The 1971 Florida Gators football team represented the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

during the

1971 NCAA University Division football season The 1971 NCAA University Division football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions. Ranked a close second behind Notre Dame in the preseason poll, Nebraska moved up to first place the following week, rem ...

. The season was

Doug Dickey Douglas Adair Dickey (born June 24, 1932) is an American former college football player and coach and college athletics administrator. Dickey is a South Dakota native who was raised in Florida and graduated from the University of Florida, wher ...

's second as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Dickey's 1971 Florida Gators finished with a 4–7 overall record and a 1–6 record in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC), tying for eighth among ten SEC teams.
2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 107 (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2015.

Schedule

Primary source: ''2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide'' Attendance figures: ''1972 University of Florida Football Brochure''.

Personnel

Game summaries

Duke

Mississippi State

Alabama

*Sources: Against the Gators,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

Johnny Musso Johnny Musso (born March 6, 1950) is an American former football player, a running back for three seasons with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League and in the National Football League with the Chicago Bears. Early years Born and rais ...

scored four rushing touchdowns en route to a 38–0 shutout at Florida Field. After Bill Davis gave the Crimson Tide a 3–0 lead with his first quarter field goal, Musso scored Alabama's next four touchdowns and extended their lead to 31–0. All four came on the ground with a pair from one-yard out, a three-yard run and a five-yard run. Alabama then closed the game with an 11-yard Billy Sexton touchdown pass to Dexter Wood that made the final score 38–0. The four touchdowns scored by Musso on the ground set a new school record for rushing touchdowns. Additionally, the

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

was the first for the Crimson Tide defense since their 17–0 victory in 1967 over

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

Tennessee

LSU

Florida State

Maryland

Auburn

Georgia

Kentucky

Miami (FL)

The disappointing season ended on a controversial note. With the Gators leading the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

45–8 late in the fourth quarter of the last game of the season, senior quarterback

John Reaves Thomas Johnson "John" Reaves (March 2, 1950 – August 1, 2017) was an American college and professional football player who was a quarterback for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and three seasons in the United States Football L ...

was just 14 yards short of the NCAA career record for passing yardage, but Miami had the ball and seemed destined to run out the clock. At the urging of Florida defensive captain Harvin Clark, Dickey agreed to permit the Gators defense to allow the Hurricanes to score, thus returning the ball to the Gators offense and giving Reaves a chance to break the record. Dubbed the " Florida Flop" or "Gator Flop", the move worked. When Miami snapped the ball from the Florida 8-yard line, the Gators instantly flopped to the turf, allowing Miami quarterback John Hornibrook to walk uncontested into the endzone. Florida's offense got one more possession, and Reeves promptly broke the record with a pass to favorite target Carlos Alvarez. After the game, many Gator players celebrated by jumping into the pool at the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

's east end zone used by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

' live mascot, Flipper. Miami coach

Fran Curci Fran Curci (born June 11, 1938) is a former American football player and coach. He was an All-American quarterback at the University of Miami in 1959. He served as head coach at the University of Tampa from 1968 to 1970, the University of Miami ...

was so angered by the turn of events that he refused to shake Dickey's hand. In a post-game interview, he called the actions "bush league" and declared that "what Doug Dickey did shows absolutely no class."

References

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Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Florida Gators football seasons

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division o ...