2002 Florida Gators football team

The 2002 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2002 college football season. The Gators competed in Division I-A of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. They were led by first-year head coach Ron Zook, who coached them to a second-place finish in the SEC East, an Outback Bowl berth, and an overall record of 8–5 (.615).

2002 Florida Gators football
Outback Bowl, L 38–30 vs. Michigan
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
DivisionEastern Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 24
2002 record8–5 (6–2 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorEd Zaunbrecher (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorJohn Thompson (1st season)
CaptainEarnest Graham
Rex Grossman
Byron Hardmon
Taylor Jacobs
Todd Johnson
Home stadiumBen Hill Griffin Stadium
(Capacity: 83,000)[1]
2002 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
Eastern Division
No. 3 Georgia x$  7 –1     13 –1  
Florida  6 –2     8 –5  
Tennessee  5 –3     8 –5  
Kentucky  3 –5     7 –5  
South Carolina  3 –5     5 –7  
Vanderbilt  0 –8     2 –10  
Western Division
No. 11 Alabama  6 –2     10 –3  
Arkansas xy  5 –3     9 –5  
No. 14 Auburn x  5 –3     9 –4  
LSU x  5 –3     8 –5  
Ole Miss  3 –5     7 –6  
Mississippi State  0 –8     3 –9  
Championship: Georgia 30, Arkansas 3
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
  • Alabama had the best division record, but did not participate in postseason play due to NCAA probation.
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule
DateOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 31UAB*No. 6
PPVW 51–385,575
September 7No. 1 Miami (FL)*No. 6
CBSL 16–4185,777
September 14Ohio*No. 12
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL
PPVW 34–684,002
September 21at No. 4 TennesseeNo. 10
CBSW 30–13108,722
September 28KentuckyNo. 7
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL
CBSW 41–3485,333
October 5at Ole MissNo. 6
CBSL 14–1761,140
October 12No. 18 LSUNo. 16
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
ESPNL 7–3685,252
October 19Auburn
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
ESPNW 30–23 OT85,135
November 2vs. No. 5 Georgia
ESPNW 20–1384,433
November 9at VanderbiltNo. 23
PPVW 21–1728,881
November 16South CarolinaNo. 20
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL
ESPNW 28–785,222
November 30at No. 23 Florida State*No. 15
ABCL 14–3183,938
January 1, 2003vs. No. 12 Michigan*No. 15
ESPNL 30–3865,101
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Sources: 2012 Florida Football Media Guide,[2] and GatorZone.com.[3]

Roster
2002 Florida Gators football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
WR 2 Kelvin Kight Jr
RB 5 Earnest Graham Sr
WR 6 Taylor Jacobs Sr
QB 8 Rex Grossman Sr
QB 10 Ingle Martin Fr
WR 11 O. J. Small So
OL 54 David Jorgensen Sr
G 75 Shannon Snell Jr
TE 82 Aaron Walker Sr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
CB 1 Keiwan Ratliff Jr
LB 42 Byron Hardmon Sr
LB 59 Mike Nattiel Sr
DE 86 Darrell Lee Jr
DT 98 Tron LaFavor Sr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Roster

Coaching staff

Game summaries

Kentucky
1 234Total
Kentucky 0 0286 34
• Florida 6 13139 41
  • Date: September 28
  • Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Game start: 3:30 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 3:38
  • Game attendance: 85,333
  • Game weather: Sunny; 86°F; wind 9 W
  • Referee: Steve Shaw

[4]

Georgia
1 234Total
• Florida 0 1208 20
Georgia 7 600 13
  • Date: Saturday, November 2
  • Location: Alltel Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida
  • Game start: 7:45 p.m.
  • Elapsed time: 3:25
  • Game attendance: 84,433
  • Game weather: Clear, 58 F
  • Referee: Penn Wagers
  • Television network: ESPN

[5]

1. Schedule/Results – https://web.archive.org/web/20070121010018/http://www.gatorzone.com/sched.php?sport=footb
2. Coaching Staff – https://web.archive.org/web/20060514092841/http://www.gatorzone.com/football/bios.php?year=2002

See also

References
  1. University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 2002 Media Guide" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  2. 2012 Florida Football Media Guide Archived 2013-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 113 & 116 (2012). Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  3. GatorZone.com, Football, History, Florida Football 20032 Archived 2011-09-15 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  4. GatorZone.com Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-Sep-06.
  5. "Gators Upend No. 5 Georgia, 20-13". Gatorzone.com. Retrieved 02-May-2012.

Bibliography
  • 2009 Southeastern Conference Football Media Guide, Florida Year-by-Year Records, Southeastern Conference, Birmingham, Alabama, p. 60 (2009).
  • 2012 Florida Football Media Guide, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 107–116 (2012).
  • Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.
  • Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
  • Hairston, Jack, Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). ISBN 1-58261-514-4.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.