Yeah, we know. That sets the bar really high.
The year was 1995. The Gators were on an absolute roll, off to the first 7-0 start in school history and ranked No. 3 in the country. So naturally it occurred to Spurrier to bench his starting quarterback – Danny Wuerffel, one of the favorites in the Heisman Trophy hunt – for a homecoming game against Northern Illinois. Spurrier wanted the team’s dedicated and devoted backup, Eric Kresser, to get on the field for some meaningful snaps.
“Eric Kresser has been here for four years and deserves a chance to go play,” Spurrier said.
With his team unbeaten? In a championship hunt? Who does that?
Spurrier, obviously.
Kresser, the fourth-year junior who arrived in the same 1992 signing class as Wuerffel, completed 26 of 42 passes for a school-record 458 yards and six touchdowns, including a 96-yarder, in a 58-20 thrashing of the Huskies. Wuerffel remained on the sidelines the entire game. He assumed his spot as the starter the following weekend and went on to lead the Gators to the program’s first unbeaten regular season and a win in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, while finishing third in the Heisman voting.
“It’s a great feeling,” Kresser said after breaking Wuerffel’s single-game mark of 449 yards set two years earlier against Mississippi State. “Who knows? Danny could come back and break mine next week.”
That didn’t happen. Wuerrfel didn’t break Kresser’s record until the midway through the 1996 season on the way to leading the Gators to the national championship and winning the Heisman. Kresser, meanwhile, transferred to Marshall, where he won the 1996 I-AA title by going undefeated and having a good ol’ time throwing bombs to a dude named Randy Moss.
Nearly three decades later, Kresser’s single-game total sits eighth in UF history, with six different quarterbacks – Tim Tebow, Kyle Trask (twice), Emory Jones, Rex Grossman, Wuerffel and Doug Johnson – having surpassed his total in the 29 years since. One that did not pass him (yet) was DJ Lagway, who came thisclose Saturday to dropping Kresser down another notch by throwing for a Florida true freshman-record 456 yards in his Gators’ starting debut, a 45-7 blowout of Samford.
Lagway’s was the ninth-highest single-game yardage total, just ahead of the 453 cranked out by Anthony…
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