Auburn&ndash;Florida football rivalry

Auburn–Florida football rivalry

The Auburn-Florida football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Auburn Tigers football team of Auburn University and Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida. Both universities are founding members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and both were members of the Southern Conference before 1933.
Auburn leads the series 43-38-2. The series has been marked by periods of alternating winning streaks by one team intermingled with stretches of home field dominance by both. Auburn, however, has always led the series. Thirty-three of the games in the series have been decided by a touchdown or less, including two ties.
Series history
While the early part of the series saw Auburn and Florida trade 6-game and 5-game winning streaks respectively, the rivalry has evolved into one of the mostly evenly matched and hardest fought in the Southeastern Conference. The games have often had SEC title and national championship implications. As described by Gainesville Sun sports columnist Pat Dooley following the 2007 game, "Florida-Auburn delivered another game that made one side ecstatic and one side heartbroken. That's what it does."
The first game in the series was played between coach Mike Donahue's Tigers and coach George E. Pyle's Gators in 1912, on the Auburn, Alabama campus of what was then called . The Auburn Tigers won the first six games played by the two teams from 1912 to 1917, dominating the Florida Gators by two or more touchdowns in five of the six games. Beginning in 1935, the fortunes of the Gators and Tigers reversed again, with the Tigers compiling a 7-2-1 record in the next ten games played through 1947.
With the construction of Auburn Stadium in 1939, the Tigers started a remarkable 32-year streak on the Tigers' home field during which they would tie the Gators once and defeat them twelve consecutive times. The Gators broke the Tigers' home-field winning streak in a hard-fought upset in 1973.
From 1945 to 2002, the Florida Gators and Auburn Tigers played forty-eight consecutive annual games; since 2003, the two teams have been scheduled to meet twice every five years. The Gators and Tigers have played eighty-two games in the past ninety-nine years, and the current all-time series record is forty-two victories for the Tigers, thirty-eight for the Gators, and two ties. In terms of all-time winning percentage, less than half a percentage point separates the Tigers (.634) and the Gators (.631). Several of the most notable games in the 99-year history of the rivalry are described below.
1939: Auburn's new stadium
In the first varsity football game played at the Tigers' new Auburn Stadium, coach Josh Cody's 1939 Gators and coach Jack Meagher's Tigers played to a 7-7 tie. In the second quarter, Florida fullback Charlie Tate scored the only touchdown of the day for the Gators, then kicked the extra point; Tigers back Dick McGowen threw a touchdown pass to end Babe McGehee to tie the game in the fourth quarter.
1957: First meeting of ranked teams
When coach Bob Woodruff's nineteenth-ranked 1957 Florida Gators and coach Shug Jordan's Auburn Tigers met in Cliff Hare Stadium in Auburn, it was the first game between the rivals in which both teams were ranked in the top twenty of the AP Poll. At the end of the season, the Gators finished in the top twenty of the final AP Poll for only the second time in their history, Rather than risk a turnover, Jordan ordered Tigers quarterback Johnny Kern to kneel in their own end zone, intentionally scoring a safety for the Gators, but earning a free punt for the Tigers.
===1962: #5 Auburn loses===
Auburn came to Gainesville ranked #5 and left with a 22-3 defeat. The Gators intercepted two passes, and recovered three fumbles.
1966: Heisman Trophy field goal
Coach Ray Graves' 1966 Florida Gators and coach Shug Jordan's Auburn Tigers repeatedly traded the lead as they battled back and forth all day. In the fourth quarter with the game tied at 27, Gators quarterback Steve Spurrier was engineering a late drive for the win, but was stopped at Auburn's 39-yard-line following an intentional grounding penalty. With 2:12 left in the game, he kicked the 40-yard field goal to give the Gators a 30-27 lead, and the Gators defense held on to win. He completed twenty-seven passes on forty attempts for 259 yards, one touchdown pass and no interceptions, and also rushed for a touchdown.
1973: Breaking the Auburn jinx
Led by first-time starting quarterback Don Gaffney, the 1973 Gators finally broke the Tigers; home-field winning streak after thirty-four years. Gators linebacker Ralph Ortega tackled Tigers tailback Chris Linderman inside the Gators' five yard-line and forced a fumble shortly before halftime. Gators linebacker Sammy Green forced a critical fumble by Auburn Tigers tailback Sullivan Walker, which led to a touchdown and the Gators' margin of victory in a 12-8 upset of the Tigers at home to give the Gators their first-ever win at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn scored its only points in the final play of the game.
1976: Attack of the War Eagle
Coach Doug Dickey's 1976 Gators and coach Doug Barfield's Tigers played a strong defensive game, with the Gators' winning margin coming on two pass plays—with some help from Auburn's mascot. The decisive score came late in the game when Gators quarterback Jimmy Fisher tossed a short pass to wide receiver Wes Chandler, who caught it, reversed direction twice, and weaved his way through the entire Auburn defense for a 64-yard touchdown reception and run. After Chandler ran out of the end zone, Auburn's mascot, the War Eagle, jumped off its perch and started clawing at Chandler's shoulder pads. Referees marked off the 15-yard penalty against the mascot on the ensuing kickoff. Florida won 24−19. Tigers tailback Bo Jackson started the game as the leading contender to win the Heisman Trophy. But Jackson's Heisman hopes took a serious blow when he ran into a ferocious Gators defense that held him to just forty-seven yards rushing, and the Gators stuffed the Tigers 14-10 in yet another defensive struggle. On the strength of the win over the Tigers, the Gators vaulted into the No. 1 spot in the AP Poll for the first time in school history. Notwithstanding the Tigers' loss to the Gators, Jackson won the Heisman at the conclusion of the 1985 season.
1986: Bell leads fourth-quarter comeback
For most of the game, coach Pat Dye's fifth-ranked 1986 Auburn Tigers dominated coach Galen Hall's unranked Florida Gators at Florida Field. The Tigers defense was stifling, and forced Gators substitute quarterback Rodney Brewer to commit four turnovers in the first two quarters. After Webbie Burnett recovered a fumble at the Florida 34 with 1:41 remaining in the game, Bell directed one final drive that was capped by a five-yard touchdown pass with 0:36 remaining to wide receiver Ricky Nattiel, who was playing with a separated shoulder.
1990: Spurrier's offense makes a statement
Coach Pat Dye's 1990 Auburn Tigers were the defending three-time SEC champions, had built an undefeated 6−0−1 record, and were ranked fourth in the nation in the AP Poll. Notwithstanding the fact that first-year coach Steve Spurrier's fifteenth-ranked Florida Gators were three-point favorites,
1993: Auburn upsets No. 4 Florida
On a cold, drizzling, dreary day in Auburn, coach Steve Spurrier's fourth-ranked 1993 Gators amassed 560 yards of total offense, including 386 yards passing by quarterback Danny Wuerffel and 196 yards rushing by tailback Errict Rhett. But the Gators' offensive fireworks were not enough for the win, as Auburn's defense sacked Wuerffel four times and made two key interceptions. The Gators' starting quarterback, Terry Dean, threw four interceptions in the first half, and was replaced by Danny Wuerffel, who threw three touchdown passes but was intercepted by Tigers defensive back Brian Robinson with 1:20 left. Gators quarterback Rex Grossman completed twenty-five of forty-two passes for 364 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw four interceptions. The Gators dominated statistically, but the Tigers' bend-but-don't-break defense held the Gators rushing game to negative yardage. The Tigers' starting tailback, Carnell Williams, left the game with a broken leg, but backup Ronnie Brown amassed 162 yards and three touchdowns, as the Tigers came roaring back to tie the score at 23 in the fourth quarter. In overtime, Grossman threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to receiver Taylor Jacobs, the Gators defense held the Tigers on downs, and Florida won 30-23. But Meyer had called a timeout at the last possible moment to ice the kicker before the snap had taken place. After successfully making the field goal again as time expired to upset Florida 20-17, he taunted the Florida head coach and crowd with a few mock Gator chomps.<ref name=long9302007/>

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