Some Florida Gators vs Auburn Plainsmen History

Ok, gather around the campfire while I drift back in time to an era when we played Auburn every year...it was always the week before we played Georgia and beating both was almost impossible.

In 1963 Auburn was led by a senior QB Larry Sidle who was slick at deftly rolling out after faking a handoff. Even though the '63 Gators had a decent team, it did not stand a chance on the road and fell 19-0. Those 1963 Gators would lose 3 games and all three were shutouts by Auburn, LSU and Ga Tech with a tie to Miss State. In 1964 the Gators had a very good soph QB named Spurrier and Auburn had a hard time winning on the road as we did.

Gators prevailed 14-0 because of a stout defensive effort which included an 88 yd interception return by db/rb Dick Kirk. 1964's game was right after we played Bama in Tuscaloosa for the second straight year. We had upset the 3rd ranked Tide 10-6 the year before ('63) and they were mad. But thanks to Spurrier, we almost beat them again...losing 17-14 with a chance to win in the last minute.

The 1965 game on the Plains was one of the worse losses Spurrier suffered. Auburn was losing on regional TV 17-14 in the 4th qt and brought in a second string QB Alex Bowden cold off the bench when it was third and long. He promptly threw a bomb to a WR for a 64 yd TD. Auburn led very late 21-17 and Spurrier was up against the clock. He was instructed to try a fancy handoff to a RB and then have the RB toss it back so he could heave it downfield...it was a disaster and he fumbled the pitchback and then tried to throw the ball and it was picked off right in front of him and taken to the house for a 28-17 loss. Auburn was a decent team but it was an upset. Auburn would have Tucker Fredrickson RB/FB, a player from Ft Lauderdale, taken as the first overall pick by the NY Giants. Florida wanted Fredrickson badly as a recruit...but unfortunately, UF did not have a vet school back then and Auburn did. Dr Fredrickson opened practice in Ft Lauderdale after his NFL career. My personal vet went to school with him.

In 1966 the infamous FG was kicked by Spurrier to beat Auburn 30-27 in what was back then a "shootout". Auburn fought hard and returned a kickoff for a score and wouldn't go quietly...a real back and forth game. What a lot of younger Gators don't know is that Spurrier actually kicked 4 FGs in 1966. But the Auburn FG helped him beat out Purdue QB Bob Griese by a slim margin for the Heisman. The next few years were not good as Florida lost 2 in a row to Auburn...then in 1969 we had the "super sophs" team undefeated that headed to Auburn and play against a team led by QB Pat Sullivan (who would win a Heisman later on) and his top receiver Larry Beasley. We were beat before we even got off the bus 38-12.

Hoped you enjoyed a little history. Florida played Auburn every year and the split divisions ended it. We actually at the end of the annual series had played Auburn only 1 less game than our series with Georgia.