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NCAA FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD: Recap
Recap | Box Score | This Week's Scoreboard
Florida 32, Auburn 14
Posted: Sunday October 17, 1999 02:20 AM
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AUBURN, Alabama (Ticker) -- Steve Spurrier's first decade at sixth-ranked Florida will go into the record books as the winningest in the history of Division I-A football.

Doug Johnson threw for 310 yards and a touchdown and Jeff Chandler kicked four first-half field goals as the Gators gave Spurrier his 99th career win at the school with a 32-14 triumph over Southeastern Conference rival Auburn.

Spurrier moved past former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, who amassed 98 wins in his first decade in Norman, from 1973-82.

Florida (6-1, 4-1 SEC East) improved to 69-0 against unranked opponents since Spurrier took the helm in 1990 and completed its first-ever three-game winning streak at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

"I was proud of our team," Spurrier said. "We certainly had trouble scoring in the first half. We could have scored a bunch more, but I guess we got enough. Thirty-two points isn't bad. I would have preferred 50 points. We thought we could score 50 on (Auburn coach) Tommy Tuberville, but we couldn't do it."

Johnson, who completed 24-of-43 passes with two interceptions, found Darrell Jackson on a 32-yard scoring strike 5:17 into the second quarter to give Florida a 10-0 lead. Jackson caught eight passes for 127 yards.

Chandler booted field goals of 21, 35, 22 and 19 yards in the first half for the Gators, who were able to drive the ball consistently between the 20s but were ineffective in the red zone. Chandler's 19-yarder with 17 seconds remaining made it 19-0 at the half.

Bo Carroll rushed for 104 yards on 11 carries and appeared to put away the contest when he broke free on a 62-yard TD scamper just under three minutes into the second half to give the Gators a 25-0 bulge. But Auburn (3-4, 1-4 West) did not go quietly.

"I like the way (Carroll) is running," Spurrier said. "He cuts back to go the distance instead of letting them push him out of bounds."

"It was a hard-fought game," Carroll added. "I thought our offensive line was great. We had some success in the first half, but we started to give it away a little in the second half."

Jeff Klein hit Ronney Daniels with a pair of second-half TD passes, including a 16-yarder 25 seconds into the fourth quarter that cut the deficit to 25-14.

"At halftime, Coach said to step it up and play with heart," Daniels said. "This loss doesn't hurt as bad as the other three because we put our heart out there in the second half."

Klein was 19-of-39 for 245 yards with two interceptions.

Daniels finished with six catches for 90 yards for Auburn, which has dropped four straight after an inspiring 3-0 start.

The Tigers appeared to be back in business when Larry Casher intercepted Johnson for the second time with 9:44 to play. But Florida's ferocious defense stepped up, pushing the Tigers backward before Bennie Alexander picked off Klein on 3rd-and-24 with 7:37 remaining.

"I really don't want to get into (the Casher interception)," Spurrier said. "Let's just say (Johnson) and I had some communication problems throughout most of the night."

Florida marched downfield and capped the scoring on Robert Gillespie's one-yard dive.

The Gators have reeled off five straight victories in the series for the first time since 1927-31. Auburn leads the all-time series, 39-35-2.

Florida held a whopping 499-246 advantage in total yardage and held the ball for nearly 35 minutes. The Tigers' ground game was slowed to a complete halt, managing one yard on 25 carries.

"We did some things well," Florida defensive end Derrick Chambers said. "We played hard. We just need to improve a couple of things. We will work hard in the (upcoming) off week to correct some things. But this is a great victory."

"You have to have a running game to be successful," Klein added.

"We have to finish our blocks."

The Gators held the ball for over 10 minutes in the opening quarter, but led only 3-0 at the end of the period thanks to Chandler's 21-yard field goal with 11 seconds remaining. Casher thwarted a seven-play, 62-yard first-quarter drive when he picked off Johnson at his own 10.

"We just kept telling ourselves that after a couple more plays that we would be able to stop them and we finally did," Casher said.

Casher, who also had a pick against Mississippi State last week, extended the Tigers' interception streak to 13 games.

With 12:57 remaining in the second quarter, Johnson and the Gators began the game's defining drive. Florida went 98 yards in eight plays and opened a 10-0 cushion when Johnson found Jackson with a 32-yard TD pass.

Faced with a 25-0 third-quarter deficit, Klein finally got the Tigers in gear, leading them on a nine-play, 66-yard drive that culminated in Daniels' 23-yard grab with 3:42 left.

Auburn ate up 84 yards on 10 plays and Klein once again found Daniels, this time from 16 yards, to cut the lead to 25-14 with 14:25 to play.

The Tigers' run defense, which had yielded just 81.3 yards per game entering tonight's contest, surrendered 189 to the Gators.


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