly two dozen.
Florida had one.
Danny Wuerffel, having suffered a severe knee sprain in the loss to the Seminoles, was done for the season. If the Gators were going to win a championship it would be with Terry Dean as quarterback.
"I'm hoping Terry will have more of an air of confidence and feel strong out there," Spurrier said. "It's his game, so hopefully that will loosen him up a little bit and he'll play well. He's our man and he's got to lead us to the conference championship."
For Dean (1,395 yards, 15 touchdowns, 8 interceptions) it would be his fifth start. His counterparts would be a tag-team of Brian Burgdorf, who replaced injured starter Jay Barker the week before against Auburn, but also SEC all-purpose yardage leader David "Deuce" Palmer, who was averaging 160.4 yards per game.
The Alabama defense ranked No. 2 in the nation and allowing just 115 yards per game, would be without standout cornerback and '92 SEC title game MVP Antonio Langham, who was ruled ineligible that week by the NCAA for his dealings with an agent.
"I'm going to give everything I have to win this game. I'm ready to go the whole way," Dean said. "This is a chance to redeem myself. It would be a good feeling knowing I've accomplished something. Whether I play good or bad doesn't matter. I just want to help us win the game and go the Sugar Bowl."
And avoid the Gator Bowl.
Back to history class, folks.
To the time machine we go.
Game 12
Dec. 4, 1993
Florida 27, Alabama 13
What happened: UF played maybe its best all-around game of the season in whipping the '92 national champs in their own backyard. Dean, named the game's MVP, passed for 256 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for a score. His gorgeous 43-yard scoring strike to Jack Jackson opened an eight-point lead late in the third quarter and came one play after punter Shayne Edge sidestepped hard-charging Bama defender Michael Ausmus and took off for a 20-yard run on fourth-and-8 from his own 39 with Florida clinging to 14-13 lead. Tailback Errict Rhett carried 22 times for 88 yards and scored on a 3-yard run barely three minutes into the final period. That put-away score was set up when junior safety Michael Gilmore intercepted a pass at the UF 46, his second pick of the game. Two plays later, on second-and-32, Dean hit Willie Jackson for 33 yards to position the Gators for game's final score. The UF defense, so criticized throughout the season, limited Palmer to just 93 yards rushing and 90 passing, and kept the elusive, big-play "Deuce" mostly in check on kick returns, as well. The Tide managed just 279 yards of offense, only 118 on the ground. The Gators, 10-game winners for only the second time in school history, celebrated their second SEC crown with a team picture under the Legion Field scoreboard. Sugar packets were handed out (and sprinkled on the turf) to signal the pending trip to the Sugar Bowl.
Numbers of note: Dean went 20 for 37 on the day and overcame a pair of interceptions. He also caught a 15-yard pass from wideout Chris Doering to help set up UF's final touchdown. … Rhett became the first player in NCAA history to rush for more than 4,100 yards and catch 140 passes in a career. … UF's 28 points were the most scored against Alabama since the Gators blanked the Tide 35-0 in Gainesville in 1991, a run of 36 games. … Though it was dubbed as a "neutral site" game, Alabama played played its fourth game of the season at Legion Field, so technically, the outcome marked Spurrier's first victory against a ranked opponent on the road in nine tries as UF's coach.
They said it:
* "Playing Florida State was important to us. They're our rivals and they were the No. 1 team in the country. But at the beginning of the season, we talk about winning the SEC Eastern Division and trying to win the conference championship. We played hard against FSU and things didn't quite work out, but we got it behind us." — Spurrier
* "This is an incredible feeling. I can't put words to describe it. It means a lot to me because of what I've been through this year." — Dean
* "In a game of this magnitude, four or five plays are going to decide the game. Florida made those plays and we didn't." — Stallings
* "He came free on the inside and I just broke to the outside. I think the momentum really changed at that point." — Edge on his decision to run from punt formation.
* "Who cares what other people say. All that matters is what we know and that, right now, is we are SEC champions. We're the ones wearing the hats and we're the ones who will wear the championship rings. Forget everything else." — junior cornerback Larry Kennedy, when asked about Auburn being undefeated, Tennessee being ranked higher, and the loss to FSU the week before.
Upshot: Florida had never won the Sugar Bowl and only once in program history had won a New Year's Day bowl game. The Gators (10-2), with a chance to win 11 games for the first time in school history, were headed to New Orleans for the second time in three years, with a date against unbeaten and third-ranked West Virginia (11-0), which believed it deserved a place in the national-championship conversation.
Friday:
Part V — The Sweetest Ending to an Historic Season
Jon Sumrall Postgame Press Conference 4-11-26
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Buster Faulkner Postgame Press Conference 4-11-26
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Brad White Postgame Press Conference 4-11-26
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Tramell Jones Jr. Postgame Press Conference 4-11-26
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