2004 Florida Gators football team

The 2004 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2004 NCAA Division I-A 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. The season was the third and last for head coach Ron Zook, who led the Gators to a regular season record of 7–4 (.636).

2004 Florida Gators football
Peach Bowl, L 27–10 vs. Miami (FL)
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
DivisionEastern Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 25
2004 record7–5 (4–4 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorLarry Fedora (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorCharlie Strong (2nd season)
CaptainChanning Crowder
Mike Degory
Ciatrick Fason
Travis Harris
Home stadiumBen Hill Griffin Stadium
(Capacity: 88,548)[1]
2004 SEC football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
Eastern Division
No. 13 Tennessee x  7 1     10 3  
No. 7 Georgia  6 2     10 2  
Florida  4 4     7 5  
South Carolina  4 4     6 5  
Kentucky  1 7     2 9  
Vanderbilt  1 7     2 9  
Western Division
No. 2 Auburn x$  8 0     13 0  
No. 16 LSU  6 2     9 3  
Alabama  3 5     6 6  
Arkansas  3 5     5 6  
Ole Miss  3 5     4 7  
Mississippi State  2 6     3 8  
Championship: Auburn 38, Tennessee 28
  • $ BCS representative as conference champion
  • x Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Pre-season

For the fifth time in school history, Florida played five of its first six games at home. Four of the last five games were on the road. Florida's record for the two prior seasons under Zook on the road in conference play was an SEC league best 7–1. Eight starters returned and true sophomore Chris Leak would start the first game of the season at the helm for the first time. The Gators opened the season against Eastern Michigan from the Mid-American Conference.

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 11Eastern Michigan*No. 11PPVW 49–1090,009
September 18at No. 13 TennesseeNo. 11CBSL 28–30109,061
September 25KentuckyNo. 16
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL
ESPN2W 20–389,741
October 2ArkansasNo. 16
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL
CBSW 45–3090,014
October 9No. 24 LSUNo. 12
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
ESPNL 21–2490,377
October 16Middle Tennessee*No. 22
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL
PPVW 52–1690,018
October 23at Mississippi StateNo. 19JPSL 31–3843,170
October 30vs. No. 7 GeorgiaCBSL 24–3184,753
November 6at VanderbiltPPVW 34–1732,716
November 13South Carolina
  • Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
  • Gainesville, FL
ESPN2W 48–1490,294
November 20at No. 10 Florida State*ESPNW 20–1384,223
December 31vs. No. 14 Miami (FL)*No. 19ESPNL 10–2769,322
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

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

Game summaries

Eastern Michigan

1 234Total
Eastern Michigan 3 7010 20
Florida 7 21210 49

Tennessee

1 234Total
Florida 7 1407 28
Tennessee 7 7016 30

Kentucky

1 234Total
Kentucky 3 000 3
Florida 3 737 20
  • Date: September 25
  • Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida

Arkansas

1 234Total
Arkansas 0 7716 30
Florida 7 2837 45
  • Date: October 2
  • Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida

LSU

1 234Total
LSU 0 1437 24
Florida 14 700 21
  • Date: October 9
  • Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida

Middle Tennessee State

1 234Total
Middle Tennessee St 3 1030 16
Florida 17 14210 52
  • Date: October 16
  • Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida

The match with MTSU was intended to be the season opener for the Gators, but was canceled and rescheduled because of Hurricane Frances. This left the Gators without a regular-season bye week.

Mississippi State

1 234Total
Florida 0 14107 31
Mississippi St 7 10714 38

Following this loss, head coach Ron Zook was fired, but allowed to coach the remainder of the season.

Georgia

1 234Total
Florida 0 0710 17
Georgia 7 737 24

Vanderbilt

1 234Total
Florida 7 7010 24
Vanderbilt 10 700 17

South Carolina

1 234Total
South Carolina 7 007 14
Florida 0 211017 48
  • Date: November 13
  • Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida

Florida State

Florida Gators at #8 Florida State Seminoles
1 2 34Total
Florida 7 3 01020
Florida St 0 3 01013

at Doak Campbell StadiumTallahassee, Florida

  • Date: November 20
  • Game time: 7:45 EDT
  • Game weather: 68 °F (20 °C) • Wind S 10 miles per hour (16 km/h; 8.7 kn) to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h; 10 kn)
  • Game attendance: 84,223
  • Referee: Steve Shaw
  • Gatorzone.com

Ron Zook's last game as head coach of the Florida Gators and spoiled the dedication of the field for Bobby Bowden.

Peach Bowl

1 234Total
Florida 0 370 10
Miami (FL) 7 1073 27

Defensive coordinator Charlie Strong was interim head coach for the bowl game.

Coaching staff

See also

References

  1. University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 2004 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 2004 Archived 2012-05-02 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 25, 2011.

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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.