1997 Week 5
September 27, 1997
Well, the season is really getting underway now. Peyton and Tennessee were sent back to the showers and SC and Notre Dame are getting all fired up for the battle of the year. Bob Davie has turned around ND, with two home sellouts so far this year. It's not like the problems Lou faced last year with all those empty seats in South Bend.
There were two big games last weekend, Nebraska/Washington and the Florida/Tennessee game played down in the Swamp. Playing in a swamp is something that has gone out of style in this modern world of football, but there's a great tradition at UF of playing near the water.
Back in 1947, when the Florida program wasn't as big-time as it was today, they really did play their games at the original Florida Field. This was a large meadow on the west side of town that later became part of the right of way for I-75.
Well, one day the big interstate battle between the University of Florida and Florida Unitarian College from the Coral Gables area took place. Back then those were the only big-time programs in the state--Florida State was an all-girls school (though the FSU women put out some pretty tough teams back then, don't get me wrong, they just didn't have the wherewithall to last four periods without a change in padding. You may recall how Burt Reynolds and Lee Corso played for FSU--actually they began their FSU careers by playing in dresses for their freshman and sophomore years, before FSU started admitting men and they could get rid of their disguises. Lee still likes to dress in ladies' apparel for Gameday sometimes, that's why he's always got a sports coat on, to cover up the frilly shoulders of the dresses he likes to wear).
Florida came into that game undefeated and Florida Unitarian College had one loss. Florida coach Marcus Hassenpfeffer thought he could throw the ball all over the field against the rather slow Florida Unitarian defense. Florida Unitarian depended on the play of running back Geoff Ian Biss.
The big game was about to begin and Hurricane Satan came through town. One of the hurricane names used that year was the name of ole Lucifer himself. Satan dumped inches and inches of rain on Gainesville and flooding started immediately.
Hassenpfeffer's team had trouble throwing the ball and the game settled into a slugfest in the trenches. Biss was running wild for Florida Unitarian and had 150 yards by halftime, giving his team a 13-7 lead. The rain had really started to come down, but the eye of the hurricane came through at halftime so the bands were still able to perform (though several tuba players sank in the muck and were never seen again).
In the third quarter Satan caused all heck to break loose. The field was covered with a 5" layer of water and several parts of the grandstand broke away and half the crowd floated off toward the Gulf of Mexico. Florida managed somehow to score to take a 14-13 lead. In the 4th quarter, with about 2 minutes to go, nobody could see the field anymore. Biss was running toward the end zone for what would have been the winning touchdown when, suddenly, an alligator showed up at the 5 yard line and tripped Biss, bit off both his arms and caused a fumble. Florida recovered and ran out the clock for a 14-13 victory.
In honor of the result, Florida rechristened their team the Gators. Biss was not forgotten either. Florida Unitarian College was renamed by its new President as the University of Miami and the sports teams were nicknamed "The Hurricanes" in honor of Biss. Geoff I. Biss, unable to work without any arms, was made the team mascot, soon to be nicknamed the "I. Biss". Satan also became a longtime mascot of the Miami Hurricanes, which is why Jimmy Johnson was so proud to be called a "pork-faced Satan" in honor of his dark lord.
Yes, we've come a long way since those dark stormy days. Football stadiums have modern drainage systems and bigger crowds. And somewhere there's an old alligator who has two arms mounted on a tree in honor of his game-winning play for UF.