Florida football: 5 best seasons in program history

1995 was a major season of note for the program. The Gators went undefeated during the regular season, putting the rest of the SEC in its place. Florida went 8-0 vs. SEC opponents, beating four ranked teams including in-state rival Florida State en route to Atlanta. Meeting at the old Georgia Dome was the No. 23 Arkansas Razorbacks, who the Gators demolished 34-3 to stay perfect.

So Florida was 12-0 (8-0) and the No. 2 team in the country heading into its winner-take-all bowl game vs. the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers. Though the Gators were the toast of the Southeast that season, they had no shot against the buzzsaw that was the 1995 Cornhuskers. Decades later, the 1995 Nebraska team is still viewed as one of the greatest single-season teams to ever play.

Florida got annihilated by Tom Osborne’s team 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl. Though they were the national runner-up, this bludgeoning at the hands of Nebraska knocked them down to No. 3 in the Coaches Poll, but the Gators kept their No. 2 ranking in the AP. This was Florida’s first unbeaten regular season team since 1911 and the year where Danny Wuerffel first came to prominence.

Had the Gators played pretty much anyone else, they might have been undefeated national champions. It’s too bad that one of Florida’s greatest seasons all coincided with arguably the greatest year Nebraska football has ever had. The good news is this Florida program did have its shot at redemption the following year and yielded far better results. That lost built character.