For more than 100 years, Florida’s Homecoming has been part of the program’s identity, and the Gators will try to keep that tradition rolling when they welcome South Carolina for the 103rd Homecoming football game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
No. 16 Florida enters at 4-1, 2-1 SEC, with head coach Jon Sumrall leaning into what the job means inside one of college football’s most recognizable settings.
“This is a proud, storied, traditional program. It's got unbelievable former players,” Sumrall said. “Being at the University of Florida, the pressure of that is a privilege, and it’s something that I embrace.”
That stage has produced plenty of memorable Homecoming nights, and three of the biggest came in 2019, 2015 and 2006.
The 2019 edition was a top-10 showdown from the start. No.
10 Florida met No. 7 Auburn on Oct. 5, with both teams arriving unbeaten at 5-0 and carrying two SEC wins apiece.
Dan Mullen’s team handled the moment, beating the Tigers 24-13 in front of close to 90,600 fans.
Lamical Perine set the tone for Florida’s offense. The Mobile, Alabama, native rushed for 130 yards on 14 carries, and his 88-yard touchdown on the first play of a drive put the Gators ahead 24-13 with 9:04 remaining. He also caught four passes for 15 yards.
"It almost brought tears to my eyes," Perine said after the game. "Big-time atmosphere, big-time crowd, and I'm glad I was able to make that big-time play."
Kyle Trask threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns, finishing 19 of 31 through the air. He also lost three fumbles, which helped Auburn stay in the game.
His first scoring pass went 64 yards to Freddie Swain for an early 7-0 lead, and Swain ended with six catches for 146 yards. Trask’s second touchdown came on a 13-yard throw to Josh Hammond, stretching the margin to eight less than two minutes into the second quarter.
Florida’s defense had its own answer for Bo Nix, intercepting the Auburn quarterback three times. Marco Wilson’s pick with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter closed the door.
That win fit into a strong year overall, as Florida finished 11-2 and capped the season with a 36-28 Orange Bowl victory over Virginia.
Another Homecoming grind came in 2015, when No. 10 Florida hosted Vanderbilt with a chance to secure its first SEC East title since 2009.
The Commodores came in 3-5, 1-3 SEC, but the game was anything but easy. Florida escaped with a 9-7 win on Austin Hardin’s 43-yard field goal with 2:22 left.
Hardin had been 3-for-7 on the season before drilling the kick, and he was in the lineup after Jorge Powell suffered a knee injury two weeks earlier.
"When you're on a championship run … sometimes there are games like this," head coach Jim McElwain said after the nail-biting win. "Champions figure out ways to win."
The Gators were held to 258 yards, including just 57 in the second half, and Vanderbilt forced four turnovers, including Treon Harris’ first interception of the season. Florida’s defense carried its share of the load too, limiting Vanderbilt to 175 yards and forcing 10 punts. The Gators sealed it by forcing a turnover on downs with 36 seconds remaining.
Florida got on the board first on Kelvin Taylor’s 3-yard touchdown run, though the extra point was missed by walk-on kicker Neil MacInnes after he won an open tryout to replace Powell. That made it 6-0 with 6:16 left in the first quarter. Vanderbilt’s only touchdown came on Ralph Webb’s 74-yard run with 48 seconds left before halftime, and Webb finished with 118 yards on 22 carries.
The win sent Florida to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game against Alabama. The Gators later finished 10-4 after losses to Alabama, 29-15, and Michigan in the Citrus Bowl, 41-7.
The oldest game on the list dates to 2006, when No. 5 Florida hosted No.
9 LSU in a top-10 SEC matchup. Urban Meyer’s Gators won 23-10 in front of just over 90,700 fans, which was the second-largest crowd in school history at the time.
“That was one of the best environments I've ever been a part of,” Meyer said after the game. “I'll put our Homecoming up against anyone in America's after today.”
Tim Tebow, then still early in his Florida career, threw his first touchdown pass as a Gator in that game. He found Tate Casey on a jump pass from 1 yard out to put Florida up 14-7 with 22 seconds left before halftime. On Tebow’s second and only other throw of the day, he connected with Louis Murphy for a 35-yard touchdown that made it 23-7 three minutes into the second half.
Tebow also made an impact on the ground, rushing for 35 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. His score came on fourth-and-goal from the LSU 1-yard line and tied the game at 7.
Chris Leak started at quarterback for Florida and threw for 155 yards on 17-of-26 passing, with one interception.
The defense took over from there. Florida intercepted JaMarcus Russell three times, including two picks by junior cornerback Ryan Smith, forced two fumbles and added a safety. The victory pushed the Gators to 6-0 in a season that ended with a 41-14 win over Ohio State for the program’s second national championship.
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