Top 5 Florida Gators Football Games I Have Attended

I attended the University of Florida from 2004 to 2009. It was the best five and a half years of my life and it would be a shame not to document all of the glorious games I witnessed because, as you will see, those years brought plenty of glory to the Gators.

2. Florida vs. Arkansas – 2006 SEC Championship Game – This was a matchup of the best run offense in the SEC against the best run defense in the SEC. The Gators had to go up against the triple-headed monster of Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis. Thank God their quarterback was named Casey Dick. If Ryan Mallett had been there at the time too, this may have been very ugly. My roommates and I camped out all night for row four tickets. Chris Leak’s scramble to the end zone for a touchdown is a play I will never forget. The game was iced when Tim Tebow handed off to Andre Caldwell who threw a pass to Tate Casey who was wide open for a touchdown. This game propelled us into the national championship thanks in part to UCLA’s huge upset over heavily favored USC. 

3. Florida vs. Alabama – 2008 SEC Championship Game – There is no better feeling than riding the MARTA transportation system in Atlanta to the Georgia Dome to watch your team play for the SEC championship. Alabama fans were extremely respectful, but as loud as can be. That game went back and forth and was a pure battle. When Tebow completed hit Riley Cooper to seal the game, Gators fans went absolutely crazy. SEC championship crowns were donned by all Florida fans that could get their hands on them and I wore mine proudly.

4. Florida vs. LSU – 2006 – The infamous Tebow jump pass game. That highlight would go down in history and set up the fake jump pass for games to come. My roommate worked in the ticket office and got us tickets close to the end zone that it happened in (I still thank him to this day). My favorite part of the game was watching Cooper truck a LSU return man that lead to a safety to start the second half. One of the more underrated parts of his game was that Cooper could lower the boom when he wanted.

5. Florida vs. Georgia – 2008 – Revenge is sweet and the Gators got it after watching the entire Georgia team celebrate in the end zone the season before. Florida seemed to be in control for most of the game and even some trickeration from the Bulldogs didn’t surprise the Gators. Like when Mark Richt made a ballsy onside kick call in which Butch Rowley wasn’t fooled on and recovered. The floodgates opened at the beginning of the second half when Joe Haden picked off Matthew Stafford and took the ball to the one-yard line to set up a Tebow touchdown. When Georgia finally ended up getting into the end zone, the entire Gator section erupted in applause. This along with Meyer calling his extra timeouts to get under Richt’s skin made some of their fans a little unhappy at the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

Those are mine, but I know we all attended this great university at different times. What about you? What were the greatest Gators games you got to witness in person?