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An SEC quarterback has thrown for six or more touchdowns in a single game 14 times in history.
Of those 14, Florida and Kentucky claim 12. Most of those centered around coach Steve Spurrier and Hal Mumme in the mid-1990s.
The feat hasn’t been repeated since 2007.
Overall, just four SEC quarterbacks ever have thrown for seven touchdowns in a single game. Here’s a look at the short list.
TIM COUCH, KENTUCKY (x2)
Date: Sept. 20, 1997
Score: Kentucky 49, Indiana 7
Date: Sept. 5, 1998
Score: Kentucky 68, Louisville 34
The Hal Mumme “Air Raid” days at UK were fun, weren’t they?
Couch, who came oh-so-close to throwing for 500 yards in a single game so many times, did break through milestone numbers in terms of touchdowns. The No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft threw a combined 75 touchdown passes in his final two seasons in Lexington, including these two explosive games.
The ’98 trouncing of Louisville was particularly gratifying, as the Cardinals used the game to open up its new $63-million Cardinal Stadium. UK’s offense gained a school-record 801 yards in an ugly contest for the home team.
TERRY DEAN, FLORIDA
Date: Sept. 3, 1994
Score: Florida 70, New Mexico State 21
Dean threw all seven touchdown passes in the first half, as coach Steve Spurrier and the No. 1-ranked Gators annihilated the Aggies.
After playing musical quarterbacks with freshman Danny Wuerffel in ’93, which ended with Dean as the SEC championship game MVP and Sugar Bowl starter, the fifth-year senior began the ’94 season like a grease fire. Jack Jackson caught four of the touchdown passes as Florida hung 56 points on New Mexico State by halftime.
“He’s got a chance to be the best quarterback I ever coached,” Spurrier said of Dean after the game, according to the Los Angeles Times.
That didn’t last long. A Heisman Trophy contender during the early weeks of the season, Spurrier benched Dean, moving him to third string behind Wuerffel and Eric Kresser. Dean harbored bitterness toward Spurrier for many years, but the two eventually made up.
Dean also threw six touchdowns against Southwestern Louisiana in ’93. Wuerffel and Kresser had six-touchdown games as well, as those three players account for four of the 14 such games in the SEC all-time.
DOUG JOHNSON, FLORIDA
Date: Sept. 6, 1997
Score: Florida 82, Central Michigan 6
After a mediocre start to the Johnson era at Florida, with several in the media openly questioning the quarterback, Spurrier hammered his Gators in practice all week and lobbed brutal attacks against the Central Michigan defense in the form of touchdown bombs.
“The mighty Gators are dead last in the SEC,” Spurrier said the week before after Johnson threw three interceptions against Southern Miss. “We have no excuses for the way we performed last week, absolutely none. The offense was bad in just about every area.”
Florida took it out on the Chippewas as Johnson threw seven first-half touchdowns as the Gators gained 708 yards.
The game led to this tremendous lede by the Orlando Sentinel:
GAINESVILLE — Two teams left Florida Field with the same message Saturday night.
Thanks a lot, Southern Mississippi!
ERIK AINGE, TENNESSEE
Date: Nov. 24, 2007
Score: Tennessee 52, Kentucky 50, 4OT
The only player an SEC quarterback has thrown for seven touchdowns in a single conference game? Not many people would guess Ainge.
But, in a four-overtime win against Kentucky that secured an SEC East title, Ainge accomplished just that. Three of his seven touchdowns came in the extra periods as UT blew a 17-point lead, then survived when Kentucky’s two-point try to tie the game and force a fifth overtime failed.
Quintin Hancock was the only Tennessee player to catch more than one touchdown in the game, as Ainge also threw three interceptions.
The Vols won 10 games that season as a sort of last gasp by head coach Phillip Fulmer, whom UT fired after a 5-7 season in 2008.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
