3:30 p.m. | ESPN
Raymond James Stadium Tampa, Florida
SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Florida leads, 13-6-2
Last Meeting: Florida 63, Tulane 21 (Sept. 15, 1984 – Gainesville)
Recent History: Florida, W11 Florida 11-0-1 since 1947
In Gainesville: Florida leads, 7-2
In New Orleans: Florida leads, 5-3-2
In Tampa: Tied, 1-1
Tulane Green Wave Notes
LAST MEETING
Florida 63, Tulane 14 on September 15, 1984 (Courtesy: UPI’s Bill Lohmann)
Florida whipped Tulane, 63-14, on Saturday and Coach Charley Pell said it was just what the doctor ordered for his beleaguered Gators. ‘We needed that type of game,’ said Pell. ‘It was good tonic for us.’ The Gators were stunned this week by the announcement that the NCAA has charged the Florida football program with 107 rules violations. Prior to the season, Pell announced that he would resign at the end of the year because of the NCAA investigation. It’s been a tough few weeks for the Gators, but their first victory came just in time. ‘We’re ecstatic with the win,’ said Pell. ‘We’ve had some difficult times. We needed it; our fans needed it. It was a good win.’ Neal Anderson, Kerwin Bell and Chris Perkins led the Gators. Anderson ran for three touchdowns, while Bell passed for two scores and ran for another. However, it was Perkins, a senior kicker, who provided the day’s greatest drama as he booted a school-record 60-yard field goal. Anderson scored on runs of 1, 63 and 5 yards for the Gators, 1-1-1. He finished with 157 yards on 15 carries. Bell, a freshman who played only the first half as Florida built a 39-7 lead, fired scoring passes of 39 and 54 yards and sneaked 1 yard for another touchdown. Perkins kicked his 60-yarder, which tied the Southeastern Conference mark, in the third quarter at windless Florida Field with the Gators leading 46-14. The other Florida scores came on a 2-yard run by James Massey, three field goals by short-distance kicker Bobby Raymond and a safety. Quarterback Ken Karcher threw touchdown passes of 17 yards to Craig Harrison and 7 yards to Larry Route for Tulane, 0-2. Reserve David McLaughlin threw for the other Green Wave score, a 14-yard TD pass to Richie Crosby with 28 seconds left in the game. Florida’s 63 points tied the record for most points surrendered by Tulane. Raymond kicked a 44-yard field goal with 10:06 left in the first quarter and the Gators were never in trouble. Less than two minutes later, Gators linebacker Alonzo Johnson sacked Karcher in the end zone for a safety. Bell hit a 39-yard scoring pass to Ricky Nattiel later in the quarter.
Tulane’s Bowl History
The Green Wave is 7-9 all time in 16 bowl appearances. Prior to the last seven seasons, Tulane had never even made consecutive bowl appearances. The game-by-game results are as follows:
1932 Rose Bowl vs. USC – L, 21-12
1935 Sugar Bowl vs. Temple – W, 20-14
1940 Sugar Bowl vs. Texas A&M – L, 14-13
1970 Liberty Bowl vs. Colorado – W, 17-3
1973 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl vs. Houston – L, 47-7
1979 Liberty Bowl vs. Penn State – L, 9-6
1980 Hall of Fame Bowl vs. Arkansas – L, 34-15
1987 Independence Bowl vs. Washington – L, 24-12
1998 Liberty Bowl vs. BYU – W, 41-27
2002 Hawaii Bowl vs. Hawaii – W, 36-28
2013 New Orleans Bowl vs. Louisiana – L, 24-21
2018 Cure Bowl vs. Louisiana – W, 41-24
2020 Armed Forces Bowl vs. Southern Miss – W, 30-13
2020 Idaho Potato Bowl vs. Nevada – L, 38-27
2023 Cotton Bowl vs. USC – W, 46-45
2023 Military Bowl vs. Virginia Tech – L, 41-20
Road Warriors
The program has now won 15 of its last 17 road games. Its only two defeats since the beginning of the 2022 season was the 34-19 defeat at the hands of #13 Oklahoma and the 35-14 loss at Army in the AAC Championship Game.
Turnovers!
Tulane, who forced two turnovers at Navy, has now won 27 of its last 31 games when forcing a turnover.
Lighting it Up
Tulane has scored 50 points three times this season, the most for the program in any one season since 1998 (four). Tulane has also scored 40 points six times, which ties the 2022 Cotton Bowl season for the most such games since 1998.
Getting (Non-) Offensive
The Green Wave leads the nation in both non-offensive touchdowns (8) and defensive scores (6). The team paces the FBS in both pick-6s (5) and kickoff returns for touchdown (tied-2).
Balanced Attack
The Green Wave is one of just eight schools nationally to average at least 200 yards on the ground and at least that many through the air.
Florida Gators Notes
THE OPENING DRIVE
• Florida and Tulane match up for the 22nd time and first since 1984 in the 2024 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. • This is Florida’s second appearance in the Gasparilla Bowl, previously playing in the event in 2021 (UCF 29, UF 17). • Florida and Tulane first faced off on Nov. 18, 1915, in Gainesville, with the Gators prevailing, 14-7. • After a 2-6-2 start in the series from 1915-1947, Florida has won 11-straight against Tulane for a 13-6-2 series lead. • The Gators’ last loss to the Green Wave was over 78 years ago – a 27-13 defeat in New Orleans on Oct. 5, 1946. • This is the third matchup between Florida and Tulane in Tampa (tied at 1-1). Florida is 28-15-3 all-time in Tampa. • Florida has a record of 24-24 across 48 bowl appearances dating back to 1953. • The Gators are 8-5 in bowls since 2009 and 10-6 since 2006 – going for their first win since the 2019 Orange Bowl. • This is Florida’s sixth bowl appearance in the last seven seasons, and ninth in the last 11 campaigns. • Gators HC Billy Napier is 2-2 all-time in bowl games: 2022 Las Vegas Bowl (L), 2018 Cure Bowl (L), 2019-20 LendingTree Bowl (W), 2020 First Responder Bowl (W). • Florida closed out the regular season with three-straight victories (def. No. 21 LSU, No. 9 Ole Miss, FSU) for the first time since the 2019 campaign (def. Vanderbilt, Missouri and FSU). • Florida has outscored its opponents by 38 points (82-44) across its three-game winning streak (12.7 PPG). • Florida posted back-to-back upset wins over AP Top 25 opponents (No. 21 LSU, No. 9 Ole Miss) as an unranked team for the first time since Oct. 11-18, 2003 (No. 6 LSU, No. 11 Arkansas) – first time accomplished in two home games. • Of the 37 upsets by unranked teams in the regular season, Florida was one of six with multiple top-25 wins. • This is the first meeting between Napier and Tulane HC Jon Sumrall as head coaches (more on Page 21). • The Gators have recorded a takeaway in nine-straight games and have forced a turnover in 11 of 12 overall. • QB DJ Lagwayis set to join Wayne Peace (W, 1980 Tangerine Bowl), Chris Leak (L, 2004 Outback Bowl) and Treon Harris (W, 2015 Birmingham Bowl) as the fourth UF true freshman quarterback to start a bowl game (2-1 record). • Lagway leads all FBS passers with at least 100 attempts with a 97.3 passing grade on deep throws (20-plus yards). • Florida started a true freshman QB and RB in Lagway and RB Jadan Baugh for the second time in program history in Week 12 vs. LSU and is now 2-0 with the only two FBS wins this season while starting a true freshman backfield. • Florida is one of two teams in the country with two qualified receivers averaging 19.0 yards per catch in WR Elijhah Badger (fifth – 21.3) and WR Chimere Dike (17th – 19.1), with the other being East Carolina. • Led by first-year senior analyst Joe Houston, Florida ranks eighth in the FBS in net punting (43.05), 17th in punt return average (13.36) and 41st in punt return defense (5.47), and has been inside the top 13 all season in ESPN’s SP+ metric. • Florida has allowed just 19 sacks, grading as the 18th-best pass blocking team in the nation with a 79.9 PFF grade. • C Jake Slaughtergrades as the No. 5 center in the FBS (81.2) and has the sixth-best run block grade (79.1). • Since 2018, Napier is tied for 12th in the FBS with 58 total wins (10th among active head coaches). • The Gators have won 18 of their last 24 games in The Swamp (including 13 of 18) but are 4-19 in their last 23 contests outside of The Swamp and 4-14 in their last 18 true road games. • Florida has scored in an NCAA-record 460-consecutive games dating back to 1988.
