The 1953 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1953 college football season. The season was the fourth for Bob Woodruff as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The 1953 season was a year of rebuilding and backsliding after the graduation of All-American Charlie LaPradd and the loss of star back Rick Casares to the U.S. Army. The squad's lack of quality depth was further exacerbated by the NCAA's reintroduction of restrictive substitution rules which limited use of the two-platoon system, requiring players to play both offense and defense. Florida came into the season with few players who could effectively play both ways, so Coach Woodruff choose to use his best defensive players on the first team and run a conservative ball-control offense. The highlight of the season was the Gators' second consecutive victory over the Georgia Bulldogs, but the Gators began a pattern of agonizingly close losses to the Rice Owls (20–16), Auburn Tigers (16–7), Tennessee Volunteers (9–7) and Miami Hurricanes (14–10), as well as two ties with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (0–0) and LSU Tigers (21–21). Woodruff's 1953 Florida Gators finished with a 3–5–2 overall record and a 1–3–2 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), placing ninth of twelve SEC teams. Wiki link