TALLAHASSEE - About an hour after Ron Zook was carried off the field following Florida's upset win over then-No.10 Florida State on Saturday night, the beleaguered coach and his wife, Denise, took one last stroll on the field.
"It's very sweet to come here and win after not winning for 18 years," Denise Zook said. "My daughter said two years ago when we left here, it was such an awful feeling, she said my daddy will not let this happen again."
The 20-13 win was UF's first in Tallahassee since 1986 and moved the Gators to No.25 in the Associated Press Top 25, their first ranking since the week of Oct.25. A crowd of fans hung around, chanting, "We want Zook."
"That was an honor and a privilege," Zook said. "Really it was the coaches and the players that deserve it."
Eventually, Zook and his wife walked hand in hand into the south end zone tunnel at Doak Campbell Stadium, possibly his last moment as Florida coach. Zook was fired Oct.25 and will decide whether to coach the bowl game today or Tuesday. Saturday night, Zook focused only on the moment.
"Our fans got a chance to see us do something that hasn't happened in a long, long time and I'm really proud of them," he said. "There have been some good wins. I think maybe the circumstances that surround it make it big. I've been very fortunate to be around a lot of big wins. There's no question this is a big win."
RUNNING FOR PRIDE: Ciatrick Fason said he had some extra motivation entering Saturday's game: proving people wrong. The SEC's leading rusher faced the nation's No.1 run defense.
"I think (FSU) looked shocked," said Fason, who had 103 yards on 24 carries. "I know at the beginning of the week (defensive tackle) Travis Johnson said I wasn't going to get anything because I ran too high. I feel like I proved a lot of doubters wrong."
Fason, who averaged 107 yards, also felt snubbed that he wasn't among the Doak Walker finalists. "The offensive line was mad after they saw the list," Fason said. "They told me you don't have to win the Doak to prove you're the best running back. I kept that in the back of my mind, too."
NO HOMETOWN HERO: Safety Jarvis Herring 's interception with eight seconds left sealed the Gators' victory, but it won't make him popular back home. "Live Oak, where I'm from, everybody is Florida State fans so I'm sure they hate me right now," he said. "So I can't wait to go home."
Herring said he had never seen teams play as hard as the Seminoles and Gators, but Florida wanted it more. "We wanted to send (Zook) out at the highest point we could send him out at," he said. "He did something (Steve) Spurrier couldn't do."
THE EXPERT'S TAKE: Count ESPN analyst Mike Gottfried among those who believe Florida made a mistake in firing Zook.
"If they would just waited, they would have gotten these kind of games all the time," he said. "They lost the recruiting class, they screwed it all up. ... I think he's fought through a very difficult time with class. He'll be a head coach (next year)."
FINAL WORD: Asked if he had a message for athletic director Jeremy Foley and president Bernie Machen , Fason responded: "You should have waited until after the season."
