Florida football’s first SEC championship team to be honored

Florida will feature its OG championship team this weekend for homecoming against Kentucky. If you know, you know.

Florida football’s original Southeastern Conference championship team will be inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium this weekend when the Gators host the Kentucky Wildcats for this year’s homecoming game.

“We are excited to welcome the 1984 Gators football team back to campus for the Kentucky game and homecoming weekend,” UF athletic director Scott Stricklin offered before the start of the 2024 season.

“It will be a wonderful opportunity to recognize them for their special accomplishments while allowing them the opportunity to reconnect with their teammates and friends.”

Of course, long-time fans of the Orange and Blue will recall that the 1984 squad went 9-1-1 that fall with a season-opening loss to the Miami Hurricanes in Tampa along with a tie in Week 2 with the LSU Tigers at home. Florida then ran off nine-straight victories including five total wins against Southeastern Conference foes.

The season was anything but smooth sailing, however, with head coach [autotag]Charlie Pell[/autotag] dismissed after the first three games as NCAA violations swirled around his program. Offensive coordinator [autotag]Galen Hall[/autotag], who was not implicated in the scandal, took the reins as the interim skipper and went 8-0 to finish the campaign.

Six months after beating Kentucky for that fifth SEC win in six tries, the league voted to strip the conference title due to the NCAA violations committed under Pell. Suffice it to say, this remains an open wound for both the Gator Nation and the players at the time.

The 1984 team may have been the best

Many, in fact, believe that squad stands alongside the best ever in Gainesville, including wide receiver [autotag]Ricky Nattiel[/autotag].

“I can compare that team to any team that has played at Florida, and there have been some good ones, no question,” Nattiel said. “There was a lot of NFL talent on that team. I’m being biased, but at the same time, I’m being realistic — that team is one of the best teams to ever play at the University of Florida on sheer talent alone.”

Offensive lineman Billy Hinson also added to the lore of the special season.

“The term ‘wait till next year’ started with us. It started with the Gators,” Hinson offered. “We had a lot of talent on that team, but what was missing was that intangible, that connectedness, and it all came together in that Kentucky game when we knew our backs were against the wall and this was our chance to win.”

However, that was a long time ago — 40 years, in fact — and many people are oblivious to what that Florida team accomplished in the mid-80s.

“I think a lot of that history has been forgotten. We were undefeated in the SEC. Through the probation and all the allegations that were happening at the time, it was just a wonderful experience for our team. A lot of things transpired after that, but at that time, that Kentucky game was definitely the highlight of our career.”

Coming up for the Gators

The Gators host the Wildcats inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 19, for this year’s homecoming game. Kickoff is set for 7:45 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Looking back at the Denver Broncos’ 5 best Super Bowl plays

The Denver Broncos have appeared in eight Super Bowls. Here are their best plays from those games.

Super Bowl LIV is about ready to kick off. Yes, it is the Kansas City Chiefs facing the San Francisco 49ers so the Denver Broncos and their fans will have to wait at least another year to be on this stage.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t relive some of the team’s best Super Bowl moments.

Last year, I counted down the team’s best individual performances in a Super Bowl.

The Broncos have played in eight Super Bowls, creating a lot of memories in them. Many of those memories haven’t been all that pleasant as the Broncos have been on the wrong end of some of the biggest blowouts in the history of the Big Game.

But the team has won three Super Bowls and there were several great plays that had to be made in order to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

Not all of these plays came from Super Bowl victories. These were just the five best plays ever made by the Broncos in a Super Bowl game, though most of them were instrumental in the team’s ultimate success.

No. 5: Cam Newton stripped for the second time: Super Bowl 50

As dominant as the Broncos’ defense was against the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50, the team clung to a 16-10 lead with just over four minutes to play in the game. The Panthers had the ball and faced a critical 3rd-and-9 from their own 24-yard line.

That’s when Von Miller, the game’s eventual MVP, came through to wreak some more havoc.

Miller knocked the ball from the hands of Newton and after it bounced around, T.J. Ward eventually scooped it up and set the Broncos up with a 1st-and-goal which would lead to the game-sealing touchdown.

Pages: 123