Well we have moved into the month of September and are just five days away from the start of the 110th season of Florida Gators football. Folks from all over will start to use the phrase that “fall is in the air”, but Gator fans know better.
Here come the Gators! It is football that is in the air, Florida Gator football.
Florida Gators News From the Past
Much like the end of August, the first days of September do not have a lot of history as far as Florida Gators football is concerned. In fact, there have only been four games played on September 1 in the 109 seasons played to date.
The Gators are 3-1 on September 1
In the brief history of Gator games on this date they have all been played in the state of Florida, one of those was in Tampa (the loss) and three were in the Swamp.
The loss came in 1984 when the Miami Hurricanes and the Gators matched up in Tampa. The Gators were ranked #17 and the Canes under Jimmy Johnson were ranked #10.
Well, I’ll shut up here so you can take a look.
Not the greatest of days for a Florida Gators fan, but still, some 31 years later it is fun to take a look back.
Of course the Gators would not lose again that season and went on to win an SEC title that was stripped and Coach Pell would end up as a former coach in the carnage that was left.
As we move through the rest of the year doing these daily look backs, we will always talk about that 1984 team, it was one of the greatest in Florida football history.
The other three games played on September 1 were all against lesser opponents, Marshall Thundering Herd (2001), Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (2007) and Bowling Green Falcons (2012).
The Gators accumulative score on September 1 is 145-63. As Gator fan we know that most of these early games are tune-ups and an opportunity to not only give players game experience, but also to let players with discipline problems sit out a game that we might can win without them.
This Season in Florida Gators News
As I mentioned yesterday, one streak we still have going in spite of the last four seasons is our opening game win streak is at 25, which is second only to the Nebraska Cornhuskers who are at 29 straight seasons to open with a win. We are eight ahead of USC who has started 17 seasons in a row with a win.
In the SEC Alabama Crimson Tide and Missouri Tigers both have a 13 game win streak to start the season while LSU is at 12.
Of the teams mentioned Nebraska does have a tough opening day game as they play BYU Cougars to start the seasons at 3:30 on the 5th. So, if BYU does pull off the win the Gators will own the longest streak when they kickoff at 7:30.
Other games involving ones with a streak USC hosts Arkansas State, Alabama plays Wisconsin and Missouri host SE Missouri State.
If Will Grier gets the start at quarterback it will be the 70th time a true or redshirt freshman has started for the Gator. Florida is 43-25-1 in those games.
The game Saturday will be the first night game to start the season since 2011.
Happened in Sports This Date
- 1950-Phil Fulmer was born
- 1975 – NY Met Tom Seaver is 1st to strike out 200 in 8 consecutive seasons (as a side note, when I was a teenage Seaver was playing for the Jacksonville Suns and he invited me into the bullpen to warm him up. I caught about 20 pitches and he signed the ball. He did not pitch that night, but probablyjust wanted to give a kid a good experience. He did.
- 2006 – Roger Goodell begins his tenure as NFL Commissioner
- 2013 Boxer Tommy Morrison died at age 44 due to organ failure
A #1 Tune this date
Whether you’ve got your own teeth or not keep smiling everybody!
#1 this date in 1984 as the Mighty Gators took on the Miami Hurricanes
Some nice runs by #22 in the video.