2009 Florida Football Post-Game Notes Florida vs. Cincinnati – Allstate Sugar Bowl January 1, 2010 Team • Florida became the first program in FBS college football history to notch 13 wins in consecutive seasons. • UF finished 13-1 for the third time in four seasons. This is the first time in FBS college football history that this has happened. • The 13 victories equal the school record for single-season wins (2006, 2008, 2009) and enabled the Gators to join Nebraska as the only programs to post 13 victories in three different seasons. The Huskers accomplished the feat in 1971, 1994 and 1997. • The triumph over Cincinnati was Florida’s 100th win of the decade, as the Orange and Blue finished the 2000’s with a mark of 100-30 (.769). The Gators were 102-22-1 (.820) during the 1990’s. • With tonight’s victory, Florida improved to 5-1 in BCS bowl games. The five BCS wins are tied for second with Ohio State, trailing only USC’s total of six. Date Opponent Bowl Result 1/2/99 Syracuse Orange W, 31-10 1/2/01 Miami (Fla.) Sugar L, 20-37 1/2/02 Maryland Orange W, 56-23 1/8/07 Ohio State BCS NCG W, 41-14 1/8/09 Oklahoma BCS NCG W, 24-14 1/1/10 Cincinnati Sugar W, 51-24 • Head Coach Urban Meyer is now 6-1 in bowl games and a perfect 4-0 in BCS games. Meyer’s four BCS wins since 2005 are tied with USC’s Pete Carroll for the most by a head coach in that time frame. Date Matchup Bowl Result 12/31/03 Utah vs. Southern Miss Liberty W, 17-0 1/1/05 Utah vs. Pittsburgh Fiesta W, 35-7 1/2/06 Florida vs. Iowa Outback W, 31-24 1/8/07 Florida vs. Ohio State BCS NCG W, 41-14 1/1/08 Florida vs. Michigan Capital One L, 35-41 1/8/09 Florida vs. Oklahoma BCS NCG W, 24-14 1/1/10 Florida vs. Cincinnati Sugar W, 51-24 • Florida’s 25 seniors, the winningest class in SEC history, completed their careers with a 48-7 (.873) record in their time in the Orange and Blue. The group produced a 3-1 bowl record, claimed two National Championships, two SEC Championships, three SEC Eastern Division titles and registered a 15-4 (.789) record vs. ranked teams. • The Gators made their 19th-straight bowl appearance, the second-longest active streak in the nation, and are now 18-19 (.486) in bowl games. • UF captured consecutive bowl wins for the sixth time in school history (1960 Gator & 1962 Gator; 1967 Orange & 1969 Gator; 1992 Gator & 1994 Sugar; 1997 Sugar, 1998 Citrus & 1999 Orange; 2006 Outback & 2007 BCS National Championship Game; 2009 BCS National Championship Game & 2010 Sugar Bowl). • With the triumph over Cincinnati, Florida has put together a 12-3 (.800) mark against AP top-10 opponents under Urban Meyer. This is highlighted by an 8-2 (.800) record versus AP top-5 foes. • The defeat of Cincinnati raised Florida’s record to 8-3-2 all-time against teams from the Big East Conference, including 3-1 in bowl games, with other wins over Syracuse (31-10 in 1999 Orange Bowl) and West Virginia (41-7 in 1994 Sugar Bowl) and a loss to West Virginia (26-6 in 1981 Peach Bowl). • Urban Meyer improved to 30-3 (.909) when having more than a week to prepare for a game (season openers, bowl games and coming off a bye week). Individual Player • Senior Tim Tebow finished his Gator career with a 35-6 (.854) record as a starting quarterback. 2009 Florida Football Halftime Notes Florida vs. Cincinnati – Allstate Sugar Bowl January 1, 2010 Team • The 23 straight points scored to begin the game by Florida was its third-biggest run in a bowl game; 28 versus Florida State in the 1997 Sugar Bowl and 27 versus West Virginia in the 1994 Sugar Bowl. • UF posted a score on its opening drive for the eighth time this season: Charleston Southern (TD), Tennessee (FG), Kentucky (FG), LSU (FG), Georgia (TD), South Carolina (TD), FIU (TD) and Cincinnati (TD). That is the second-best mark in the SEC (Ole Miss, 9). • The 84-yard scoring drive took 6:39 and was the Gators’ sixth touchdown drive of over 81 yards this season. • Florida limited Cincinnati to 19 yards of total offense in the first quarter, including -11 yards rushing. Meanwhile, the Gators totaled 152 yards (124 yards passing, 28 yards rushing) in the initial period. • UF scored on its first five possessions of the game (TD, FG, TD, TD, TD) before missing a field goal near the end of the half. • The Gator defense limited the Bearcats to 55 total yards (60 passing, -5 rushing) on 28 yards, while rolling up 383 yards of offense (320 passing, 63 rushing). • Florida had 18 first downs, compared to five for Cincinnati. • UF’s defense forced the Bearcats into an 0-for-7 performance on third-down conversions and totaled four sacks. Individual Player • Senior Tim Tebow was a perfect 7-for-7 on the Gators’ opening drive for 61 yards and fired his 19th TD pass of the year, his first of three on the night. • Tebow established a Sugar Bowl record by completing his first 12 passes of the night for 142 yards and one touchdown before an incomplete pass in the second quarter. • Tebow was 20-for-23 in the first half for a season-high 320 yards – 18 shy of his career best of 338 yards set against Florida Atlantic on Nov. 17, 2007. • Junior tight end Aaron Hernandez caught a seven-yard pass from Tebow to open the scoring. It was his fifth touchdown reception of the season. • Hernandez caught a team-high seven passes for 85 yards, two receptions shy of the single-game record by a Gator tight end. • Sophomore Caleb Sturgis increased Florida’s lead to 9-0 with a 40-yard field goal with 1:20 left in the first quarter. He improved to 22-of-29 for the season and is now a perfect 4-for-4 from between 40-49 yards. • Redshirt sophomore Deonte Thompson caught a seven-yard touchdown pass with 9:07 left in the second quarter for his fourth score of the campaign. It was Thompson’s first TD catch since the 23-20 win over Arkansas on Oct. 17. • Tebow threw multiple touchdown passes for the fifth time this season (Troy, Georgia, FIU, Florida State, Cincinnati), the 30th time in his career and now has a TD pass in 39 of his 41 career starts at Florida. • It was Tebow’s 14th time with three or more TD passes in a game, third time this year (Troy, Florida State, Cincinnati). • Redshirt junior Emmanuel Moody scored his second rushing touchdown of the season from six yards in the second quarter and the successful point-after resulted in a 23-0 lead. • Senior Riley Cooper hauled in an 80-yard touchdown pass from Tebow with 3:02 left in the second quarter for his team-leading ninth TD catch of the year. • It was the longest pass play by Florida since Chad Jackson caught an 80-yard pass from Chris Leak against Louisiana Tech on Sept. 10, 2005. • It was the second-longest pass play in the BCS Bowl History. • Cooper had three catches for 107 yards in the first half, his third time this season over 100 yards receiving (Charleston Southern, South Carolina, Cincinnati) and the fourth time in his career. Other • Game Captains: Redshirt senior wide receiver Joey Sorrentino and redshirt senior linebacker Ryan Stamper, Florida won the toss and deferred its choice until the second half. • Senior Tim Tebow was announced as the Lowe’s Senior CLASS award-winner for football before the game. He joins Gator student-athletes Brandon McArthur (baseball) and Stacey Nelson (softball) as winners of the award. January 1, 2010 Florida – 51 Q. Urban, would you talk about the Cincinnati – 24 mood in the locker room before the game. Did you kind of feel there was going to be this kind An interview with: of performance? You've had a pretty good feel for the team throughout the year. And did you FLORIDA kind of feel a performance like this coming on? COACH MEYER: The way to judge a COACH URBAN MEYER football team is not in the locker room; it's to judge TIM TEBOW it on a Tuesday-Wednesday practice. I had a great feel for this team, even back at home. When we JOE HADEN practiced like we did, that's a hard team to beat. And to come back and get that bad taste out of our mouth after our one loss we had. I saw that on the early -- earlier this week at practice out some of THE MODERATOR: Coach Meyer will our coaches and out of our leaders on the team. It make an opening statement, and then we'll open wasn't the locker room; it was the preparation to the floor to questions. the game. COACH MEYER: A special thanks to the Allstate Sugar Bowl for having us, and I can't even Q. Both Coach and Tim. Tim, how begin to tell you how gracious your hospitality was much do you feel a game like this validates and the city of New Orleans. My first visit to the your ability to play on the next level? Sugar Bowl, and it was even more than I would TIM TEBOW: I don't know.