1980 Florida Gators football team

American college football season

1980 Florida Gators football
Tangerine Bowl, W 35–20 vs. Maryland
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 19
Record	8–4 (4–2 SEC)
Head coach	Charley Pell (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Mike Shanahan (1st season)
Captain	Rod Brooks Cris Collinsworth David Little
Home stadium	Florida Field
Seasons ← 1979 1981 →

1980 Southeastern Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 1 Georgia $	6	–	0	–	0	12	–	0	–	0
No. 19 Mississippi State	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
No. 6 Alabama	5	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
LSU	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Florida	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Tennessee	3	–	3	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Ole Miss	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Kentucky	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Auburn	0	–	6	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Vanderbilt	0	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1980 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was the Florida Gators football team's second season under new head coach Charles B. "Charley" Pell, and marked a remarkable one-year turnaround for the Gators from their 0–10–1 record in 1979.^[1] The winless 1979 season was the worst season in Gators history, and it was Pell's first campaign as the new head coach of the Gators, after the Gators' previous head coach, Doug Dickey, was fired in the aftermath of a 4–7 season in 1978.^[1] Pell's 1980 Florida Gators posted an 8–4 overall record and a Southeastern Conference (SEC) record of 4–2, tying for fourth place in the ten-team SEC.^[2] The Gators capped their season with a 35–20 bowl victory over the Maryland Terrapins in the Tangerine Bowl, marking the first time in the history of major college football that a winless team received a bowl bid the following season.^[1] Linebacker David Little set the career record for tackles by a Gator and was consensus All-American.^[3] Receiver Cris Collinsworth was first-team All-American. The season features the famous "Run Lindsay Run" in the close loss to national champion Georgia.^[4]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 13	vs. California*		Tampa Stadium Tampa, FL		W 41–13	41,388	^[5]
September 20	at Georgia Tech*		Grant Field Atlanta, GA		W 45–12	35,165	^[6]
September 27	Mississippi State		Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 21–15	56,225	^[7]
October 4	LSU	No. 19	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)		L 7–24	59,299	^[8]
October 18	at Ole Miss		Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS		W 15–3	36,012	^[9]
October 25	Louisville*		Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 13–0	62,687	^[10]
November 1	Auburn		Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)		W 21–10	63,274	^[11]
November 8	vs. No. 2 Georgia	No. 20	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	ABC	L 21–26	68,528	^[12]
November 15	at Kentucky	No. 20	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY (rivalry)		W 17–15	51,766	^[13]
November 29	Miami (FL)*	No. 18	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ABC	L 7–31	56,437	^[14]
December 6	at No. 3 Florida State*	No. 19	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	ABC	L 13–17	53,772	^[15]
December 20	vs. Maryland*		Orlando Stadium Orlando, FL (Tangerine Bowl)	MTN	W 35–20	52,541	^[16]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[2]

Game summaries

California

	1	2	3	4	Total
California	0	13	0	0	13
• Florida	13	0	21	7	41

Date: September 13
Location: Tampa Stadium
Game attendance: 41,388

Scoring summary

Q1	8:58	FLA	Kellom 1 yard run (Clark kick)	FLA 7–0

Q1	3:29	FLA	Clark 33 yard field goal	FLA 10–0

Q1	:24	FLA	Clark 49 yard field goal	FLA 13–0

Q2	10:46	CAL	Lewis 24 yard pass from Campbell (Luckhurst kick)	FLA 13–7

Q2	3:29	CAL	Luckhurst 42 yard field goal	FLA 13–10

Q2	:04	CAL	Luckhurst 30 yard field goal	Tie 13–13

Q3	5:49	FLA	Faulkner 9 yard pass from Hawko (Clark kick)	FLA 20–13

Q3	3:11	FLA	Jones 3 yard run (Clark kick)	FLA 27–13

Q3	1:15	FLA	Garrett 20 yard pass from Hawko (Clark kick)	FLA 34–13

Q4	13:23	FLA	T. Williams 2 yard run (Clark kick)	FLA 41–13

^[17]

Vs. Georgia

#20 Florida Gators (6–1) vs. #2 Georgia Bulldogs (8–0)

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Georgia	7	7	6	6	26
Florida	3	7	0	11	21

at Gator Bowl • Jacksonville, Florida

Date: November 8
Game weather: Sunny
Game attendance: 68,528
TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels and Frank Broyles
^[18]

Game information

Georgia

Buck Belue
7/16, 145 Yds, TD, 2 INT
Herschel Walker
37 Rush, 238 Yds, TD
Lindsay Scott
2 Rec, 114 Yds, TD

Florida

Wayne Peace
20/37, 286 Yds, TD, 2 INT
James Jones
22 Rush, 89 Yds, TD
Tyrone Young
10 Rec, 183 Yds

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	UGA	FLA
1	13:09				Georgia	Walker 72-yard touchdown run, Robinson kick good	7	0
1	7:07				Florida	40-yard field goal by Clark	7	3
2	13:29		77		Georgia	Stewart 13-yard touchdown reception from Belue, Robinson kick good	14	3
2	7:10				Florida	Collinsworth 9-yard touchdown reception from Peace, Clark kick good	14	10
3	9:38				Georgia	24-yard field goal by Robinson	17	10
3	3:58				Georgia	20-yard field goal by Robinson	20	10
4	14:14		81		Florida	Jones 11-yard touchdown run, 2-point pass good	20	18
4	6:52	11			Florida	40-yard field goal by Clark	20	21
4	1:03				Georgia	Scott 93-yard touchdown reception from Belue, 2-point pass incomplete	26	21
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							26	21

^[19]

At Florida State

Florida Gators (7–3) at #3 Florida State Seminoles (9–1)

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida	7	6	0	0	13
Florida St	3	0	7	7	17

at Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida

Date: December 6
Game attendance: 53,772
TV: ABC
Recap/Box

Game information

First quarter

FSU – Bill Capece 44-yard field goal, 8:28. Florida St 3–0.
FLA – Tyrone Young 53-yard pass from Wayne Peace (Brian Clark kick), 2:31. Florida 7–3. Drive: 88 yards.

Second quarter

FLA – Brian Clark 38-yard field goal, 9:55. Florida 10–3.
FLA – Brian Clark 36-yard field goal, 1:48. Florida 13–3.

Third quarter

FSU – Hardis Johnson 19-yard pass from Rick Stockstill (Bill Capece kick), 10:12. Florida 13–10.

Fourth quarter

FSU – Hardis Johnson 20-yard pass from Rick Stockstill (Bill Capece kick), 14:24. Florida St 17–13.

Top passers

FLA – Wayne Peace – 9/24, 160 yards, TD, 4 INT
FSU – Rick Stockstill – 11/18, 137 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT

Top rushers

FLA –
FSU – Ricky Williams – 21 rushes, 75 yards

Top receivers

FLA –
FSU – Hardis Johnson – 7 receptions, 107 yards

Personnel

1980 Florida Gators football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
RB	`14`	Johnell Brown	So
WR	`21`	Cris Collinsworth (C)	Sr
RB		Calvin Davis
WR		Dwayne Dixon	Fr
TE	`80`	Chris Faulkner	So
OT	`69`	Dan Fike	So
WR	`42`	Johnny Gaffney	Jr
WR	`28`	Curt Garrett	Jr
QB	`12`	Bob Hewko	So
WR	`89`	Spencer Jackson	So
FB	`30`	James Jones	So
RB		Doug Kellom
TE	`88`	Wilber Marshall	Fr
QB		Mark Massey
TE	`82`	Mike Mularkey	So
QB		Larry Ochab
QB		Wayne Peace	Fr
OL		Dan Plonk
RB	`39`	Carl Prioleau	Sr
OL		John Redmond
C	`59`	Doug Smith	So
WR	`19`	Johnny Smith	Sr
OL		Jim Subers
OT	`70`	Joe Wickline	Sr
RB	`44`	Derald Williams	So
RB	`31`	Terry Williams	Sr
WR	`7`	Tyrone Young	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DL	`53`	Rod Brooks (C)	Sr
DL	`90`	Val Brown	So
DE	`87`	Mike Clark	Sr
DL	`61`	Ron Coleman	Sr
DB		Ivory Curry
DL	`66`	Robin Fisher	Jr
DL	`85`	David Galloway	Jr
DB	`43`	Sonny Gilliam	So
DE	`57`	Tim Golden	Sr
S	`20`	Tim Groves	Sr
LB		Fernando Jackson
CB	`24`	Kyle Knight	So
DB		Tony Lilly
LB	`51`	David Little	Sr
DL		Dock Luckie
DB		Vito McKeever
DL	`50`	Yancey Sutton	Sr
CB	`47`	Bruce Vaughan	So
LB	`95`	Tom Weigmann	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`3`	Brian Clark	Jr
P	`4`	Mark Dickert	Jr

Head coach

Charley Pell

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Vince Kendrick (RB)
Mike Shanahan (OC)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Norm Carlson, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia, pp. 95–96 (2007).
^ ^a ^b 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 111–112 (2015). Retrieved August 14, 2015.
^ "Consensus All-America Teams (1980-1989)". College Football at Sports-Reference.com.
^ Associated Press, "Belue-to-Scott Desperation Pass Saves 'Dogs from Jaws of Gators", The Albany Sunday Herald, p. 1D (November 9, 1980). Retrieved August 21, 2011.
^ "Florida thrashes Bears in second half". The San Francisco Examiner. September 14, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Lightning, Gators strike Tech". The Macon Telegraph & News. September 21, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Florida snaps SEC jinx". The Tennessean. September 28, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "LSU feasts on Gator gumbo". Daily World. October 5, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Gators kick up a 15–3 storm". The Pensacola News-Journal. October 19, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Florida dumps U of L, suffers by comparison". The Courier-Journal. October 26, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Auburn fumbles to 21–10 loss". The Atlanta Journal & Constitution. November 2, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Great Scott! Gators stunned". The Miami Herald. November 9, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "What couldn't be, was: Victory eludes UK again". Sunday Herald-Leader. November 16, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Hurricanes blow away Gators". The Tampa Tribune. November 30, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Seminoles escape threat by Gators". The Commercial Appeal. December 7, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Peace's passes lead Florida over Terrapins". The Pensacola News-Journal. December 21, 1980. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Palm Beach Post. 1980 Sept 14. Retrieved 2015-Oct-14.
^ Ocala Star-Banner. 1980 Nov 09. Retrieved 2019-Jan-02.
^ 24/7 Sports. Retrieved 2019-Jan-02.

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