50 Fun Facts About Florida Gators

In the foggy 2020 LSU–Florida game, Gators cornerback Marco Wilson drew a costly penalty for throwing what?

A shoe that came off LSU tight end Kole Taylor was flung 20 yards downfield by Wilson after a third-down stop. The penalty kept the drive alive, and a 57-yard field goal beat Florida 37–34.

After Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow wrote Bible verses there, the NCAA banned messages on what in 2010?

Eye black carried John 3:16 when Tebow played the January 2009 title game, and the verse became Google's top search over the next day. The 2010 ban was soon dubbed the Tebow Rule.

Which school lost national championship games to the Florida Gators in both football and men's basketball in 2007?

Ohio State fell 41–14 in football's title game in January 2007 and 84–75 in the basketball final that April. No other school has held both men's crowns at the same time.

Which future NFL MVP was a Florida Gators backup quarterback before winning the Heisman Trophy at Auburn?

Cam Newton spent 2007 and 2008 in Gainesville as an understudy, left for a Texas junior college, then won the 2010 Heisman and a national title in his one season at Auburn.

Florida Gators football crowds sing a hit by which Gainesville-born rock star after the third quarter of home games?

Tom Petty died in October 2017, and at the next home game the stadium played I Won't Back Down between the third and fourth quarters. It has followed the school song ever since.

Florida Gators fans often perform the Gator Chomp arm gesture while the band plays a theme from which film?

Jaws supplies the menacing shark motif the band plays as fans clap their outstretched arms like an alligator's mouth. The university's band started the gesture in 1981.

Which nickname did head coach Steve Spurrier coin in 1992 for the Florida Gators' home football stadium?

The Swamp got its name because, Spurrier said, a swamp is where gators live: hot, sticky and dangerous. Officially the ground is Steve Spurrier–Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Which Florida Gators running back went on to become the NFL's all-time leading rusher with the Dallas Cowboys?

Emmitt Smith ran for 224 yards in his first college start, breaking a Florida single-game record that had stood for 57 years. He retired with 18,355 NFL rushing yards.

Which city has hosted the Florida–Georgia football rivalry game in almost every season since 1933?

Jacksonville is a neutral site, and its giant tailgate scene earned the game the nickname World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, a label not used officially since 2006.

Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow became the first player from which class year to win the Heisman Trophy?

Sophomore Tim Tebow won in 2007 after becoming the first major-college player to both run and pass for at least 20 touchdowns in one season.

Which head coach led the Florida Gators to football national championships in the 2006 and 2008 seasons?

Urban Meyer came from Utah in 2005 and won it all in his second season. He had taken his first head coaching job, at Bowling Green, only in 2001.

Which coach led Florida Gators men's basketball to back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007?

Billy Donovan accepted the Orlando Magic job two months after the 2007 title, had second thoughts almost at once and talked his way out of the contract within a week. He stayed in Gainesville eight more seasons.

Which two colors do Florida Gators teams wear, a pairing fans shout back and forth across the stadium?

Orange and blue probably blend the colors of two schools that merged into the university: one wore orange and black, the other blue and white.

Which name was given to the live alligator that began appearing at Florida Gators football games in 1957?

Albert the live alligator gave way in 1970 to a costumed mascot of the same name, who was later joined by a partner called Alberta.

Which quarterback won the 1996 Heisman Trophy while leading the Florida Gators to their first national championship?

Danny Wuerffel threw 39 touchdown passes that season, the most in the nation. A minister's son, he later led a ministry serving poor neighborhoods in New Orleans and beyond.

Which team did the Gators rout 52–20 in a Sugar Bowl rematch to win their first national football championship?

Florida State had beaten the Gators 24–21 in Tallahassee barely a month earlier. In the rematch, the Gators scored the final 28 points of the game.

Which team did the Florida Gators beat 24–14 in January 2009 to win a second national title in three seasons?

Oklahoma arrived as the highest-scoring team of college football's modern era, led by Heisman winner Sam Bradford, yet scored only twice. Florida's defense twice stopped drives inside the five-yard line.

Florida Gators great Tim Tebow threw an 80-yard overtime touchdown to win a playoff game for which NFL team?

Denver Broncos fans saw Tebow hit Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime to beat Pittsburgh 29–23 in January 2012. It was the franchise's first playoff win since 2005.

Which hurricane forced a Florida–LSU game out of Gainesville, setting up a Gators goal-line stand in Baton Rouge?

Hurricane Matthew wiped out the October 2016 date, so the game moved to Baton Rouge in November. Florida won 16–10 by stopping LSU's Derrius Guice at the goal line on the final play.

Against LSU in 2006, Florida Gators freshman Tim Tebow threw his first touchdown using which unusual technique?

A jump pass to tight end Tate Casey gave Tebow his first career touchdown throw, one of three scores he accounted for that day. He was still the backup to Chris Leak at the time.

Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow gave the 2008 speech known as The Promise after a home loss to which team?

Ole Miss arrived unranked as a 22-point underdog and still beat the fourth-ranked Gators. Tebow apologized and vowed to play harder, and Florida did not lose again that season.

Which team beat the Florida Gators 28–21 in the first SEC Championship Game, played in December 1992?

Alabama won that first title game with a late fourth-quarter touchdown. The two programs met for the SEC crown again the very next season, when Florida won 28–13.

Which SEC opponent did Florida Gators football beat in 31 consecutive seasons from 1987 through 2017?

Kentucky lost every meeting for three decades, the longest such streak in SEC history. It ended in Gainesville in 2018, the Wildcats' first win there since 1979.

Which Florida Gators defensive end played Super Bowl XIV for the Los Angeles Rams with a fractured leg?

Jack Youngblood broke his left fibula in the 1979 playoffs and kept playing, which earned him the label the John Wayne of football. He missed only one game in 14 NFL seasons.

Which nickname did SEC opponents give Florida Gators pass rusher Jevon Kearse for his mix of size and speed?

The Freak carried the name into the NFL, where he set a rookie record with 14.5 sacks in 1999 and was named Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Which Florida Gators receiver returned the second-half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLVIII?

Percy Harvin scored his only touchdown of an injury-hit season on that return, helping Seattle win its first Super Bowl title. He had missed the previous playoff game with a concussion.

Which Florida Gators tight end was drafted fourth overall in 2021, the highest any player at the position had gone?

Kyle Pitts joined the Atlanta Falcons after a 2020 season in which he was a unanimous All-American and won the John Mackey Award as college football's best tight end.

Which nickname did George Edmondson earn by leading a famous pregame cheer at Florida Gators football games?

Mr. Two Bits was a Tampa insurance salesman who had attended The Citadel, not Florida. George Edmondson began the cheer in 1949 to lift a crowd that was booing its own team before kickoff.

The trophy awarded to the Florida–Georgia football winner since 2009 is a ten-foot carved wooden what?

An oar, the Okefenokee Oar, was carved from a 1,000-year-old cypress tree and donated anonymously in 2009. Each side bears one school's symbols, and the winners' student body president receives it.

Which Florida Gators center from the 2006–07 title teams won his first NBA championship with Boston in 2024?

Al Horford, a Dominican-born center, was the third pick of the 2007 NBA draft and needed 17 seasons to win that ring. He had lost the 2022 Finals with the Celtics.

Which coach led Florida Gators men's basketball to a 36–4 record and the 2025 national championship?

Todd Golden once played professionally in Israel for Maccabi Haifa. His Gators edged Houston 65–63 in the 2025 final for the program's third national title.

Which team did Florida Gators men's basketball beat 73–57 in 2006 to win the program's first national title?

UCLA had held LSU to 45 points in the semifinal but could not slow Florida in the final. The Gators eliminated the Bruins again in the Final Four a year later.

The Florida Gators swept LSU in two games in 2017 to win their first national championship in which sport?

Baseball had taken Florida to the College World Series ten times without a title before 2017. That year's final against LSU was an all-SEC affair.

Which former Florida Gators first baseman hit 53 home runs for the New York Mets in 2019, an MLB rookie record?

Pete Alonso, nicknamed Polar Bear, played in two College World Series for Florida before the Mets drafted him in 2016. He was National League Rookie of the Year in 2019.

Which Florida Gators swimmer won 12 Olympic medals, six of them gold, at four Games from 2004 to 2016?

Ryan Lochte swam for the Gators from 2004 to 2007. His first Olympic gold came in Athens in a relay with Michael Phelps that upset the favored Australians.

Which future U.S. women's soccer star helped the Florida Gators win their first NCAA soccer championship?

Abby Wambach was courted by North Carolina and other top programs but chose Gainesville. She went on to score 184 international goals for the United States.

Which Florida Gators hurdler, who turned down football at Georgia, won Olympic 110-meter gold in 2024?

Grant Holloway won the Bowerman as the top college track athlete of 2019 while at Florida. He also set a world indoor record of 7.27 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles.

Coach Rhonda Faehn led the Florida Gators to three straight NCAA team titles from 2013 to 2015 in which sport?

Gymnastics brought Florida its 2014 crown with a score of 198.175, at the time the highest total ever posted at an NCAA championship.

Which Florida Gators tennis player won the 2022 NCAA singles title and later reached the world's top five?

Ben Shelton also won the clinching match when Florida took its first men's team title in 2021. His father Bryan Shelton, a former tour player, began coaching him on tour in 2023.

Which nickname did the media give coach Steve Spurrier's pass-happy Florida Gators offense of the 1990s?

Fun 'n' Gun football broke with the run-first, ball-control style SEC teams traditionally played. Spurrier had begun developing the system as Duke's offensive coordinator in the early 1980s.

In the 1971 play known as the Gator Flop, the Florida defense dropped to the turf to let which rival score?

Miami was allowed to score so Florida could get the ball back and let quarterback John Reaves break the NCAA career passing record. The Hurricanes' coach refused a postgame handshake.

Which Florida Gators football coach was fired in 1984 over NCAA rules violations that later cost the team its SEC title?

Charley Pell was dismissed three games into the season, and interim coach Galen Hall then won the school's first SEC championship. League presidents vacated it months later.

Which Florida Gators offensive coordinator from 2005 to 2008 returned to Gainesville as head coach in 2018?

Dan Mullen spent nine seasons in between as Mississippi State's head coach, where his quarterbacks included Dak Prescott. At Florida he had coached Tim Tebow.

Which team beat the Florida Gators 62–24 in the Fiesta Bowl to deny them a national title after the 1995 season?

Nebraska's 38-point margin stood as the biggest in a national championship game until January 2023. Florida had not won a game by fewer than 11 points all season.

Which former Florida Gators golfer, a four-time All-American, won the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup in 2014?

Billy Horschel won the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship in back-to-back weeks to take the season-long prize. Two days later he became a father for the first time.

Which SEC rival did the Florida Gators usually meet in a football game nicknamed the Third Saturday in September?

Tennessee and Florida met on that date almost every year from 1992 until the league expanded in 2024. The Gators won eleven in a row from 2005 to 2015.

Which NFL team used the fourth pick of the 2023 draft on Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson?

Indianapolis Colts coaches named Richardson their starter before his first season, though he had started only 13 games at Florida and lost seven of them. He went to high school in Gainesville.

Which guard played one Florida Gators season before the Washington Wizards drafted him third overall in 2012?

Bradley Beal was drafted on his 19th birthday after making the All-SEC first team as a freshman. He became a three-time NBA All-Star during eleven seasons in Washington.

Which NFL television analyst was an All-American Florida Gators receiver after arriving as a quarterback?

Cris Collinsworth threw a 99-yard touchdown on his first college attempt, then moved to receiver in 1978. His position coach that year was Steve Spurrier, in his first coaching job.

Which former Florida Gators quarterback starred on The Bachelor in 2004 and later became the show's permanent host?

Jesse Palmer played for Steve Spurrier from 1997 to 2000 and then for the New York Giants. He was named permanent host of the dating series in 2021.