1982 Florida Gators football team

The 1982 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was the fourth for Charley Pell as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Pell's 1982 Florida Gators posted an 8–4 overall record and a Southeastern Conference (SEC) record of 3–3, tying for sixth place in the ten-team SEC.[2]

1982 Florida Gators football
Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, L 24–28 vs. Arkansas
Conference	Southeastern Conference
1982 record	8–4 (3–3 SEC)
Head coach	Charley Pell (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Mike Shanahan (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Joe Kines (2nd season)
Home stadium	Florida Field (Capacity: 72,000)[1]

1982 Southeastern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Georgia $	6	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 11 LSU	4	–	1	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
No. 14 Auburn	4	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Vanderbilt	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Tennessee	3	–	2	–	1			6	–	5	–	1
Alabama	3	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Florida	3	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Mississippi State	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Ole Miss	0	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Kentucky	0	–	6	–	0			0	–	10	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The highlight of the season was a nationally televised September victory over Southern Cal in the Trojans' only visit to Florida Field. Gator linebacker Wilber Marshall had 14 tackles and 4 sacks in the 17–9 victory and was named national defensive player of the week on his way to All-American honors at the end of the season.[3] On offense, the team was led by quarterback Wayne Peace, who set an NCAA record for completion percentage in a season (70.7%) running offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan's short passing attack.[4]

Florida played six of their first seven games at home and rode their early season success into a #4 ranking in early October, which matched the highest AP poll placement in program history up to that time. However, close losses to LSU and Vanderbilt and a blow-out loss to arch rival Georgia knocked them out of the polls, and the Gators finished the season 8–4 after a loss in the 1982 Bluebonnet Bowl

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 4	No. 15 Miami (FL)*	No. 16	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	USA	W 17–14	71,864
September 11	No. 10 USC*	No. 11	Florida Field Gainesville, FL	ABC	W 17–9	73,238
September 25	Mississippi State	No. 5	Florida Field Gainesville, FL	ESPN	W 27–17	71,544
October 2	LSU	No. 4	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	USA	L 13–24	73,152
October 9	at Vanderbilt	No. 14	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN		L 29–31	39,726
October 16	West Texas State*		Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 77–14	72,885
October 30	No. 19 Auburn		Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)		W 19–17	73,532
November 6	vs. No. 3 Georgia	No. 20	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	L 0–44	80,749
November 13	at Kentucky		Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY		W 39–13	53,245
November 20	at Tulane*		Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA		W 21–14	27,795
December 4	at No. 15 Florida State*		Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)		W 13–10	57,369
December 31	vs. No. 14 Arkansas*		Astrodome Houston, TX (Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl)	MTN	L 24–28	31,557
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Primary source: 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide.[2]

Personnel

1982 Florida Gators football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 27 Neal Anderson Fr OL Phil Bromley RB Johnell Brown OL Lomas Brown RB Ronnie Diltz WR Dwayne Dixon TE Chris Faulkner OL Dan Fike OL Russell Gallon RB Lorenzo Hampton RB Joe Henderson QB Bob Hewko OL Dwayne Hinson OL John Hunt WR Spencer Jackson RB James Jones WR Broughton Lang TE Mike Mularkey QB 15 Wayne Peace Jr TE Tom Peddle WR Gary Rolle OL Buddy Schultheis RB Derald Williams RB John L. Williams WR Tyrone Young	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB Val Brown DB Vernell Brown DB Randy Clark DB Ivory Curry DB Ricky Easmon DB Sonny Gilliam DL Roy Harris LB Fernando Jackson DB Tony Lilly LB 88 Wilber Marshall Jr LB Fred McCallister DB Vito McKeever LB Patrick Miller DL Tim Newton DB, P Roger Sibbald DB Bruce Vaughan DL John Whittaker LB Tom Wiegmann	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P Ray Criswell K Jim Gainey K Bobby Raymond	Head coach Charley Pell Coordinators/assistant coaches Vince Kendrick (RB) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 1982 Football Guide" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
2. 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 107 (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2015.
3. "Wilber Marshall - A Tradition of Honor". Florida Gators. University of Florida Athletic Association. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
4. Andreu, Robbie (July 31, 2010). "Where are they now? Wayne Peace". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 7 October 2019.