The 2000 Florida Gators football team represented the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

as a member of the Eastern Division of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) during the

2000 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Oklahoma Sooners beating the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles to claim the Sooners' seventh national championship and their thirty-seventh conference championship, the ...

. Led by 11th-year head coach

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former football player and coach. He played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often referred to by his nicknam ...

, the Gators compiled an overall record of 10–3 with mark of 7–1 in conference play, winning the SEC's Eastern Division title. Florida advanced to the

SEC Championship Game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. For its first 32 seasons, the championship game pitted the Eastern Division regular season champion again ...

, beating Auburn to capture the conference championship. The Gators were invited to 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 only ...

, where the they lost to the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

. The team played 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, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

Schedule

Rankings

Game summaries

Ball State

USA Today
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Middle Tennessee St.

Tennessee

Kentucky

Mississippi State

September 30, 2000 The Florida Gators came into

Davis Wade Stadium Davis Wade Stadium, officially known as Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field is the home venue for the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team. Originally constructed in 1914 as New Athletic Field, it is the second-oldest stadium in the Football ...

Starkville, Mississippi Starkville is a city in and the county seat of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, Starkville's population is 24,360, making it the 16th-most populated city in Mississippi. Starkville is the largest ...

ranked third in the nation. The unranked

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

ran for 351 yards, 172 yards and a touchdown for Dicenzo Miller, and 156 yards and a touchdown for Dontae Walker. Bulldogs quarterback Wayne Madkin also ran for two touchdowns. The Bulldogs compiled 517 total yards of offense. A frustrated

rotated three quarterbacks including

Rex Grossman Rex Daniel Grossman III (born August 23, 1980) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. Grossman played college football for ...

. Grossman went 13 for 16 with 231 yards and two touchdowns. All together, the Gators had 494 yards and four touchdowns through the air. Mississippi State won the game 47–35, breaking Florida's 72-game winning streak against unranked teams in front of a crowd of 43,816. After the game, the Mississippi State fans stormed the field and tore down the goal posts, parts of which ended up all over campus.

LSU

Auburn

Georgia

Vanderbilt

South Carolina

Florida State

SEC Championship Game

*Source:''

Miami (Sugar Bowl)

Notable players

* 07 QB

Jesse Palmer Jesse James Palmer (born October 5, 1978) is a Canadian television personality, sports commentator, and former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons in the early 2000s. Palmer played ...

(Sr.) * 08 QB

(Fr.) * 09 QB Brock Berlin (Fr.) * 05 RB Earnest Graham (So.) * 33 RB Ran Carthon (Fr.) * 06 WR Taylor Jacobs (So.) * 10 WR Jabar Gaffney (Fr.) * 17 WR Reche Caldwell (So.) * 78 T Kenyatta Walker (Jr.) * 91 DE Derrick Chambers (Sr.) * 57 DE Bobby McCray (Fr.) * 61 DT Gerard Warren (Jr.) * 45 LB Andra Davis (Jr.) * 03 CB Lito Sheppard (So.) * 04 S Marquand Manuel (Jr.)

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). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.
''Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football''
Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . {{Southeastern Conference football champions

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Florida Gators football seasons Southeastern Conference football champion seasons

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American football, American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the ...