A Look Back at the Greatest Team in Florida Gators History

Every year on the Friday night before kickoff Saturday, I partake in a tradition to prepare for the upcoming Florida Gators football season.

I prepare myself a midnight snack, which is actually more like a meal, and get in my "traditional" place on the couch. I'm about to watch what is, in my opinion, the greatest football team in Gators history. It's a VHS recording of the '96 Sugar Bowl/national championship game versus the 'Noles. Ahh, sweet revenge.

Each year I sit and watch in awe as our Gators simply dominate the so-called No. 1 team in the country. Danny Wuerffel picked the FSU defense to pieces that night. The Gators defense was just as spectacular, as they completely shut down Warrick Dunn and Florida State's offense. It seemed too easy. It had been easy for the Gators nearly all year.

The Gators dominated their SEC opponent by an average of 31 points per game, including three straight wins of 40-plus points against Arkansas, LSU, and Georgia. In other words, they outscored their SEC foes by 279 points! Ridiculous, I know.

I could go on with the numbers forever. Literally. The Gators offense blew the roof off of stadiums across the South. Their high-powered passing attack was led by Wuerffel, the eventual Heisman Trophy winner. His extremely talented receivers helped him make throwing the ball downfield look easy.

The fact that this was the greatest receiving corps in UF, and maybe SEC history is obvious to anyone who watched them play. Led by All-Americans Ike Hilliard and Reidel Anthony, this group was unstoppable. Jacquez Green and Travis McGriff were pretty awesome as well. Both were future All-Americans. Green also dominated in the return game as well receiving.

Their big-play passing was complemented by an extremely balanced running attack. The load was split between Elijah Williams, Fred Taylor, Terry Jackson, and Eugene McCaslin. They combined for 1,978 yards on the ground. That's more than you would think with such a high-powered air attack. Add in the passing numbers, and that comes out to 5,985 yards on the year.

The defense was stacked that year. It was led by middle linebacker James Bates, who recorded a team-high 125 tackles. The other linebackers were two guys who weren't too bad themselves, Mike Petersen and Johnny Rutledge. This says a lot: The No. 4 guy was Jevon Kearse.

The D-line was solid. Ed Chester, Reggie McGrew, Cameron Davis, and Tim Beauchamp. The secondary doesn't disappoint, either. Just listen to the names: Shea Showers, Fred Weary, Tony George, Anthone Lott, Lawrence Wright, and Teako Brown. Ring any All-American bells? Quite a few.

The coaching staff was as good as it gets. The Run 'n' Gun offense was led by Steve Spurrier, one of the greatest offensive minds in the history of the game. The defense was coached by future national champion and current head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, Bob Stoops. Not bad at all.

All the numbers and names are great, but that Sugar Bowl seals the deal for me. Watching Ike Hilliard put on the brakes as two Seminole defenders fly past him on his way to trotting casually in the end zone is simply amazing.

Watching Wuerffel get up, cheap shot after cheap shot, and not complain. He just took care of business as usual. Tough as nails. He just delivered pass after pass right on the money just like he did all year.

These are the names and plays that I will never forget. I hope it brought back some good memories for you, as well. Go Gators.

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