Florida football: 5 best seasons in program history

Since 1990, the Florida Gators have been one of the best programs in college football. Here are the five greatest seasons in Florida football history.

It’s amazing what can happen over the course of 30 years with one football program. Prior to 1966 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Steve Spurrier returning to Gainesville to coach his alma mater, the Florida Gators had never even won an SEC Championship, let alone a national title. My how things swiftly changed for the positive for Florida football beginning in 1990.

Spurrier brought the Fun ‘n Gun offense to the SEC and set the league on fire with his pass-heavy aerial offense. Florida was the preeminent program in the SEC in the 1990s, as they won SEC Championships, eight SEC East Division titles, played for two national titles and won one of them under his watch. He left for the NFL in 2002, only to return to the SEC in 2005 at South Carolina.

His former defensive coordinator Ron Zook kept the seat warm for a few years before Utah Utes head coach Urban Meyer brought Florida back to prominence. The Gators won two national titles, two SEC Championships and three SEC East crowns in Meyer’s brief six-year stint in Gainesville. Simply put, there has been a lot of winning at Florida since the 1990s.

Here are the five greatest seasons in the history of Florida football.

Though the Gators had some great years in the mid-1980s, they were mired with scandals, violations and probation. When Spurrier left Duke University for Florida in 1990, the Gators were on a postseason ban and couldn’t ever seem to get out of their own way. Well, after a nine-win season in 1990, everything started to come together for Florida beginning in 1991.

Florida went 10-2 with a perfect 7-0 record in SEC play. With Shane Matthews as their star quarterback and defensive tackle Brad Culpepper as their best player, Florida won the SEC for the first time in program history, as crazy as that sounds. The Gators beat five teams ranked in the top 25 en route to a No. 8 final ranking in the Coaches Poll and a No. 7 final ranking in the AP.

Florida’s only two losses that year were at No. 17 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome and vs. No. 18 Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. While two upset losses to teams it was probably better than, Florida never fell any lower than No. 14 in any poll. The Gators got as high as No. 3 entering the Sugar Bowl date with Notre Dame, rattling off an eight-game winning streak in between losses.

For a football program as rich as Florida’s is, you wouldn’t think a two-loss campaign would crack the top five all-time. However, this was the Gators’ first 10-win season and it was the first time Florida had ever won the SEC. Though they’d really find their stride a few years later with Danny Wuerffel as their quarterback, 1991 was the year Florida officially popped under Spurrier.