2002 Florida Gators football team

The 2002 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida as a member of the Eastern Division in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) during the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by first-year head coach Ron Zook, the Gators compiled an overall record of 8–5 with mark of 6–2 in conference play, placing second in the SEC's Eastern Division title. Florida was invited to the Outback Bowl, where the Gators lost Michigan. The team played home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus.

2002 Florida Gators football
Outback Bowl, L 30–38 vs. Michigan
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	Eastern Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 24
Record	8–5 (6–2 SEC)
Head coach	Ron Zook (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Ed Zaunbrecher (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	John Thompson (1st season)
Base defense	Multiple
Captains	Earnest Graham Rex Grossman Byron Hardmon Taylor Jacobs Todd Johnson
Home stadium	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Seasons ← 2001 2003 →

2002 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Eastern Division
No. 3 Georgia x$		7	–	1					13	–	1
Florida		6	–	2					8	–	5
Tennessee		5	–	3					8	–	5
Kentucky		3	–	5					7	–	5
South Carolina		3	–	5					5	–	7
Vanderbilt		0	–	8					2	–	10
Western Division
Arkansas xy		5	–	3					9	–	5
No. 14 Auburn x		5	–	3					9	–	4
LSU x		5	–	3					8	–	5
Ole Miss		3	–	5					7	–	6
Mississippi State		0	–	8					3	–	9
No. 11 ^Alabama		6	–	2					10	–	3
Championship: Georgia 30, Arkansas 3
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant ^ – Alabama had the best division record, but did not participate in postseason play due to NCAA probation. Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 31	7:00 p.m.	UAB*	No. 6	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	PPV	W 51–3	85,575	[1]
September 7	5:15 p.m.	No. 1 Miami (FL)*	No. 6	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry, College GameDay)	CBS	L 16–41	85,777
September 14	6:00 p.m.	Ohio*	No. 12	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	PPV	W 34–6	84,002
September 21	3:30 p.m.	at No. 4 Tennessee	No. 10	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN (rivalry, College GameDay)	CBS	W 30–13	108,722
September 28	3:30 p.m.	Kentucky	No. 7	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 41–34	85,333
October 5	12:00 p.m.	at Ole Miss	No. 6	Vaught–Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS	CBS	L 14–17	61,140
October 12	7:45 p.m.	No. 18 LSU	No. 16	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ESPN	L 7–36	85,252
October 19	6:45 p.m.	Auburn		Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ESPN	W 30–23 OT	85,135
November 2	7:45 p.m.	vs. No. 5 Georgia		Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry, College GameDay)	ESPN	W 20–13	84,433
November 9	2:00 p.m.	at Vanderbilt	No. 23	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN	PPV	W 21–17	28,881
November 16	6:00 p.m.	South Carolina	No. 20	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	ESPN	W 28–7	85,222
November 30	8:00 p.m.	at No. 23 Florida State*	No. 15	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	ABC	L 14–31	83,938
January 1, 2003	11:00 a.m.	vs. No. 12 Michigan*	No. 15	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL (Outback Bowl)	ESPN	L 30–38	65,101
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

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Game summaries

UAB

Miami (FL)

Ohio

At Tennessee

Florida Gators (2–1) at Tennessee Volunteers (1–1)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida	0	24	0	6	30
Tennessee	0	0	13	0	13

at Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee

• Date: September 21
• Game time: 3:30 p.m. EST
• Game weather: Light rain, 71 °F (22 °C)
• Game attendance: 108,722
• Referee: Rogers Redding
• TV: CBS
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter No scoring Second quarter FLA – Earnest Graham 1-yard run (Matt Leach kick), 4:55. Florida 7–0. Drive: 9 plays, 84 yards, 3:20. FLA – Carlos Perez 28-yard pass from Rex Grossman (Matt Leach kick), 3:40. Florida 14–0. Drive: 3 plays, 24 yards, 1:12. FLA – Taylor Jacobs 7-yard pass from Rex Grossman (Matt Leach kick), 0:35. Florida 21–0. Drive: 6 plays, 62 yards, 0:52. FLA – Matt Leach 41-yard field goal, 0:00. Florida 24–0. Drive: 1 play, 0 yards, 0:02. Third quarter TENN – Derrick Tinsley 15-yard pass from Casey Clausen (Alex Walls kick), 9:51. Florida 24–7. Drive: 7 plays, 59 yards, 2:28. TENN – Jabari Davis 1-yard run (kick failed), 0:28. Florida 24–13. Drive: 14 plays, 64 yards, 6:27. Fourth quarter FLA – Taylor Jacobs 21-yard pass from Rex Grossman (kick failed), 10:49. Florida 30–13. Drive: 11 plays, 80 yards, 4:32. Top passers FLA – Rex Grossman – 20/34, 324 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT TENN – Casey Clausen – 30/44, 285 yards, TD Top rushers FLA – Ran Carthon – 9 rushes, 51 yards TENN – Troy Fleming – 9 rushes, 42 yards Top receivers FLA – Taylor Jacobs – 9 receptions, 141 yards, 2 TD TENN – Kelley Washington – 7 receptions, 102 yards

Kentucky

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Kentucky	0	0	28	6	34
• Florida	6	13	13	9	41

• Date: September 28
• Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
• Game start: 3:30 p.m.
• Elapsed time: 3:38
• Game attendance: 85,333
• Game weather: Sunny; 86 °F (30 °C); wind 9 mph (14 km/h) W
• Referee: Steve Shaw

Scoring summary

Q1	2:08	FLA	Graham 1-yard run (kick blocked)	FLA 6–0
Q2	11:55	FLA	Carthon 19-yard run (pass failed)	FLA 12–0
Q2	2:54	FLA	Carthon 6-yard run (Leach kick)	FLA 19–0
Q3	11:05	UK	Abney 14-yard pass from Lorenzen (Begley kick)	FLA 19–7
Q3	7:21	FLA	Jacobs 4-yard pass from Grossman (kick blocked)	FLA 25–7
Q3	6:59	UK	Abney 100-yard kickoff return (Begley kick)	FLA 25–14
Q3	3:21	UK	Pinner 1-yard run (Begley kick)	FLA 25–21
Q3	3:03	UK	Boone 39-yard pass from Lorenzen (Begley kick)	UK 28–25
Q3	0:18	FLA	Jacobs 35-yard pass from Grossman (Leach kick)	FLA 32–28
Q4	9:25	FLA	Ratliff 62-yard interception return (Leach kick)	FLA 39–28
Q4	5:24	UK	Abney 49-yard punt return (pass failed)	FLA 39–34
Q4	5:24	FLA	Ratliff PAT return	FLA 41–34

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At Ole Miss

LSU

Auburn

Vs. Georgia

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Florida	0	12	0	8	20
Georgia	7	6	0	0	13

• Date: Saturday, November 2
• Location: Alltel Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida
• Game start: 7:45 p.m.
• Elapsed time: 3:25
• Game attendance: 84,433
• Game weather: Clear, 58 °F (14 °C)
• Referee: Penn Wagers
• Television network: ESPN

Scoring summary

1	6:59	UGA	J.T. Wall 10-yard pass from David Greene (Billy Bennett kick) (3-48, 0:49)	UGA 7-0
2	9:39	FLA	Aaron Walker 5-yard pass from Rex Grossman (Brendt Talcott kick failed) (13-58, 5:21)	UGA 7-6
2	3:56	FLA	Guss Scott 47-yard interception return (pass failed)	FLA 12-6
2	1:20	UGA	Billy Bennett 47-yard field goal (8-48, 2:36)	FLA 12-10
2	0:03	UGA	Billy Bennett 25-yard field goal (4-(-2), 1:08)	UGA 13-12
4	11:32	FLA	Ben Troupe 10-yard pass from Rex Grossman (Grossman run) (10-89, 3:49)	FLA 20-13

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At Vanderbilt

South Carolina

At Florida State

Outback Bowl (vs. Michigan)

Roster

2002 Florida Gators football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 2 Kelvin Kight Jr RB 5 Earnest Graham Sr WR 6 Taylor Jacobs Sr QB 8 Rex Grossman Sr QB 10 Ingle Martin Fr WR 11 O. J. Small So OL 54 David Jorgensen Sr G 75 Shannon Snell Jr TE 82 Aaron Walker Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 1 Keiwan Ratliff Jr LB 42 Byron Hardmon Sr LB 59 Mike Nattiel Sr DE 86 Darrell Lee Jr DT 98 Tron LaFavor Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Matt Leach	Head coach Ron Zook Coordinators/assistant coaches Ed Zaunbrecher- Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks John Thompson – Defensive Coordinator Mike Woodford – Defense Jerry "Red" Anderson – Defensive Joe Wickline – Offensive Line Dwayne Dixon – Wide Receivers Larry Fedora – Running Backs Jerry Odom – Inside Linebackers Tyke Tolbert – Tight Ends/Recruiting Coordinator Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Players drafted into the NFL

See also: 2003 NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL club
1	22	Rex Grossman	QB	Chicago Bears
2	44	Taylor Jacobs	WR	Washington Redskins
4	100	Todd Johnson	S	Chicago Bears
4	116	Ian Scott	DT	Chicago Bears
5	161	Aaron Walker	TE	San Francisco 49ers
5	171	Tron LaFavor	DT	Chicago Bears
6	190	Mike Nattiel	LB	Minnesota Vikings
7	227	Clint Mitchell	DE	Denver Broncos