for most of the game, coach pat dye's fifth-ranked 1986 auburn tigers dominated coach galen hall's unranked florida gators at florida field. the tigers defense was stifling, and forced gators substitute quarterback rodney brewer to commit four turnovers in the first two quarters. hall replaced brewer with starting quarterback kerwin bell, who had missed two games with a knee injury. tigers tailback brent fullwood gained 166 yards on the ground, including a second-quarter touchdown, to give auburn a 17–0 lead early in the fourth quarter. bell then led the gators on two scoring drives, with gators placekicker robert mcginty—a transfer from auburn—booting a 51-yard field goal to close the tigers' advantage to 17−10 with 7:10 to play. after webbie burnett recovered a fumble at the florida 34 with 1:41 remaining in the game, bell directed one final drive that was capped by a five-yard touchdown pass with 0:36 remaining to wide receiver ricky nattiel, who was playing with a separated shoulder. the limping bell then surprised the tigers defense by running in the two-point conversion and completing the comeback, with the gators winning 18–17.