- Jul 20, 2014
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i got your heat and humidity story line here. Sept 13th in Tampa. Hottest gator game I ever sat throught. The stadium smelled like vomit all day. That pac 10 team was tied 13 - 13 at half and you could literally see them wilt in the 2nd half and lose big. I just wore jogging (it was a thing in the early 80s) shorts for the game and nothing else.
Coming off an 0-10-1 first season that marked the losingest record in Florida history, Coach Charley Pell delivered 41-13 rout of California at Tampa Stadium to start his second season on the UF sidelines.
Bob Hewko passed for 146 yards and a pair of second-half touchdowns, while the UF defense forced five turnovers in erasing a 13-13 tie at intermission on the way to snapping a 10-game losing streak that dated to a 7-7 tie with Georgia Tech in Week 2 of that miserable '79 season.
In jump-starting Year 2 under Pell, the Gators withstood a blistering performance from Cal quarterback Rich Campbell, who completed 43 of 53 passes for 421 yards -- the most ever against a UF defense at the time and still the highest total of completions to date -- to go with a touchdown and interception.
Seven months later, Campbell was selected by the Green Bay Packers with the sixth overall choice in the NFL draft.