- Jun 19, 2014
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Best games I attended in the Swamp in Person:
1990 48-7 Beating of Auburn. They were 3 times defending SEC champs ranked #4 and undefeated at 6-0-1 when they rolled into the Swamp for a night game. The teams ranked ahead of them had lost so they were ready to beat us and come out with #1 ranking. We were 6-1 with an ugly (45-3) loss at Tennessee a couple weeks earlier, we were ranked 15th. It was Spurrier's first season as the Gator HBC. Our most impressive win so far was a 17-13 squeaker at Alabama. We knew Spurrier was good but he got blown out by the only ranked team he faced that year. We crushed them. Our defense destroyed their running game (which was all they did under Pat Dye). I think they had negative running yards most of the game.
Through the 1990 Season, Florida Field was a horseshoe, open in the North Endzone. In 1991 they closed that in and the stadium went from really loud to deafening. This was the season Spurrier christened it "The Swamp" and it became the biggest home field advantage in all of college football.
1991 35-0 Beating of Bama. Spurrier's second season. He played 3 ranked teams in 1990 and lost to two of them (UT and FSU). On probation so no bowl game. Bama was a traditional power and ranked 17th. Florida was ranked 6th going into the game but we were still the upstart and Bama was royalty. We crushed them. I don't think Bama lost again after that for a couple of years.
1991 35-18 Beating Tennessee. The Vols pounded us the year before and this was a revenge game. Gainesville was full of stories about Vols fans chanting "at least our students don't get killed" the year before in Knoxville. We were 4-1 with a loss to Syracuse and ranked 10th. They were undefeated at 4-0 and ranked 4th. One of our stud DE's broke a leg before the game (Michael Brandon???) and Darren Mickell's "indefinite" suspension was ended so he could fill in for the injured starter. Tennessee had great WRs (including Carl Pickens) and we didn't have anybody to cover them. We put an unknown freshman named Larry Kennedy on an island against the future pro bowler Pickens and he stepped up to the task. Kennedy played the game of his life. The game started close, it was 21-12 when special teams blocked a punt that led to an Errict Rhett TD putting us up 28-12 in the 3rd quarter. They scored a couple of field goals then blocked one of ours making it 28-18 in the 4th quarter. It was a 10 point game, still time for Tennessee to make a comeback. They were driving with about 3:40 left. In what was easily one of the loudest games in stadium history, the loudest moment happened when Kennedy intercepted the ball around midfield and returned it, weaving through the Tennessee offense for a TD icing the win for us. Mickell had a great game and this win led to our first "official" SEC championship. The loudest game in Swamp history? Start to finish? Either this one or 1997 FSU. It's close. When Kennedy got that ball, we went nuts. My recollection is that we spent the next 20 minutes just throwing stuff up into the air and screaming like mad. It was unbelievable.
1991 Beating FSU 14-9. This is the single most intense and hard-hitting game from start to finish I ever attended. Every single play. This might be the only day game on my list. Casey Weldon and Shane Matthews both took beatings. Again, Mickell was a beast. Every second was dripping with intensity. After this game was over, I felt like a boxer that went 15 rounds. They had beaten us 4 years in a row, setting their (then) record for wins against us. The hate was palpable.
1995 62-37 Beating Tennessee. They were beating us 30-14 shortly before halftime. The Swamp was eerily quiet. You know the story, the Lawrence Wright hit on Joey Kent, the 7 unanswered TDs, and the monsoon. Sports Illustrated was there to do a piece on Manning. Turned into a piece on Wuerffel who was on the cover the next week.
1997 32-29 Beating FSU. Again, you know the story. I couldn't get a ticket to the game. My girlfriend and I were watching it on TV at the Purple Porpoise. When Quezzie got behind the defense, I grabbed her arm and yelled for people to follow me to the Swamp. Still don't know how many followed me (maybe a half dozen?) We sprinted full speed (I was waving a t-shirt over my head like a madman) and ran right past the ticket takers who stared at us in wonder and amazement. We ran right out into the FSU player parents section just in time to catch the end of the game. It was glorious.
2005 34-7 Beating FSU. The last time they were in the Swamp was the Swindle, which was the worst game I ever attended in the Swamp. Then I was in Tallahassee for the dedication of Ron Zook Field. Still, they thought they were better than us. They claimed we didn't have the kind of athletes they had. It was Urban's first year. We already had 3 losses on the season including an embarrassing loss at Alabama (the Tommy Prothro game, I was there for that one too) and a loss to unranked S. Carolina along with a loss to a good LSU team. The team looked shaky all year. Not that game. We beat them easily. Urban set the tone for dominating his rivals with that game. Up to this point, wins against FSU were hard. Urban gave notice that he was going to own that 'Nole ass for a long time to come. This game was key to surpassing FSU in recruiting and the domination of them during the Meyer era.
2006 17-16 Beating USC. The Cockblock. Again, you know the story. It wasn't a great game. It wasn't as loud or as intense from start to finish as others, but that moment was special, among the greatest in Swamp history along with Spurrier's long FG to beat Auburn in '66, Bell's 2 point conversion to beat Auburn in '86, Kennedy's INT in 1991, and Quezzie getting behind the defense in '97.
The most intense was '91 FSU, that game is in a class by itself.
The best games were '91 UT, '95 UT, and '97 FSU (even though I was only there in person for the very end of the '97 game).
Alex.
1990 48-7 Beating of Auburn. They were 3 times defending SEC champs ranked #4 and undefeated at 6-0-1 when they rolled into the Swamp for a night game. The teams ranked ahead of them had lost so they were ready to beat us and come out with #1 ranking. We were 6-1 with an ugly (45-3) loss at Tennessee a couple weeks earlier, we were ranked 15th. It was Spurrier's first season as the Gator HBC. Our most impressive win so far was a 17-13 squeaker at Alabama. We knew Spurrier was good but he got blown out by the only ranked team he faced that year. We crushed them. Our defense destroyed their running game (which was all they did under Pat Dye). I think they had negative running yards most of the game.
Through the 1990 Season, Florida Field was a horseshoe, open in the North Endzone. In 1991 they closed that in and the stadium went from really loud to deafening. This was the season Spurrier christened it "The Swamp" and it became the biggest home field advantage in all of college football.
1991 35-0 Beating of Bama. Spurrier's second season. He played 3 ranked teams in 1990 and lost to two of them (UT and FSU). On probation so no bowl game. Bama was a traditional power and ranked 17th. Florida was ranked 6th going into the game but we were still the upstart and Bama was royalty. We crushed them. I don't think Bama lost again after that for a couple of years.
1991 35-18 Beating Tennessee. The Vols pounded us the year before and this was a revenge game. Gainesville was full of stories about Vols fans chanting "at least our students don't get killed" the year before in Knoxville. We were 4-1 with a loss to Syracuse and ranked 10th. They were undefeated at 4-0 and ranked 4th. One of our stud DE's broke a leg before the game (Michael Brandon???) and Darren Mickell's "indefinite" suspension was ended so he could fill in for the injured starter. Tennessee had great WRs (including Carl Pickens) and we didn't have anybody to cover them. We put an unknown freshman named Larry Kennedy on an island against the future pro bowler Pickens and he stepped up to the task. Kennedy played the game of his life. The game started close, it was 21-12 when special teams blocked a punt that led to an Errict Rhett TD putting us up 28-12 in the 3rd quarter. They scored a couple of field goals then blocked one of ours making it 28-18 in the 4th quarter. It was a 10 point game, still time for Tennessee to make a comeback. They were driving with about 3:40 left. In what was easily one of the loudest games in stadium history, the loudest moment happened when Kennedy intercepted the ball around midfield and returned it, weaving through the Tennessee offense for a TD icing the win for us. Mickell had a great game and this win led to our first "official" SEC championship. The loudest game in Swamp history? Start to finish? Either this one or 1997 FSU. It's close. When Kennedy got that ball, we went nuts. My recollection is that we spent the next 20 minutes just throwing stuff up into the air and screaming like mad. It was unbelievable.
1991 Beating FSU 14-9. This is the single most intense and hard-hitting game from start to finish I ever attended. Every single play. This might be the only day game on my list. Casey Weldon and Shane Matthews both took beatings. Again, Mickell was a beast. Every second was dripping with intensity. After this game was over, I felt like a boxer that went 15 rounds. They had beaten us 4 years in a row, setting their (then) record for wins against us. The hate was palpable.
1995 62-37 Beating Tennessee. They were beating us 30-14 shortly before halftime. The Swamp was eerily quiet. You know the story, the Lawrence Wright hit on Joey Kent, the 7 unanswered TDs, and the monsoon. Sports Illustrated was there to do a piece on Manning. Turned into a piece on Wuerffel who was on the cover the next week.
1997 32-29 Beating FSU. Again, you know the story. I couldn't get a ticket to the game. My girlfriend and I were watching it on TV at the Purple Porpoise. When Quezzie got behind the defense, I grabbed her arm and yelled for people to follow me to the Swamp. Still don't know how many followed me (maybe a half dozen?) We sprinted full speed (I was waving a t-shirt over my head like a madman) and ran right past the ticket takers who stared at us in wonder and amazement. We ran right out into the FSU player parents section just in time to catch the end of the game. It was glorious.
2005 34-7 Beating FSU. The last time they were in the Swamp was the Swindle, which was the worst game I ever attended in the Swamp. Then I was in Tallahassee for the dedication of Ron Zook Field. Still, they thought they were better than us. They claimed we didn't have the kind of athletes they had. It was Urban's first year. We already had 3 losses on the season including an embarrassing loss at Alabama (the Tommy Prothro game, I was there for that one too) and a loss to unranked S. Carolina along with a loss to a good LSU team. The team looked shaky all year. Not that game. We beat them easily. Urban set the tone for dominating his rivals with that game. Up to this point, wins against FSU were hard. Urban gave notice that he was going to own that 'Nole ass for a long time to come. This game was key to surpassing FSU in recruiting and the domination of them during the Meyer era.
2006 17-16 Beating USC. The Cockblock. Again, you know the story. It wasn't a great game. It wasn't as loud or as intense from start to finish as others, but that moment was special, among the greatest in Swamp history along with Spurrier's long FG to beat Auburn in '66, Bell's 2 point conversion to beat Auburn in '86, Kennedy's INT in 1991, and Quezzie getting behind the defense in '97.
The most intense was '91 FSU, that game is in a class by itself.
The best games were '91 UT, '95 UT, and '97 FSU (even though I was only there in person for the very end of the '97 game).
Alex.
