Over the years, Florida has had decent success against QBs who wound up being the first overall pick in the NFL Draft
Over the years, Florida Football has had decent success against QBs who wound up being picked first overall in the NFL Draft. Some of these QBs still went on to long NFL careers. Some of them are now wanted for defrauding their high school football team.
The following are the six most recent QBs who Florida beat during their college career who wound up going number one in the draft.
2018 – Joe Burrow – LSU
Most college football fans remember Joe Burrow from his 2019 campaign when he led LSU to an undefeated season en route to winning the national title. Burrow went on to be selected number one overall by the Cincinnati Bengals and was within an eyelash of winning the Super Bowl during the 2021 season.
But a year prior to the 2019 clash between Florida and LSU, the squads met in The Swamp during Burrow’s first season under center with the Tigers.
The Todd Grantham led defense was able to keep Burrow in check, limiting him to 19-34 passing for 192 yards and two interceptions. The second of those interceptions came while Florida was clinging to a one point lead as Brad Stewart returned a pick six to ice the game.
2009 – Sam Bradford – Oklahoma
Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy for the 2007 season. Sam Bradford won the Heisman for the 2008 season. And as we all know from Highlander, there can only be one.
Conveniently to settle the score the Gators took on Oklahoma in the BCS National Title game on January 8, 2009. Bradford was 26-41 passing for 256 yards and two touchdowns. More critical though, he also threw two interceptions. One was along the goal line and one at midfield with the Sooners down three.
Of course it didn’t help Bradford that his receivers probably feared for their life after Major Wright set the tone in the first minute of the game
Bradford went on the an injury riddled NFL career after being the number one pick in the 2010 draft and only played at least 14 games in a season four times.
2008 – Matthew Stafford – Georgia
Florida 2008 national title run had the distraction of knocking off two eventual number one draft picks. Before the Gators could knock off Bradford in the title game, they had to derail Matthew Stafford in the World’s Largest Cocktail Party.
With rumblings at the start of the season that Stafford could be the number pick, Georgia was the preseason number one. A loss to Alabama dropped them, but the Bulldogs still had everything in front of them when they took on the Gators in 2008.
Florida showed no mercy that day, famously knocking off the Bulldogs 49-10. As payback for the year before, Urban Meyer opted to use all of his timeouts at the end of the game as a way to rub it in to Georgia.
Stafford went on to a long stint with the Detroit Lions before finally winning a Super Bowl with the LA Rams in 2021 over the previously mentioned Bengals.
2006 – JaMarcus Russell – LSU
Florida’s 2006 season is obviously best remembered for the beat down of Ohio State to win the national title. Sometimes lost in the shuffle are just how many close games the Gators had to survive that year, including wins over Tennessee, Georgia, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and FSU which were all seven points or less.
It’s with that in mind that it’s a bit ironic that one of Florida’s easy games that year came against the eventual number one pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.
Florida beat LSU 23-10 and JaMarcus Russell was held to 24-41 passing for 228 yards. He had three interceptions to go against just one touchdown.
Russell would go on to flame out of the NFL after just three seasons and recently has been charged with stealing $74,000 from the high school football team he was helping coach.
1996, 1997, 1998 – Tim Couch – Kentucky
Once upon a time, beating Kentucky in football was automatic. Even when the Wildcats had a hint of talent in the 90s, they were still no match for the Gators.
Tim Couch had three cracks at the Gators and the closest he was able to come was a 51-35 defeat during the 1998 season. It was a better effort than the 65-0 defeat Florida handed them during Couch’s first attempt at beating the Gators.
Couch would go on to be the first pick of the 1999 draft when the Cleveland Browns relaunched as an “expansion team.” Like Russell, his NFL career was short-lived as he only made it as a member of the main roster for four seasons.
1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 – Peyton Manning – Tennessee Volunteers
There is almost nothing Peyton Manning didn’t accomplish during his college and NFL career. He was an All-American, won the Maxwell Award, was the first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, and went on to win two Super Bowls.
Manning has done it all.
Except beat the Florida Gators.
His first official completed pass came in 1994 against the Gators in a 31-0 defeat. He then had three more cracks as a starter to beat Florida but lost 62-37, 35-29, and 33-20.
During his career against the Gators, Manning threw nine touchdowns but also threw seven interceptions. When it was all over in college for Manning, Florida accounted for 22% of the career interceptions he had thrown.
We’ll find out if his nephew Arch Manning can have any better success soon enough.
