They have won games when a wide receiver turned into a running back, the way Wes Chandler did in 1977.
They have lost games when a coach turned into the village idiot, the way Doug Dickey did in the 1976 “Fourth and Dumb” play.
They have lost games when an opposing wide receiver found a miracle, the way Georgia’s Lindsay Scott did in the 1980 “Run, Lindsay, run” game.
They have won games when Steve Spurrier would not stop scoring, as happened when they “hung a half-a-hundred” in a 52-14 win.
But in a wild series with the Georgia Bulldogs, only once have the Florida Gators won when a player … called a time out.
It was 1993 when Florida made time stand still. At the time, the Gators were hanging on against Georgia on a rainy day in Jacksonville. That was unusual, because Spurrier usually owned the Bulldogs.
This time, he had a lead in a game in which Errict Rhett would run for 183 yards. In the final minute, however, with Florida leading 33-26, Bulldogs’ quarterback Eric Zeier led Georgia on a drive inside Florida territory. With five seconds left, he appeared to have thrown a touchdown to Jerry Jarmon. All that remained was a decision to go for the tie or the win.
And then goofiness took over.
As luck would have it, freshman Florida cornerback Anthone Lott had called a timeout just before the ball was snapped. The touchdown was wiped out. Lott was called for face-guarding on the next play, and then Zeier threw incomplete as time expired.
It was a significant win for Florida, which would go on to beat Alabama for its first SEC title. The Gators would finish the season 10-2 and ranked fifth.
