CBS SportsLine wire reports
Oct. 17, 1998
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Everyone at No. 5 Florida knew it. So did most of the players and coaches on the opposite sideline.
It doesn't take much to beat Auburn these days.
Coach Steve Spurrier used a variety of reverses, fancy formations and big plays on Saturday as the Gators scored all their points in the first half and coasted to a 24-3 victory over the struggling Tigers.
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"Steve can do what he wants," Auburn coach Terry Bowden said. ``But against us, 24 points was like a million. And he knew 24 was like a million."
Doug Johnson finished with 198 passing yards and two touchdowns. He barely broke a sweat in the second half.
RECEIVER TRAVIS MCGRIFF RAN FOR a score on an end-around and caught a 15-yard touchdown pass as the Gators (6-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) extended their home winning streak to 26 games.
Florida's last loss at the Swamp came to Auburn in 1994, but these are hardly the same Tigers. Instead, Auburn (1-5, 1-4) is off to its worst start in 46 years.
"What you're seeing out there is a struggling football team, as you know," Bowden said. "There aren't any answers we can find, even before the game. We're just hoping something magnificent will happen that's out of our control."
About the only break Auburn caught was running into a Florida team in no mood to run up the score.
The Gators threw just two passes over the final 22 minutes. They punted seven times, including once on third down in their own territory to keep Auburn from setting up an effective punt-block scheme.
"I knew we didn't have to score a lot in this game to win," Johnson said. "We could just punt the ball away and we knew we'd get it right back."
Sometimes it didn't take that long.
ON A PLAY THAT SEEMED TO DEFINE its season, Auburn fumbled away its first snap on offense. The exchange was between Colin Sears, the sixth center the Tigers have used this year, and sophomore quarterback Ben Leard.
Two plays later, Florida scored on a 32-yard pass from Johnson to Travis Taylor. It was the fourth straight game an Auburn opponent had converted a turnover into a 7-0 lead in the game's first three minutes.
"I was joking with the guys on offense," Auburn defensive lineman Charles Dorsey said. "I said `Just kneel three times and punt."'
After gaining the early lead, the Gators just seemed to be toying with their opponent, especially when Spurrier brought back a version of the Emory & Henry formation he has employed in years past.
On one side of the field, a guard and tackle lined up wide with a receiver and running back directly outside of them. Two receivers split wide to the other side and just three linemen, a halfback and the quarterback occupied the middle of the field.
The confusing set worked with only modest success against the SEC's
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Auburn cornerback Jayson Bray breaks up a pass intended for Florida wide receiver Darrell Jackson during the first half of the Gators' 24-3 victory.
(AP)
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Auburn, meanwhile, spent most of the game just trying to get the basics down.
Leard also fumbled the second snap from Sears, but recovered that one before Auburn went three-and-out.
In the second quarter, Tigers punt returner Clifton Robinson waved his entire team off a kick that came bouncing his way -- then had the ball hit him in the leg for a turnover that resulted in a Florida field goal and a 24-3 lead.
FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK GABE GROSS had more success than Leard in running Bowden's watered-down offense, although neither quarterback got the Tigers into the end zone.
Gross led the Tigers on a 16-play, 70-yard march that ended when Florida cornerback Tony George intercepted a pass in the end zone in the third quarter. Late in the game, Gross drove the Tigers to the Florida 4 before the ball went over on downs.
Despite gaining the big early lead, the Gators were anything but perfect. They committed three turnovers, were penalized for 93 yards and couldn't gain an inch on fourth-and-1 from Auburn's 12 in the third quarter.
Then Spurrier went basic. So basic, in fact, that Florida failed to produce a second-half score for the first time since a 35-29 victory over Tennessee in 1996.
There were more boos than cheers in the second half, but Spurrier wasn't in the mood for apologies.
"I'm proud of the victory," he said. ``I know we didn't do too much in the second half, but we didn't have to. I know our fans don't like this kind of ball but sometimes winning the game is the objective rather than seeing how many points you can score."