. . Chan Gailey was their quarterback, and he had a big game. That game was a blowout. They torched us. It got so bad, I had to throw a touchdown pass . . . ." 1976–1989: Arrival of Bowden; the rise and fall of Pell Bobby Bowden arrived at Florida State in 1976 and began to turn around the athletic program. After losing his first game against Florida in 1976, the Seminoles would win the next four in the rivalry, their first wins in the series since 1967. This would begin a decade and a half period in which the rivals would take turns running off winning streaks against the other. The Gators changed leadership as well, hiring coach Charley Pell from Clemson University to replace Doug Dickey in 1979. After a dismal 0–10–1 first season, Pell quickly turned around the Florida program, fielding championship-contending teams by the early 1980s. Under Pell's leadership, Florida took their turn dominating the rivalry from 1981 to 1986, including putting a series-record 53 points on the scoreboard in the 1983 contest. However, an NCAA investigation of Florida's football program revealed multiple violations of rules in the early years of Pell's tenure. Pell was fired and the program put on probation beginning in 1985. For the next 3 seasons, Florida played with a reduced number of scholarship players and Gator football games could not appear on television, setting the program back considerably and allowing Florida State to sign more talented in-state high school recruits. In 1986, the Gators extended their winning streak against FSU with a 17–13 upset in Tallahassee. However, FSU then ran off four consecutive victories over Florida as they became a fixture in the top-10 rankings and Florida's program floundered under heavy NCAA sanctions. From the arrival of Bowden in 1976 to the end of the 1980s, the series was tied 7–7. The return of a familiar face to the Gators' sideline before the 1990 season would bring the rivalry to new national prominence. 1990–2001: Bowden vs. Spurrier Steve Spurrier, who had won a Heisman Trophy as Florida's quarterback in 1966, returned as the head coach of the Gators for the 1990 season. During the eleven seasons that followed, the Florida–Florida State rivalry reached its peak of national importance. Because of the Sugar Bowl rematches following the 1994 and 1996 regular seasons, Florida and Florida State met fourteen times on the