1987 Florida Gators football team

The 1987 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was the fourth for Galen Hall as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Hall's 1987 Florida Gators posted a 6–6 overall record and a Southeastern Conference (SEC) record of 3–3, placing sixth among ten SEC teams.^[1]

1987 Florida Gators football
Aloha Bowl, L 16–20 vs. UCLA
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Record	6–6 (3–3 SEC)
Head coach	Galen Hall (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Zaven Yaralian (2nd season)
Home stadium	Florida Field
Seasons ← 1986 1988 →

1987 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 Auburn $	5	–	0	–	1			9	–	1	–	2
No. 5 LSU	5	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	1
No. 14 Tennessee	4	–	1	–	1			10	–	2	–	1
No. 13 Georgia	4	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Alabama	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Florida	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Kentucky	1	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Mississippi State	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Vanderbilt	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Ole Miss	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The season was the debut of freshman running back Emmitt Smith. Smith went on to break the 1,000-yard barrier in the seventh game of his freshman season, the fastest any running back had ever broken that barrier to begin his college career, and was named SEC and national freshman of the year. This was the last year until 2017 that Florida opened the season away from Gainesville.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 5	at No. 10 Miami (FL)*	No. 20	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (rivalry)	TBS	L 4–31	77,224	[2]
September 12	Tulsa*		Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 52–0	72,173	[3]
September 19	at No. 11 Alabama		Legion Field Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	TBS	W 23–14	75,808	[4]
September 26	Mississippi State		Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 38–3	74,421	[5]
October 3	at No. 7 LSU	No. 19	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	ESPN	L 10–13	79,313	[6]
October 10	Cal State Fullerton*	No. 18	Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 65–0	72,336	[7]
October 17	Temple*	No. 14	Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 34–3	74,286	[8]
October 31	at No. 6 Auburn	No. 10	Jordan-Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	ESPN	L 6–29	85,187	[9]
November 7	vs. No. 10 Georgia	No. 17	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	TBS	L 10–23	81,975	[10]
November 14	Kentucky		Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	TBS	W 27–14	73,021	[11]
November 28	No. 3 Florida State*		Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	L 14–28	74,613	[12]
December 25	vs. No. 10 UCLA*		Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI (Aloha Bowl)	ABC	L 16–20	24,839	[13]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[1]

Personnel

1987 Florida Gators football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 12 Kerwin Bell Sr OL Chris Bromley TE Kelvin Calhoun OL Tracy Daniels OL Jimmy Davis WR Ed Frazier RB Octavius Gould TE Kirk Kirkpatrick QB Pepe Lescano WR Tony Lomack RB James Massey RB Willie McGrady TE Mark McGriff WR Ernie Mills Fr TE Walter Odom RB Darryl Perry QB, P Herbert Perry TE Clifton Reynolds WR Stacey Simmons OL Bob Sims RB Cedric Smith RB 22 Emmitt Smith Fr WR Willie Snead OL Richard Starowesky RB Curtis White RB Anthony Williams OL David Williams RB Wayne Williams WR Darrell Woulard OL Charlie Wright	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL Henry Brown LB Clifford Charlton DB Richard Fain DB Tony Jones LB Todd Gatlin LB Jason Lamberth LB Pat Moorer DB Rick Mulberry LB Mark Murray DL Glenn Neely LB Jim Nicoletto LB Gerry Odom DB Louis Oliver LB Huey Richardson Fr DL Jeff Roth DB Kerry Watkins DL Rhondy Weston DB Jarvis Williams	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Andy Elton P Jamie McAndrew K Robert McGinty Sr	Head coach Galen Hall Coordinators/assistant coaches Zaven Yaralian (DC) Mike Heimerdinger (WR) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Rankings

Further information: 1987 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	20 т	—	—	—	19	18	14	11	10	17	—	RV	RV	—	—	—
Coaches	20	—	—	15	18	19	14	11	11	18	—	—	—	—	—	—

^[14]