Wednesday, September 18, 2019 | Football, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — On Oct. 16, 1993, Florida went to Auburn for a battle of unbeatens. The Gators were ranked fifth and rolling. The Tigers, under new coach Terry Bowden and on NCAA probation for the deeds of predecessor Pat Dye, were ranked 19th. NCAA sanctions against Auburn prevented the game from being televised, so the only coverage of the game was via a closed-circuit satellite feed at Florida Field.
UF jumped in front by scoring the first 10 points, and was threatening to blow things open when Danny Wuerffel, from inside the 10-yard line, was intercepted and safety Chris Shelling returned the play 96 yards for a touchdown. Just like that, the "Loveliest Village on the Plain" was jumping.
Auburn won that day, 38-35, and went on to complete the first 11-0 season in program history. That was good enough for the No. 4 ranking in the nation, but the Tigers, due to NCAA sanctions, were banned from playing in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game or a bowl. The Gators went on to win the '93 league title.
On Oct. 15, 1994, the Tigers (6-0) came to the "Swamp" still unbeaten — winners of 17 straight — under Bowden, ranked sixth in the country and still ineligible for the SEC championship. Florida was No. 1, and Gator Nation, having stewed on that '93 Auburn loss for a year, was poised for payback. UF (5-0) was a 16-point favorite, with national pundits pointing to the good fortune that had accompanied Auburn — five victories by five points or less for "the nation's luckiest team," said Sports Illustrated — during the country's longest winning streak. The Tigers had struggled for a 22-17 win at Ole Miss to open the season and had to hang on, 30-26, to beat a LSU team that lost four of its first five, two teams the Gators had thumped by a combined 48 points.
Clearly, the Tigers were about to encounter a buzz saw.
At least, that was the perception.
The Gators led the SEC in total offense and scoring, but had not looked particularly sharp the last two weeks in beating Ole Miss on the road and LSU at home both by 24. In fact, one of the storylines going in was Coach Steve Spurrier warning quarterback Terry Dean, a Heisman Trophy front-runner with 18 touchdowns, to clean up his play after throwing three interceptions the week before.
UF was 15-0 against SEC foes at home under Spurrier.
To the time machine we go.
Game 6 Oct. 15, 1994 Auburn 36, Florida 33
Frank Sanders goes up for the game-winner.What happened: Auburn quarterback Patrick Nix threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Frank Sanders with just 30 seconds left, silencing the "Swamp" and giving the heavy-underdog Tigers an epic upset, the reverberations of which shook the college football world. The Nix-to-Sanders game-winner capped a seven-play, 55-yard drive — with no timeouts and including a 14-yard completion to Thomas Bailey on fourth-and-10 — after UF quarterback Danny Wuerffel threw an interception that Auburn safety Brian Robinson returned 10 yards to the Tigers' 45. Wuerffel was on in relief of Dean, who was benched after his fourth first-half interception, one of five UF turnovers on the day, compared to none for Auburn. In a game that featured six lead changes, the Gators trailed 10-0 early, then 22-14 at the break before Wuerffel entered and hit his first 10 passes, including touchdowns of 26 yards to Reidel Anthony, 17 to Ike Hilliard, and 28 to Jack Jackson, the latter to give the Gators a 33-29 lead with 5:58 to go. UF's defense forced an Auburn punt with just over three minutes left. The Gators got a first down before a penalty put them in a third-and-15 situation. Instead of playing it safe, Spurrier called for a pass play. Wuerffel dropped and lobbed the ball down the middle of the field — not a UF receiver close to the play — right into the safety's arms for the crippling turnover that changed the game, and altered the Florida season. Seven snaps later, Nix lobbed a jump-ball pass to the left side of the end zone, with Sanders easily skying over safety Michael Gilmore and stunning the Florida Field crowd like at no time in decades.
Numbers of note: UF was outgained in total offense 487 to 367, with that minus-5 turnover margin, obviously, figuring prominently. ... Nix completed 28 of 51 passes for 319 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and no sacks. ... Tailback Stephen Davis rushed 20 times for 113 yards, while Bailey caught 10 passes for 117 yards. … Wuerffel went 10-for-13 for 171 yards and the lone pick, while Dean was just nine of 17 for 126 yards, one score and the four interceptions. The two QBs were sacked a combined five times. … Spurrier's record at Florida fell to 44-11 in five seasons, with five of his previous six losses coming to either Florida State coach Bobby Bowden or son Terry. … The 85,562 was a state-of-Florida record, with a school-record 522 media credentials issued.
They said it:
* "I told our team we didn't coach our best game and a lot of players didn't play their best game. I'm sorry it happened this way, but we've lost one game here every year and we've regrouped and played better after it. Hopefully, we can do it again." — Spurrier
* "Oh my gosh, am I lucky! Florida started No. 1 in the country based on last year. Look, we beat them last year. We came here as 16-point underdogs and beat them again. You tell me. Should we be No. 1? Yes." — Terry Bowden
* "It doesn't seem fair. I waited five years. All of those pounds I lifted, all those miles I ran. Now, I have to be patient again. It's just so frustrating, but I have no control over it." — Dean on his benching.
* "Everything went their way. I don't know whether it's luck or that the Big Man is a Tiger." — UF sophomore safety Lawrence Wright
* "We should've beat 'em even worse." — Nix
* "What it comes down to is that fourth-down play and we didn't make that play. I figured we'd stop them there. It never should have come down to that last play." — UF defensive coordinator Bobby Pruett
* "All you hear is 'Swamp this! Swamp that!' It's a great place to play, but I think it gets in people's minds that they can't move the ball and win here. Wrong! Little ol' Auburn came here and proved everybody wrong. Doubt us all you want to, but we'll see you on the field Saturday." — Sanders
* "It was a battle and Florida is not used to being in a battle; they're used to blowing people out. They didn't know what to do in that predicament." — Shelling
* "We went in with the attitude to just play hard and play our best. Sometimes, that's just not good enough." — senior defensive end Kevin Carter
COMING THURSDAY SEC Champs '94, Part III / Dawg Meat in the 'Swamp'
