The 2004 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 ...

in the sport of

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

during the

2004 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 28, 2004 and ended on Decem ...

. The Gators competed in

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) and the Eastern Division of 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 of ...

(SEC), and 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 ...

campus. The season was the third and last for head coach

Ron Zook Ronald Andrew Zook (; born April 28, 1954) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the Defensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from ...

, who led the Gators to a regular season record of 7–4 (.636).

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

Sources: ''2012 Florida Football Media Guide'',
2012 Florida Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 113 & 116 (2012). Retrieved September 16, 2012. and GatorZone.com.GatorZone.com, Football, History
Florida Football 2004
. Retrieved November 25, 2011.

Game summaries

Eastern Michigan

Tennessee

Kentucky

Arkansas

LSU

Middle Tennessee State

The match with MTSU was intended to be the season opener for the Gators, but was canceled and rescheduled because of

Hurricane Frances Hurricane Frances was the second most intense tropical cyclone in the Atlantic during 2004 and proved to be very destructive in Florida. It was the sixth named storm, the fourth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hu ...

. This left the Gators without a regular-season bye week.

Mississippi State

Following this loss, head coach

was fired, but allowed to coach the remainder of the season.

Georgia

Vanderbilt

South Carolina

Florida State

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

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

Peach Bowl

Defensive coordinator

Charlie Strong Charles Rene Strong (born August 2, 1960) is an American football coach who is currently the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Miami. He recently served as the assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach ...

was interim head coach for the bowl game.

Coaching staff

– head coach * Jerry "Red" Anderson – defensive line coach * Dan Disch – secondary coach *

Dwayne Dixon Dwayne Keith Dixon (born August 2, 1962) is an American former college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) and Arena Football League. He played college football for the University of F ...

– assistant head coach / inside receivers coach *

Larry Fedora Herbert Lawrence Fedora (born September 10, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is the former coach and general manager for the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League (USFL). He previously served as head c ...

– offensive coordinator / receivers coach *

Mike Locksley Michael Anthony Locksley (born December 25, 1969) is an American football coach. Locksley is currently the head coach at the Maryland Terrapins football, University of Maryland. After serving as an assistant coach for several college football ...

– running backs coach / recruiting coordinator * Bill Miller – associate head coach / linebackers coach *

– defensive coordinator/ interim head coach * Joe Wickline – offensive line coach / running game coordinator *

Ed Zaunbrecher Ed Zaunbrecher (born March 1, 1950) is an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Northeast Louisiana University, now the University of Louisiana at Monroe, from 1994 to 1998, compiling a record of 20–36. He is current ...

– quarterbacks coach

References

Bibliography

* ''2009 Southeastern Conference Football Media Guide'', Florida Year-by-Year Records, Southeastern Conference, Birmingham, Alabama, p. 60 (2009). * Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . {{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

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 ...