The 2013 Florida Gators football team represented the
University of Florida in the sport of
American football during the
2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The regular season began on August 29, 2013 and ended on Dece ...
. The Gators competed in the
Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the
Southeastern Conference (SEC). They played their home games at
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),[Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...](_blank)
campus, and the 2013 season was the Gators' third under head coach
Will Muschamp. The Gators finished the season with a 4–8 overall win–loss record, and finished 3–5 in the SEC and in fifth place in the SEC Eastern Division. The Gators suffered their first losing season since
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 ...
and did not play in a bowl game for the first time since
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
, when the program was on NCAA probation.
Previous season
The
2012 Florida Gators compiled an 11–2 overall win–loss record, and a 7–1 record in the Southeastern Conference. The Gators were ranked as high as No. 3 in the Associated Press and Coaches polls. They concluded the 2012 season with a loss to the
Louisville Cardinals in the
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...
.
2013 recap
Following their success in 2012, the Gators were ranked No. 10 in both major polls coming into the 2013 season. They opened with a 24–6 home win over
Toledo
Toledo most commonly refers to:
* Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain
* Province of Toledo, Spain
* Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States
Toledo may also refer to:
Places Belize
* Toledo District
* Toledo Settlement
Bolivia
* Toledo, Orur ...
, then fell 21–16 to in-state rival
Miami in a game in which the Gators gained almost twice as many yards as the Hurricanes but committed 5 turnovers, including a crucial late interception in the
red zone.
The Gators next beat the SEC rival
Tennessee Volunteers at home, but lost starting quarterback
Jeff Driskel for the rest of the season with a broken leg.
Tyler Murphy
Tyler Murphy (born January 12, 1992) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football at Florida and Boston College.
High school career
Murphy attended Wethersfield High School, where he was a two-sport star ...
finished the Tennessee game at quarterback and garnered praise for his play in consecutive wins over
Kentucky and
Arkansas, at which point the team's record was 4–1.
The offense was held to just two field goals in the next game, a 17–6 loss at No. 10
LSU
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
. This contest would start several negative trends, as the Gators ended the season on a seven-game losing streak in which the offense struggled mightily while major injuries ended the season for a dozen starting players, including Tyler Murphy and defensive leader Dominique Easley.
For the first time since the winless
1979 team, the Gators finished the 2013 season with a losing record. Several other streaks were broken, including 22 consecutive seasons going to a bowl game and a 22-game win streak against
Vanderbilt. With a November loss to
Georgia Southern
Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...
, Florida suffered its first ever defeat to a lower division team
[GSU Recap](_blank)
/ref> and its first loss to a current FCS team since the winless 1946 Gators lost to Villanova.[GSU story](_blank)
/ref> The Gator offense was ranked 112th nationally.[Florida Gators fire embattled Brent Pease - ESPN]
/ref>
Despite calls from the fanbase to fire Will Muschamp for the teams' performance, UF athletic director Jeremy Foley repeated several times that he would remain the Gators head coach through 2014. However, offensive coordinator Brent Pease and offensive line coach Tim Davis were fired on the day after the season finale. Muschamp hired Kurt Roper
Kurt Roper (born July 25, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the quarterbacks backs coach at North Carolina State University. Roper was the interim head football coach at University of Colorado Boulder for the ...
as the new offensive coordinator.
Schedule
Source:
Rankings
The Gators fell out of the AP Top 25 on October 20 for the first time since the final rankings of the 2011 season, when they won the Gator Bowl
The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...
, following their third loss of the season to Missouri on October 19.
Roster
Coaching staff
Players drafted into the NFL
References
{{Florida Gators football navbox
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