The history of Florida Gators football began in 1906, when the newly established "University of the State of Florida" fielded a football team during its first full academic year of existence. The school's name was shortened to the University of Florida in 1908, and the football team gained the nickname "Gators" in 1911. The program started small, usually playing six to eight games per season against small colleges and local athletic club teams in north Florida and south Georgia. The Orange and Blue developed early rivalries with the Stetson Hatters from nearby Deland and Mercer Bears from Macon. During the 1910s, Florida began playing a wider range of opponents from more established football programs across the southeastern United States and faced off against several future rivals - such as Georgia, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, and Auburn - for the first time.

Florida's football program first rose to national prominence in the 1920s, when coach Charlie Bachman's 1928 team led the nation in scoring and were kept from a perfect season and a possible invitation to play in the Rose Bowl by a season-ending one point loss to Tennessee in Knoxville. The success of the 1928 Gators inspired the school to replace primitive Fleming Field with a modern facility, and Florida Field opened in 1930. Despite their new home stadium, Gator teams did not find much success on the field through the 1930s and 1940s and had only four winning seasons in those decades. The period did see the beginning of a long annual series with the Miami Hurricanes and the cancelling of a football season when the university did not field a team in 1943 due to World War II

The program began an upward trend in the 1950s under coach Bob Woodruff, whose 1952 team was the first in school history to win a bowl game. The 1950s also saw the beginnings of rivalries with Florida State and LSU. Coach Ray Graves continued the success in the 1960s, with the Gators appearing in the AP top ten rankings for the first time. His 1966 team won the school's first Orange Bowl with quarterback Steve Spurrier, the school's first Heisman Trophy winner. Florida football slipped in the late 1970s under head coach Doug Dickey but was rejuvenated under coach Charley Pell, whose 1984 team won the school's first conference title. However, the championship was later stripped due to NCAA infractions committed under Pell, who was fired.

The 1990s brought unprecedented success to Florida football under head coach Steve Spurrier, who returned to lead his alma mater to many firsts. The 1991 team won the first official conference title, the first of six SEC titles under Spurrier. The Gators won their first national championship in 1996, and quarterback Danny Wuerffel became the first Heisman winner to be coached by a Heisman winner when he won the award in that year. Coach Urban Meyer led Florida to two additional national championships in 2006 and 2008 with quarterback Tim Tebow, who was the school's third Heisman Trophy winner. After a decline for several seasons after Meyer's departure in 2010, Florida returned to top-10 rankings and major bowl games in 2018 and 2019 under former coach Dan Mullen.

The Gators have competed in the Southeastern Conference since 1933, in its eastern division since 1992. Previously, Florida was a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) from 1912 to 1921 and the Southern Conference (SoCon) from 1922 to 1932. There have been 25 head coaches for the team, starting with player-coach Pee Wee Forsythe in 1906.

Overview

Early history (1906–1959) The modern University of Florida (UF) was created in 1905 when the Florida Legislature enacted the Buckman Act, which abolished all of the state's publicly supported institutions of higher learning and consolidated the academic programs of four in the new University of the State of Florida (a land-grant university for white men). The private Stetson College (now Stetson University) in DeLand was the first college to field a football team in the state, playing intramural games as early as 1894. Stetson, West Florida Seminary (later Florida State College, now Florida State University), and Florida Agricultural College (renamed the University of Florida at Lake City in 1903) had intramural football teams by the late 1890s or early 1900s.e. g. On November 22, 1901, Florida Agricultural College (FAC) and Stetson fielded teams for a match in Jacksonville as part of the State Fair, the first known intercollegiate football game in Florida. Stetson won 6–0, after a sure FAC score was blocked by a tree stump. The game sparked interest in football in the state; several other colleges organized intercollegiate games, including the East Florida Seminary (EFS) in Gainesville and Florida State College (FSC) in Tallahassee. The 1902 EFS team split games with Stetson and declared itself state champion. FAC's first coach was James M. Farr, an English professor from South Carolina, who led the team to victory over FSC in 1902. Two of UF's predecessor institutions, the University of Florida at Lake City (previously known as FAC) and EFS, faced each other in 1903. In 1904 the Lake City university's athletic club was reorganized, allowing the first major schedule for a Florida football team. Led by coach M. O. Bridges, the team was beaten easily by all its opponents (including out-of-state southern teams Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, and Georgia Tech). The Lake City team lost its final game to state champion FSC, coached by Jack "Pee Wee" Forsythe (a former lineman for John Heisman at Clemson, who was later the Gators' first coach).

The University of the State of Florida was in Lake City during its first year of existence (1905–06), while the first buildings of its new campus were constructed in Gainesville. The 1905 football season was a lost one, since university president Andrew Sledd ruled several players ineligible for academic reasons, forcing the cancellation of four out of five games. Just half of season's final contest was played; it was suspended when it was discovered that Florida's opponent, The Julian Landon Institute of Jacksonville, included a professional player. Florida's squad refused to take the field for the second half, and the game was suspended with Florida holding a 6-0 lead. The state university's football team began varsity play when the Gainesville campus opened in September 1906. Tackle William Wetmore "Gric" Gibbs is the only known member of the lost 1905 team who played for the new university's team in Gainesville. Football and baseball games and track meets were held at University Athletic Field, a grassy playing surface flanked by low bleachers on West University Avenue just north of the present stadium site. Permanent bleachers were installed in 1911, and the facility was renamed Fleming Field in honor of former Florida governor Francis P. Fleming. From 1911 to 1930, Florida's football squads posted a 49–7–1 record at Fleming Field. Because of the facility's limited capacity (about 5,000) and the relative inaccessibility of Gainesville in the early 20th century, most home games against top opponents were scheduled at larger venues in Jacksonville or Tampa; a handful were played in St. Petersburg and Miami. The school's first football coach was "Pee Wee" Forsythe, who led the Florida team for three winning seasons (including a 6–0 win over the Rollins College Tars in their first game). Forsythe used the Minnesota shift and also played on the team. The 1907 team was co-state champion with Stetson. Captain Roy Corbett was also the athletics editor of the Florida Pennant. The 1908 team defeated Stetson at home and played a scoreless tie on the road. William A. Shands, future state senator and namesake of Shands Hospital, played on the 1907 and 1908 teams. During these early years the Florida sports teams adopted their orange-and-blue team colors, reportedly a combination of school's predecessors: the blue and white of the FAC and the orange and black of the EFS.

The new university's name was shortened to University of Florida in 1909, and George Pyle became the new head coach of its football team. The only blemishes that season were two games with Stetson: a loss on the road and a tie in Gainesville. Pyle had a record with the Gators, the third-winningest coach in school history.College Football Data Warehouse, All-Time Coaching Records, G.E. Pyle Records by Year . Retrieved March 1, 2010.

The 1910s saw the newly-named Gators face many of their current rivals and regular opponents for the first time. The 1911 Gators, captained by center Neal "Bo Gator" Storter, tied the South Carolina Gamecocks and defeated the Citadel Bulldogs, Clemson and the College of Charleston (the self-proclaimed "champions of South Carolina"), finishing the season with a 5–0–1 record—the Gators' only undefeated football season. Earle "Dummy" Taylor, the only five-letter winner in team history, scored 49 of the season's 84 points (including a school-record eight field goals). Before the 1912 season Florida joined the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), the first southern athletics conference, and began the season by facing the Auburn Tigers for the first time. Florida posted a 5–2–1 record, including South Carolina's first defeat. After the season, the team played its first post-season game: the Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba, a two-game series against two Cuban athletic clubs.Antonya English, "100 things about 100 years of Gator football ", St. Petersburg Times (August 27, 2006). Retrieved March 1, 2010. During the first quarter of the second game Pyle and his team left, alleging that the Cuban team persisted in playing by the old rules, and the coach was arrested for violating a Cuban law prohibiting a game's suspension after money was charged."Football Row in Havana; Florida University Students Hooted for Breaking Up Game", The New York Times, p. S1 (December 29, 1912). Retrieved July 31, 2010. When his trial was delayed, Pyle and the Gators quickly left the island and he was branded a "fugitive from justice". The 1913 Gators began the season by defeating Southern College 144–0, the widest margin of victory in program history. The following week, the future SIAA champion Auburn Tigers beat the Gators 55–0. Florida finished the see-saw season with a 4–3 record, and Pyle left to become athletic director of West Virginia." West Virginia Is Coming Along Well", The Pittsburg Press, Sporting Section, p. 3 (September 20, 1914). Retrieved March 23, 2010. In C. J. McCoy's first season, 1914, the team posted a much-improved 5–2 record. Unlike the previous season, the Gators played respectably against Auburn despite a 20–0 loss. The following year, McCoy also became the school's first basketball coach. The 1915 Gators played the Georgia Bulldogs and Tulane for the first time. Led by quarterback Rammy Ramsdell, UF's first scholarship athlete,Joey Johnston, "Tampa Bay's All-Century Team: No. 98 Rammy Ramsdell ", The Tampa Tribune (September 22, 1999). Retrieved October 2, 2011. Florida defeated Tulane 14–7. In pouring rain, "Rammy" scored the winning touchdown; he also scored a school-record four touchdowns against Mercer. McCoy felt he had the makings of a great Gators squad in 1916, compiling the most ambitious and difficult Gators football schedule to date. The team, captained by Rex Farrior, faced the Alabama Crimson Tide and Tennessee Volunteers for the first time. The ill-fated 1916 team lost every game, faced multiple transfers, began the season with an injury to Ramsdell and ended it with one to Farrior. The Gators were shut out in all but the last game, a 14–3 loss to Indiana.