I consider myself to be a pretty knowledgeable college football fan, but I had never heard about this game before. The Gator Flop intensified the Florida-Miami rivalry in 1971. Page 2 looks back through the words of those who were there. - ESPN The flop was bad enough, but then they took a swim in some kind of pond at the Orange Bowl. This was pre-'ThugU' days, but can you imagine what would happen if they tried some sh!t like this today on the Canes home turf?
Miami seem to take that way too personal. If they wanted to prevent the passing record then guard the receivers.
But the thing is, Miami didn't have to score, at least not right then. The Gators flop and the QB goes down on his own at the 5 (I think the sports caster said it was 2nd and 7 and the article said Florida was out of timeouts.) Clock stops to move the chains then starts when the ball is set, first and goal. Miami runs out the play clock and takes the delay penalty. That runs off ~ 40 seconds or so. Still first and goal. Snap the ball and kneel on it. Clock keeps running and it's second and goal. Run the play clock down to zero again. That runs off another 45-50 seconds. Snap the ball and kneel on it. Clock keeps running and it's third and goal. If the game doesn't end, run the play clock to zero again. That runs off another 45-50 seconds. The point is, Miami could easily have run off two minutes or more and could have tried a field goal if necessary. The flop only worked because Miami scored.
And there was no one yelling bush league here. Miami ate sour grapes. Their moaning is what is so silly including that sportscaster.
True, but I don't think they anticipated FU just laying down like they did. It would've taken incredible prescence of mind to take a knee in that situation.
You'd be right if we're talking pros instead of college. Obviously, Miami was overmatched. There's no need to lay down and let the other team score, so you're offense can get back onto the field. Now, as history would have it, Miami is the last team that should be complaining about poor sportsmanship, but this happened pre-ThugU.
Yeah, they probably didn't anticipate FU laying down, but Florida had called three timeouts in a row and everybody said Miami wasn't trying to score. So if you're not trying to score -- that is, if you're trying to hold onto the ball -- does it really take a lot of presence of mind to NOT score? At any rate, it's, what, 40 years after the fact. I probably would have run it in too.
Link no longer works but thank the internet gods for wikipedia and youtube. Look at the 0:35 mark.[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Uzu-wPFmc]YouTube - 1971 Gator Flop‏[/ame]
