# 1991 Florida Gators football team

The 1991 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1991 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Steve Spurrier's second as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The Gators were led by quarterback Shane Matthews and first-team All-American defensive tackle Brad Culpepper.
Spurrier's 1991 Florida Gators compiled the first-ever ten-win season in program history, an overall record of 10–2 and a perfect SEC record of 7–0.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 7 | | San Jose State* | No. 6 | Ben Hill Griffin StadiumGainesville, FL | | W 59–21 | 83,067 |
| September 14 | 7:30 p.m. | No. 17 Alabama | No. 6 | Ben Hill Griffin StadiumGainesville, FL (rivalry) | ESPN | W 35–0 | 85,069 |
| September 21 | 3:30 p.m. | at No. 18 Syracuse* | No. 5 | Carrier DomeSyracuse, NY | ABC | L 21–38 | 49,823 |
| September 28 | | vs. No. 21 Mississippi State | No. 14 | Florida Citrus BowlOrlando, FL | TBS | W 29–7 | 69,328 |
| October 5 | 8:00 p.m. | at LSU | No. 13 | Tiger StadiumBaton Rouge, LA (rivalry) | PPV | W 16–0 | 72,019 |
| October 12 | 7:30 p.m. | No. 4 Tennessee | No. 10 | Ben Hill Griffin StadiumGainesville, FL (rivalry) | ESPN | W 35–18 | 85,165 |
| October 19 | 1:00 p.m. | Northern Illinois* | No. 6 | Ben Hill Griffin StadiumGainesville, FL | | W 41–10 | 83,708 |
| November 2 | 3:30 p.m. | at Auburn | No. 6 | Jordan-Hare StadiumAuburn, AL (rivalry) | ABC | W 31–10 | 83,714 |
| November 9 | 4:00 p.m. | vs. No. 23 Georgia | No. 6 | Gator Bowl StadiumJacksonville, FL (rivalry) | ESPN | W 45–13 | 81,679 |
| November 16 | | Kentucky | No. 5 | Ben Hill Griffin StadiumGainesville, FL (rivalry) | | W 35–26 | 84,109 |
| November 30 | 12:00 p.m. | No. 3 Florida State* | No. 5 | Ben Hill Griffin StadiumGainesville, FL (rivalry) | ABC | W 14–9 | 85,461 |
| January 1, 1992 | 8:00 p.m. | vs. No. 18 Notre Dame* | No. 3 | Louisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl) | ABC | L 28–39 | 76,477 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time |||||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Final |
| AP | 5 (1) | 6 | 6 (1) | 5 (1) | 14 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 7 |
| Coaches | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 (1) | 15 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 8 |

## Game summaries
### San Jose State

The season opened with a 59–21 victory over the San Jose State Spartans.

### Alabama

The Gators defeated Alabama, 35–0. Spurrier treasured the wins against the Crimson Tide: "Those victories early – '90, '91 – really got us started there at Florida ..."

### Syracuse

The 1991 season also included a disappointing 38–21 road loss to the seventeenth-ranked Syracuse Orangemen in the Carrier Dome.

### Mississippi State

The Gators had a dominating confidence win over the twenty-first-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs, 29–7.

### LSU

Florida blanked the LSU Tigers 16–0.

### Tennessee

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tennessee | 2 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 18 |
| • Florida | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
The Gators defeated the fourth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers 35–18.

### Northern Illinois

Florida beat Northern Illinois 41–10 .

### Auburn

The Auburn Tigers fell to Florida 31–10.

### Georgia

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Florida | 7 | 21 | 3 | 14 | 45 |
| Georgia | 3 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 13 |
The Gators defeated rival and twenty-third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs 45–13.

### Kentucky

Florida clinched its first SEC title with a hard-fought win over the Kentucky Wildcats, 35–26. "The Gators appeared on their way to a comfortable victory with a 28-6 lead in the third quarter. That's when the UF band started playing the song "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard and students began throwing little sugar packets into the air. Then UK quarterback Pookie Jones went wild, almost spoiling the party. "

### Florida State

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Florida St | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| Florida | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida
* Date: November 30
* Game attendance: 85,461
* TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Bob Griese
* Recap/Box
Game information :
First quarter
No scoring
Second quarter
FSU – Gerry Thomas 19-yard field goal, 8:31. Florida St 3–0. Drive:
UF – Errict Rhett 3-yard run (Arden Czyzewski kick), 3:11. Florida 7–3. Drive:
Third quarter
UF – Harrison Houston 72-yard pass from Shane Matthews (Arden Czyzewski kick), 7:32. Florida 14–3. Drive:
Fourth quarter
FSU – Amp Lee 25-yard pass from Casey Weldon (pass failed), 5:24. Florida 14–9. Drive:
Top passers
FSU – Casey Weldon – 24/51, 305 yards, TD, INT
UF – Shane Matthews – 13/30, 208 yards, TD, 3 INT
Top rushers
FSU – Amp Lee – 9 rushes, 24 yards
UF – Errict Rhett – 24 rushes, 109 yards, TD
Top receivers
FSU – Kez McCorvey – 6 receptions, 89 yards
UF – Harrison Houston – 2 receptions, 76 yards, TD :
Among the Gators' 1991 victories, the 14–9 defensive upset of the Florida State Seminoles was a particularly memorable victory played in front of a record home crowd (the previous record set only five weeks earlier vs. Tennessee). The Gators scored touchdowns on a first-quarter run by tailback Errict Rhett, and a 72-yard bomb from Shane Matthews to wide receiver Harrison Houston in the third quarter, and held on to win. Gators defensive ends Darren Mickell and Harvey Thomas kept Seminoles quarterback Casey Weldon off balance and on the run in the second half, and, in the fourth quarter, Gators safeties Will White and Del Speer combined to break up a fourth-down pass to the end zone by Weldon with two minutes remaining§, thus saving the victory for Florida.

### Sugar Bowl

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Fighting Irish | 0 | 7 | 10 | 22 | 39 |
| Gators | 10 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 28 |

## Postseason

The Gators closed out their season with their first New Year's Day bowl appearance since 1974, a 28–39 defeat by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Sugar Bowl, and were ranked seventh in the final Associated Press Poll. Florida won the team's first official SEC championship, 59 seasons after joining the conference as a charter member. Quarterback Shane Matthews repeated as SEC Player of the Year in 1991.

### NFL Draft

The following Gators were selected in the 1992 NFL draft after the season.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | NFL Team |
| 4 | 105 | Tony McCoy | Defensive tackle | Indianapolis Colts |
| 5 | 119 | Dexter McNabb | Fullback | Green Bay Packers |
| 5 | 127 | Cal Dixon | Center | New York Jets |
| 6 | 156 | Tony Rowell | Center | Los Angeles Raiders |
| 7 | 182 | Tim Paulk | Linebacker | Atlanta Falcons |
| 8 | 206 | Hesham Ismail | Guard | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 9 | 241 | Ephesians Bartley | Linebacker | Philadelphia Eagles |
| 10 | 264 | Brad Culpepper | Defensive tackle | Minnesota Vikings |
| 12 | 309 | Mike Brandon | Defensive end | Indianapolis Colts |