1992
| 1992 Florida Gators football | |
SEC Eastern Division Champions | |
|---|---|
SEC Championship Game, L 21–28 vs. Alabama | |
Gator Bowl, W 27–10 v. North Carolina State | |
| Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Eastern Division | |
| Ranking | |
| Coaches | No. 11 |
| AP | No. 10 |
| 1992 record | 9–4 (6–2 1st East SEC) |
| Head coach | Steve Spurrier |
| Defensive coordinator | Ron Zook |
| Captain | Shane Matthews Carlton Miles |
| Home stadium | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium |
Seasons | |
| 1992 SEC football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #10/11 Florida xy | 6 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #8/8 Georgia x | 6 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 10 | – | 2 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #12/12 Tennessee | 5 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Carolina | 3 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kentucky | 2 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vanderbilt | 2 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Western Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #1/1 Alabama xy† | 8 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 13 | – | 0 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #16/16 Ole Miss | 5 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #23 Mississippi State | 4 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 7 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas | 3 | – | 4 | – | 1 | 3 | – | 7 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Auburn | 2 | – | 5 | – | 1 | 5 | – | 5 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LSU | 1 | – | 7 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 9 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Championship:Alabama 28, Florida 21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Season overview
The 1992 college football season was Steve Spurrier's third as the Florida Gators football team's head coach, and the wins were harder to come by as the star-studded senior classes from 1990 and 1991 had graduated. The Gators racked up six tough Southeastern Conference (SEC) wins over the Kentucky Wildcats (35–19), LSU Tigers (28–21), Auburn Tigers (24–9), seventh-ranked Georgia Bulldogs (26–24), South Carolina Gamecocks (14–9), and Vanderbilt Commodores (41–21). They also suffered two crushing SEC losses to the fourteenth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers (14–31) in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the twenty-fourth-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs (6–30) on a Thursday night in Starkville, Mississippi.
The Gators' non-conference schedule included a homecoming victory over the Louisville Cardinals (31–17), and another surprisingly difficult win over Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (24–20). They closed their regular season with a road loss to the third-ranked Florida State Seminoles (24–45) in Tallahassee.
The Gators finished their SEC schedule with a 6–2 conference record, placing first among the six teams of the new SEC Eastern Division and earning a berth in the first-ever SEC Championship Game in Birmingham, Alabama. Spurrier's scrappy young Gators, however, fell short against the SEC Western Division champion, the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (21–28). The Crimson Tide would later defeat the Miami Hurricanes in the Sugar Bowl to win the 1992 national championship.
Spurrier's 1992 Florida Gators posted a 9–4 overall record, concluding their season with a victory over the twelfth-ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack (27–10) in the Gator Bowl, and ranking tenth in the final Associated Press Poll.
Schedule and results
| Date | Opponent# | Rank# | Site | TV | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9–12–1992 | Kentucky | #4 | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida | JP | W 35–19 | |||
| 9–19–1992 | #14 Tennessee | #4 | Neyland Stadium • Knoxville, Tennessee | ABC | L 14–31 | |||
| 10–1–1992 | #24 Mississippi State | #13 | Davis Wade Stadium • Starkville, Mississippi | ESPN | L 6–30 | |||
| 10–10–1992 | Louisiana State | #23 | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida | JP | W 28–21 | |||
| 10–17–1992 | Auburn | #23 | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida | ABC | W 24–9 | |||
| 10–24–1992* | Louisville | #20 | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Fla. (Homecoming) | W 31–17 | ||||
| 10–31–1992 | #7 Georgia | #20 | Gator Bowl Stadium • Jacksonville, Florida | ABC | W 26–24 | |||
| 11–7–1992* | Southern Mississippi | #14 | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida | W 24–20 | ||||
| 11–14–1992 | South Carolina | #11 | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida | JP | W 14–9 | |||
| 11–21–1992 | Vanderbilt | #9 | Vanderbilt Stadium • Nashville, Tennessee | JP | W 41–21 | |||
| 11–28–1992* | #3 Florida State | #6 | Doak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, Florida | ABC | L 24–45 | |||
| 12–5–1992 | #2 Alabama | #12 | Legion Field • Birmingham, Ala. (SEC Championship) | ABC | L 21–28 | |||
| 12–31–1992* | #12 North Carolina State | #14 | Gator Bowl Stadium • Jacksonville, Florida (Gator Bowl) | TBS | W 27–10 | |||
| *Non-Conference Game. #Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. | ||||||||