The 1980 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 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 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

.Norm Carlson, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia, pp. 95–96 (2007). 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 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, where ...

, was fired in the aftermath of a 4–7 season in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. Pell's 1980 Florida Gators posted an 8–4 overall record and a

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 of ...

(SEC) record of 4–2, tying for fourth place in the ten-team SEC.
2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 111–112 (2015). Retrieved August 14, 2015. The Gators capped their season with a 35–20 bowl victory over the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

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. Linebacker David Little set the career record for tackles by a Gator and was consensus All-American. Receiver

Cris Collinsworth Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional American football player. Collinsworth was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons (1981-1988), all with ...

was first-team All-American. The season features the famous "Run Lindsay Run" in the close loss to national champion

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Schedule

Primary source: ''2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide''.

Personnel

Season summary

vs. Georgia

24/7 Sports
Retrieved 2019-Jan-02.

at Florida State

References

{{Florida Gators football navbox

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 Citrus Bowl champion 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 of ...