1984 Florida Gators football team

The 1984 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Charley Pell's sixth and last as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Pell resigned after the third game of the season due to numerous NCAA violations committed by him and his staff over the previous few years. New offensive coordinator Galen Hall served as interim coach for the remainder of the season. After the Gators began the season as a 1–1–1 team under Pell, Hall's 1984 Florida Gators posted a 9–1–1 overall record and a Southeastern Conference (SEC) record of 5–0–1 (8–0 and 4–0, respectively, under Hall), finishing first among ten SEC teams,[2] and won their first-ever SEC title (later vacated due to NCAA violations). Before then, the Gators had been one of only two charter SEC members (the other being Vanderbilt) to have never finished the season with the best record in the conference. The Gators finished third in the Associated Press Poll and seventh in the Coaches Poll, and were also named national champions by twenty-two publications including The New York Times and The Sporting News.

1984 Florida Gators football
SEC champion (vacated)
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 3
1984 record	9–1–1 (5–0–1 SEC)
Head coach	Charley Pell (6th season; resigned; 1–1–1) Galen Hall (interim; 8–0)
Offensive coordinator	Galen Hall (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Joe Kines (4th season)
Home stadium	Florida Field (Capacity: 72,000)[1]

1984 Southeastern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 3 Florida	5	–	0	–	1			9	–	1	–	1
No. 15 LSU $	4	–	1	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
No. 14 Auburn	4	–	2	–	0			9	–	4	–	0
Georgia	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	1
No. 19 Kentucky	3	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Tennessee	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	1
Vanderbilt	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Alabama	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Ole Miss	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Mississippi State	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Florida was assessed a postseason ban following an NCAA investigation, and the SEC subsequently vacated any championship. The Sugar Bowl automatic bid for the conference champion was awarded to LSU. Under modern rules, LSU would be credited with the conference championship. Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	vs. No. 10 Miami (FL)*	No. 17	Tampa Stadium Tampa, FL (rivalry)	ESPN	L 20–32	72,813
September 8	LSU		Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	TBS	T 21–21	70,197
September 15	Tulane*		Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 63–21	65,265
September 29	Mississippi State		Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 27–12	68,186
October 6	Syracuse*		Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 16–0	70,189
October 13	at Tennessee	No. 18	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN (rivalry)		W 43–30	94,016
October 20	Cincinnati*	No. 17	Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 48–17	73,690
November 3	No. 11 Auburn	No. 13	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ABC	W 24–3	74,397
November 10	vs. No. 8 Georgia	No. 10	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 27–0	82,349
November 17	at Kentucky	No. 5	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY	TBS	W 25–17	52,823
December 1	at No. 12 Florida State*	No. 3	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	ABC	W 27–17	58,930
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

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

Personnel

1984 Florida Gators football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 27 Neal Anderson Jr QB 12 Kerwin Bell Fr QB Rodney Brewer OL Phil Bromley OL Lomas Brown RB Reggie Corlew OL Jimmy Davis OL Jack Gerzina RB Lorenzo Hampton RB Joe Henderson OL Dwayne Hinson TE Rodney Jones OL Crawford Ker RB James Massey WR Ray McDonald WR 89 Ricky Nattiel So WR 21 Frankie Neal So TE Walter Odom TE Duncan Parham TE Tom Peddle WR Gary Rolle WR Linzey Smith WR Bret Wiechmann RB Anthony Williams FB 22 John L. Williams Jr OL Jeff Zimmerman	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB Scott Armstrong S Vernell Brown DT Tommy Duhart DB Ricky Easmon DL Sam Garland LB Alonzo Johnson LB Mark Korff LB Patrick Miller LB Alonzo Mitz LB Ron Moten DL Tim Newton LB Leon Pennington DB Roger Sibbald DB Curtis Stacey DT Don Tinny DB Adrian White CB Jarvis Williams DL Keith Williams	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P Ray Criswell P David Nadone K Chris Perkins K Bobby Raymond Sr	Head coach Charley Pell Coordinators/assistant coaches Galen Hall (OC) Joe Kines (DC) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

vs. Miami (FL)

#10 Miami (FL) vs. #17 Florida

1 2 3 4 Total • Hurricanes 3 13 3 13 32 Gators 3 7 3 7 20 Date: September 1 Location: Tampa Stadium, Tampa, FL Television network: ESPN

Scoring summary 1 MIA Cox 29-yard field goal MIA 3–0 1 FLA Raymond 44-yard field goal Tie 3–3 2 FLA Hampton 64-yard run (Raymond kick) FLA 10–3 2 MIA Cox 20-yard field goal FLA 10–6 2 MIA Oliver 21-yard run (Cox kick) MIA 13–10 2 MIA Cox 27-yard field goal MIA 16–10 3 MIA Cox 25-yard field goal MIA 19–10 3 FLA Raymond 30-yard field goal MIA 19–13 4 0:41 FLA Neal 5-yard pass from Bell (Raymond kick) FLA 20–19 4 0:07 MIA Brown 12-yard pass from Kosar (Cox kick) MIA 26–20 4 0:00 MIA Bain 59-yard interception return MIA 32–20

LSU

at Tennessee

Florida Gators (3–1–1) at Tennessee Volunteers (2–1–1)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida	13	10	0	20	43
Tennessee	10	3	3	14	30

at Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee

• Date: October 13
• Game weather: Sunny
• Game attendance: 94,016
• [3]

Game information

First quarter UT – Tim McGee 52-yard pass from Tony Robinson (Fuad Reveiz kick). Tennessee 7–0. Drive: FLA – Frankie Neal 50-yard pass from Kerwin Bell (Bobby Raymond kick), 1:28. Tie 7–7. Drive: UT – Fuad Reveiz 26-yard field goal. Tennessee 10–7. Drive: FLA – Neal Anderson 80-yard run (kick failed). Florida 13–10. Drive: Second quarter UT – Fuad Reveiz 40-yard field goal. Tie 13–13. Drive: FLA – Chris Perkins 51-yard field goal. Florida 16–13. Drive: FLA – Ricky Nattiel 8-yard run (Bobby Raymond kick). Florida 23–13. Drive: 16 plays. Third quarter UT – Fuad Reveiz 35-yard field goal. Florida 23–16. Drive: Fourth quarter FLA – Bobby Raymond 42-yard field goal. Florida 26–16. Drive: FLA – Bobby Raymond 41-yard field goal. Florida 29–16. Drive: UT – Joey Clinkscales 48-yard pass from Tony Robinson (Fuad Reveiz kick). Florida 29–23. Drive: FLA – Ray McDonald 13-yard pass from Kerwin Bell (Bobby Raymond kick). Florida 36–23. Drive: UT – Johnnie Jones 4-yard run (Fuad Reveiz kick), 7:23. Florida 36–30. Drive: FLA – John L. Williams 47-yard run (Bobby Raymond kick), 0:54. Florida 43–30. Drive: Top passers FLA – Kerwin Bell – 9/12, 201 yards, 2 TD, INT UT – Tony Robinson – 29/43, 371 yards, 2 TD, INT Top rushers FLA – Neal Anderson – 23 rushes, 178 yards, TD UT – Johnnie Jones – 17 rushes, 94 yards, TD Top receivers FLA – John L. Williams – 4 receptions, 96 yards UT – Tim McGee – 10 receptions, 157 yards, TD

• John L. Williams led the team in receiving and added 100 yards on the ground.
• The game featured 1,060 total yards and 47 first downs.

Auburn

at Florida State

Postseason

Despite winning the SEC title, the Gators were barred from going to the 1985 Sugar Bowl due to the violations committed under Pell; runner-up LSU went in their place.[4] On May 30, 1985, the presidents of the ten SEC-member universities voted 6–4 to vacate the Gators' 1984 SEC title and declared the team ineligible for the SEC championship during the upcoming 1985 and 1986 seasons because of the rule violations committed under Pell. The retroactive vacating of the 1984 championship, six months after the 1984 football season ended, drew an angry response from University of Florida president Marshall Criser, as well as Gators coaches, players and fans due to the retroactive nature of the decision and its perceived unfairness.[5]

References

1. University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 1984 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. Gainesville Sun. 1984 Oct 14. Pg. 8F. Retrieved 2020-Dec-05.
4. "Commentary : What's Florida's Problem? Give the Title Back". latimes.
5. Associated Press, "SEC Presidents swipe Florida of football title", Times Daily, p. 5B (May 31, 1985). See also "Gators Stripped of SEC Title", The Palm Beach Post, pp. A1 & A5 (May 31, 1985). Both retrieved May 5, 2011.