Florida football's most unbreakable record is one they'd rather forget
Florida football's most unbreakable record is one they'd rather forget
College football is full of jaw-dropping records–some legendary, some infamous. The Florida Gators hold one of the latter, and it's unlikely to ever be broken.
In a 1969 matchup against the Auburn Tigers, Florida quarterback John Reaves threw nine interceptions–still the most in a single NCAA game.
Reaves attempted 66 passes that day in a 38-12 loss, the Gators' only defeat of the season. He went on to become college football's all-time leading passer at the time, even surpassing Heisman winner Steve Spurrier in career numbers.
But going back to the record of nine interceptions, that stat is etched in stone.
Why? Because no coach in today's world would let it happen. A quarterback throwing even four or five interceptions gets benched. The game has evolved too much for this kind of meltdown to repeat.
Reaves's record was included in ESPN college football reporter Chris Low's list of college football's most unbreakable records.
The Gators also earned a nod for a far more impressive stat: Florida has scored in 461 straight games, the longest active streak in FBS history.
The last time the Gators were shut out was back on Oct. 28, 1988, against the Auburn Tigers. Of course.
Here is everything Low wrote about the pair of Florida football records.
What ESPN said about Reaves's record
"Not all records are enshrined in trophy cases. Florida quarterback John Reaves threw an NCAA-record nine interceptions (on 66 passing attempts) in a 38-12 loss to Auburn in 1969. Reaves was a prolific passer and put up better career numbers than Gators Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier, but Florida's only loss of the 1969 season was 'one of those days.'
"When Reaves left Florida in 1971, he was college football's all-time leading passer with 7,549 yards, and he was selected in the first round of the NFL draft. Reaves died in 2017 at the age of 67. He joked years after that forgettable game that the "safeties were the only guys who were open that day." In this age of college football, any coach who kept a quarterback in a game long enough to throw nine interceptions probably would be looking for a new job the next week."
What ESPN said about Florida's scoring streak
"Florida has scored in 461 straight games, the longest active streak and the longest in FBS history. The last time the Gators were shut out in a game was on Oct. 29, 1988, a 16-0 loss to Auburn. A distant second is TCU, which has scored in 407 straight games."
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