This Date in College Football Belt History – October 1

Posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 and is filed under CFB. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

stovall_jerry The 12^th ranked, 3-0-1 Florida Gators of Charley Pell went to Baton Rouge for their first Belt game in school history to meet the 16^th ranked, 2-1 Louisiana State Tigers & coach Jerry Stovall. Florida’s RB Neal Anderson rushed for 2 touchdowns including a 76-yard run late in the 4^th quarter to secure a 31-17 win as the Gators claimed The Belt for the first time. Anderson scored in the 1^st quarter on a 15-yard touchdown run as Florida took a 7-0 lead. In the 2^nd quarter, Gators’ QB Wayne Peace connected with RB Lorenzo Hampton on a 58-yard touchdown pass pushing the lead to 14-0. Louisiana State got within a touchdown when QB Jeff Wickersham found All-SEC WR Eric Martin open on a 17-yard touchdown pass but Florida’s PK Bobby Raymond’s 40-yard field goal gave the Gators a 17-7 halftime advantage. On the opening drive of the 3^rd quarter, Louisiana State’s CB Eugene Daniel intercepted Peace at the Florida 30-yard line. The Tigers were unable to move but did get a 43-yard field goal from PK Juan Betanzos. Late in the quarter, Florida drove 86 yards in 9 plays with RB John L. Williams scoring on a 1-yard run as the Gators pushed the lead to 24-10 as the teams started the 4^th quarter. Louisiana State drove to the Florida 9-yard line but RB Dalton Hilliard was stopped short on a 4^th down play with 11:18 left in the game. Following a Gators’ punt, Louisiana State drove 60 yards in 7 plays with Wickersham scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run getting the Tigers within a touchdown at 24-17 with 4:56 to play. On the first snap after the kick-off, Louisiana State’s CB Alex Clark intercepted Peace giving the Tigers the ball at the Florida 36-yard line with 4:51 to play. Louisiana State drove to the Florida 5-yard line with just under a minute to play when Gators’ All-American LB Wilbur Marshall intercepted Wickersham & returned it to the Florida 24-yard line. Anderson broke loose for his long touchdown run on the next snap & the Gators had a hard fought victory. Peace finished with 186 yards passing with a touchdown but 2 interceptions while Anderson added 149 yards rushing to his 2 touchdowns. Wickersham threw for 271 yards with a touchdown but 2 interceptions while Martin had 5 catches for 106 yards with his touchdown. The Tigers finished the season 4-7 in Stovall’s final season while the Gators finished 9-2-1 & ranked 6^th nationally. Louisiana State would play for The Belt again in 1987.