3 x 7 = 21

That's an arithmetic fact we all learn by second grade. But Florida Coach Ray Graves forgot his basic math in the fourth quarter when his team trailed Missouri 20-0 in the 1966 Sugar Bowl. But first let's see how his squad fell into that hole.

On a sun-drenched field before 67,421 fans, Missouri kept the ball away from the Gators for three quarters with a relentless ground attack led by 195lb QB Gary Lane and quick HB Charlie Brown, the Big Eight conference's leading rusher. Florida ran only four plays in the first quarter and just 17 in the first half compared to 47 by Mis­souri.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Tigers scored 17 points in the second period. Missouri had thrown only five passes in their previous bowls and completed just one, but they surprised the Gators by incorporating more passing into their attack.

Missouri took the opening kickoff and drove relentlessly downfield 71y behind a vicious running game. However, Florida's defense rose to the occasion and took over on downs at its nine.

Florida then went three-and-out and never possessed the ball the rest of the quar­ter. QB Steve Spurrier recalled, "Missouri was very good on defense. They played an eight-man front and basically rushed eight while playing a three-deep zone. Our pass protection was not designed to block four from the side. They had a guy running free at me on almost every down."

After receiving the punt, the Tigers started another sustained drive and this time scored on Brown's 10y run around left end. A key play came on third down when Lane missed getting a first down by inches at the Gator 36. Coach Devine said af­terward that there was never any question in his mind about going for it on fourth down. On the next play, Missouri got 2y to continue the drive. Bill Bates kicked the extra point. Missouri 7 Florida 0

The Tigers got a break when Jack Harper fumbled a punt, and Ray Thorpe re­covered on the Gator 12. Three plays later, Johnny Roland, the first Black captain of any sports team at Missouri, took a handoff from Lane and surprised the defense by passing to Earl Denny in the end zone. Missouri 14 Florida 0

Florida's offense finally showed some life after the kickoff when junior QB Steve Spurrier hit WR Charlie Casey with a 40y pass to the Tiger 38. They continued to move downfield and reached the 10 on a pass to Dick Trapp. But the Gators were penalized 15y for clipping. On the next play, LB Don Nelson smashed Spurrier, causing him to fumble, and Dan Schuppan recovered on the Missouri 35.

Shortly before halftime, Missouri again drove deep into Florida territory before stalling at the 20. So Bates booted a 37y field goal. Halftime score: Missouri 17 Florida 0.

Spurrier recalled: "We needed to do something. In the third quarter, I went to Coach Kensler, our offensive coordinator on the field, and asked, 'What are we going to do?' He said, 'We don’t have a protection to block that guy.' And so I said, 'Is it okay if I start making up some plays, then?' He said, 'Sure!' So I told our halfback Jack Harper, 'Just line up there and go straight to the flat'—we didn’t have a shotgun back then—'and I'll angle back and hit you. There’s nobody there, so I'll just lob it over to you.' We hit a bunch of those. And Missouri started backing off, so I hit Casey with a couple."

Any halftime adjustments the Gators made didn't produce any points in the third quarter. Missouri drove all the way to the Florida three. Then came what Missouri Coach Dan Devine said in retrospect was the turning the point of the game. A 15y penalty pushed the Tigers back to the 18 and forced them to settle for another Bates field goal. Missouri 20 Florida 0

The comeback started with 13:42 left in the game. With Missouri ahead 20-0 and facing a fourth-and-one situation on the Florida 14, it appeared the Tigers had the victory locked in a burglar-proof safe. But the Gators swamped QB Gary Lane for no gain on a sneak.

Coach Graves said that Spurrier "was the only quarterback I coached who I gave free hand to call a check-off on any play we called from the sideline. If you have a quarterback who can do that, you give him free reign, because the players on the field have more of a feeling for the game than you do on the sideline. He was just a player who would even check off after the ball was snapped, just by hand signals."

The Florida partisans who left the game early missed a Gator explosion that led to three scores in seven minutes. The first touchdown came on Spurrier's 23y pass to Harper to cap an 86y march. For the first time all season, Coach Graves surprised both sides by going for two points, but Spurrier's pass intended for Trapp fell incomplete. Missouri 20 Florida 6

Spurrier: "We scored with ten minutes left (in the third quarter). And all of a sud­den they said, 'Go for two!' One of the coaches convinced Coach Graves that maybe 20–8 looked better than 20–7—which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. So we went for two and didn’t make it." He added, "I didn't call the play, but I sure wish it would have worked."

Graves explained his decision to go for two. "When you are behind that far, you need a shot in the arm, and I thought a two-pointer would give us a boost."

The Florida coach also said that a few changes in his defensive secondary helped hold Missouri scoreless after Bates' field goal early in the third quarter.

"We had a little trouble recognizing their plays in the first half, but a few basic changes with our deep back corrected things in the second half."

Florida's momentum continued when George Gandy pounced on a Lane fumble on the Missouri 10. Three plays later, Spurrier leaped over from the one. After mis­sing the first two-point conversion try, Graves had no choice but to try it again. But Spurrier's pass to Allen Trammell was no good. Missouri 20 Florida 12

The Gators' defensive momentum continued when they forced a punt that went out of bounds at the Florida 18. Spurrier once again took to the air to move his team downfield. Facing third down on the Mizzou 22, Spurrier flipped a pass to Casey in the left corner of the end. Gary Grosnickle deflected the ball, but Casey made a diving catch for the score. Florida could now tie the score with a two-point conversion, but Spurrier's pass intended for Barry Brown fell incomplete, and Missouri fans breathed a sigh of relief.

FINAL SCORE: MISSOURI 20 FLORIDA 18

Spurrier was named the outstanding player of the game after he shattered Sugar Bowl recores by completing 27 of 45 passes for 352y.

Graves called Missouri "the best team we played all year. They were just as tough as we expected, and they shoved the ball down our throats with their running game. ... When we didn't get into the end zone in the first half, I knew we were going to have a hard time staying in the game. We finally got the feel of their offense in the second half and started to slow them up. But that Charlie Brown of Missouri is tremen­dous."