2005 Florida Gators football team

The 2005 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2005 college football season. The Gators competed in Division I-A of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. The season was the team's first of six under head coach Urban Meyer, who led the Gators to an Outback Bowl berth and an overall win-loss record of 9–3 (.750).

2005 Florida Gators football
Outback Bowl champion
Outback Bowl, W 31–24 vs. Iowa
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	Eastern Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 16
AP	No. 12
Record	9–3 (5–3 SEC)
Head coach	Urban Meyer (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Dan Mullen (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread option
Co-defensive coordinator	Charlie Strong (3rd season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Greg Mattison (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Captain	Vernell Brown Mike Degory Jarvis Herring Chris Leak Jeremy Mincey
Home stadium	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Capacity: 88,548)

2005 Southeastern Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Eastern Division
No. 10 Georgia x$		6	–	2					10	–	3
South Carolina		5	–	3					7	–	5
No. 12 Florida		5	–	3					9	–	3
Vanderbilt		3	–	5					5	–	6
Tennessee		3	–	5					5	–	6
Kentucky		2	–	6					3	–	8
Western Division
No. 5 LSU xy		7	–	1					11	–	2
No. 14 Auburn x		7	–	1					9	–	3
No. 8 Alabama		6	–	2					10	–	2
Arkansas		2	–	6					4	–	7
Mississippi State		1	–	7					3	–	8
Ole Miss		1	–	7					3	–	8
Championship: Georgia 34, LSU 14
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Alabama had all victories vacated by the NCAA in 2010. As such, the official record for Alabama is 0–2 (0–2). Rankings from AP Poll

Pre-season

The 2005 season would open with high expectations of new head coach Urban Meyer. Fourteen starters, seven from offense and seven from defense, would return for the 2005 season. The Gators would open the season in Gainesville against Wyoming from the Mountain West Conference. This year would also be the first time former Gator coach Steve Spurrier would coach against his alma mater.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	Wyoming*	No. 10	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	PPV	W 32–14	90,707
September 10	Louisiana Tech*	No. 10	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	PPV	W 41–3	90,099
September 17	No. 5 Tennessee	No. 6	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 16–7	90,716
September 24	at Kentucky	No. 5	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY	CBS	W 49–28	66,820
October 1	at No. 15 Alabama	No. 5	Bryant–Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL (rivalry)	CBS	L 3–31	81,018
October 8	Mississippi State	No. 13	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	JPS	W 35–9	90,104
October 15	at No. 10 LSU	No. 11	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	CBS	L 17–21	92,402
October 29	vs. No. 4 Georgia	No. 16	Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL (College GameDay) (rivalry)	CBS	W 14–10	84,501
November 5	Vanderbilt	No. 13	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	ESPN2	W 49–42 2OT	90,140
November 12	at South Carolina	No. 12	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	JPS	L 22–30	83,421
November 26	No. 23 Florida State*	No. 19	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 34–7	90,669
January 2, 2006	vs. No. 25 Iowa*	No. 16	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL (Outback Bowl)	ESPN	W 31–24	65,881
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Sources: 2012 Florida Football Media Guide, and GatorZone.com.

Game summaries

Wyoming

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cowboys	0	0	7	7	14
Gators	7	10	9	6	32

Louisiana Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	3	0	0	3
Gators	7	14	13	7	41

Tennessee

	1	2	3	4	Total
Volunteers	0	7	0	0	7
Gators	7	0	6	3	16

Kentucky

	1	2	3	4	Total
Gators	14	35	0	0	49
Wildcats	7	0	7	14	28

Alabama

	1	2	3	4	Total
Gators	0	3	0	0	3
Crimson Tide	17	7	7	0	31

Mississippi State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	3	0	6	0	9
Gators	3	9	9	14	35

LSU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Gators	0	7	10	0	17
Tigers	14	0	0	7	21

Georgia

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	3	7	0	10
Gators	14	0	0	0	14

Vanderbilt

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
Commodores	7	7	0	21	7	0	42
Gators	7	7	14	7	7	7	49

South Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
Gators	3	9	7	3	22
Gamecocks	7	13	7	3	30

Florida State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Seminoles	0	0	0	7	7
Gators	0	14	3	17	34

Iowa

Outback Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hawks	0	7	0	17	24
Gators	7	17	7	0	31

Coaching staff

• Urban Meyer – Head Coach – first year at UF
• Steve Addazio – Tackles/Tight Ends – first year
• Stan Drayton – Running Backs – first year
• Billy Gonzales – Wide Receivers – first year
• Chuck Heater – Recruiting Coordinator/Cornerbacks – first year
• John Hevesy – Centers/Guards – 0 years
• John "Doc" Holliday – Associate Head Coach/Safeties – first year
• Greg Mattison – Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line – first year
• Dan Mullen – Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – first year
• Charlie Strong – Assistant Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers – sixth year

Players drafted into the NFL

See also: 2006 NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
2	36	Chad Jackson	WR	New England Patriots
6	191	Jeremy Mincey	DE	New England Patriots
7	236	Dee Webb	CB	Jacksonville Jaguars

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). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.