1996 Florida Gators football team The 1996 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the 1996 NCAA Division I - A football season . This was the team ' s seventh season under head coach Steve Spurrier . They played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville , Florida . Draddy Trophy , National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Scholar , College Football Association Scholar - Athlete Team Game notes . Tennessee . The game was a showdown between No . 4 Florida and No . 2 Tennessee . Volunteers quarterback Peyton Manning had not beaten the Gators in two previous attempts , and after a second - half meltdown a year earlier in Gainesville , the Volunteers were looking to exact revenge on their SEC East rival in Knoxville . The game featured two of the top quarterbacks in college football , Manning and Florida ' s Danny Wuerffel . Both teams featured strong aerial attacks , but Florida ' s Fred Taylor and Tennessee ' s Jay Graham were among the SEC ' s best tailbacks . ESPN ' s College Gameday was on hand to broadcast their pregame show live from Knoxville . The tone for the game was set on Florida ' s first drive , as Spurrier spurned the punt team on a 4th and 10 from the UT 35 , and Wuerffel connected with Reidel Anthony for a touchdown to put the Gators up 7 - 0 . Teako Brown intercepted Manning on the Volunteers ' first drive , and it took Wuerffel only one play to find the end zone again , hitting Terry Jackson from 10 yards out to extend the lead to 14 - 0 . Florida doubled their lead in a 52 - second stretch early in the 2nd quarter , as Ike Hilliard and Jacquez Green became the third and fourth different receivers with touchdown receptions on the afternoon , sandwiched around a James Bates interception of Manning . Antone Lott ' s 27 - yard fumble return stretched the lead to 35 - 0 , before Manning finally got the Vols on the scoreboard before halftime on a 72 - yard strike to Peerless Price . With Florida switching to a more conservative offensive game plan in the second half , Manning cut the lead to 35 - 22 with 8 minutes left with 2 more touchdown tosses , including a second to Price . Andy McCellough ' s 14 - yard reception brought the Vols within 35 - 29 with 10 seconds to play , but Florida recovered the ensuing onsides kick to hang on for a six - point win on a rainy Knoxville afternoon . Florida would ride the early - season win over their bitter rival to a 10 - 0 start and the # 1 ranking , before being upset by # 2 Florida State in Tallahassee in their regular - season finale . With # 2 Arizona State locked into the Rose Bowl , # 4 Florida would need a win the following week in the SEC Championship against Alabama and an upset of # 3 Nebraska by 21 - point underdog Texas to get another shot at the Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl . Fate was with the Gators , as Texas stunned Nebraska 37 - 27 , and Florida won a shootout with the Crimson Tide to earn a rematch with FSU . WIth # 4 Ohio State defeating # 2 Arizona State in the Rose Bowl a day prior , the Sugar Bowl would decide the national championship , and Florida dominated the rematch to win the school ' s first national title . Tennessee bounced back to stay in the national title picture at 6 - 1 before being stunned on the road at Memphis , and finished 10 - 2 , defeating Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl . Kentucky . Coming off a big win in Knoxville the week before and being ranked # 1 for the first time since 1994 , the Gators were looking for somewhat of an easy home game against the Kentucky Wildcats . This would prove true as the Gators scored just 63 seconds into the game with a touchdown pass from Danny Wuerffell to Ike Hilliard . Wuerffell would have 3 touchdown passes in all , but the day belonged to Jaquez Green . In the 3rd quarter , Green took a punt back 66 yards for a touchdown . On Kentucky ' s next possession , they would punt again and Green , who was still breathing heavy from his first return , weaved his way for another return for a touchdown , this one from 79 yards . In all , the Gators amassed over 300 return yards from punts and kickoffs . In the end the Gators posted their first shutout since a 31 - 0 drubbing of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1994 , with Florida defeating Kentucky 65 - 0 . LSU . With Florida winning so convincingly all season , the next two weeks might have proved a challenge for the Gators , with # 12 LSU and # 16 Auburn coming to town . It was business as usual for the Gators . LSU came in undefeated on the campaign and featured an offense that scored 38 points per game . Florida , however , was not thinking upset , as Danny Wuerffell threw three touchdowns , two of them to Ike Hilliard , and ran for another score as the Gators proved to have the better offense . Their defense came to play as well as they forced two turnovers and recorded 7 sacks and held the LSU offense to just 28 rushing yards . In the end , the Gators proved themselves worthy of the # 1 ranking as they thumped the Tigers 56 - 13 . Auburn . It was another ranked team and another set of Tigers for Florida . This time , it was 16th ranked Auburn coming to Gainesville . Like the LSU game , the Gators scored quick and often , amassing over 600 yards of offense and holding Auburn to just 173 yards . Danny Wuerffell again threw for 3 touchdowns and ran for another for the red - hot Florida offense . The first half may have been closer than most would have expected , as Auburn kicked a field goal late to trail just 21 - 10 . But that would be it for the Tigers as the Gators reeled off 30 unanswered points en route to a 51 - 10 win .