The team was captained by Neal "Bo Gator" Storter. The team was also the first to use the nickname "Gators." He is as such one reason given for the nickname. A former player Roy Corbett sent a letter to The Gainesville Sun congratulating the 1928 team and mentioned the nickname coming from Storter. Carl Van Ness's research also posits Storter as the name's origin. Storter himself denied the above and stated the nickname 'Gators' came when a Macon Telegraph reporter declared "Macon to be invaded by a bunch of alligators from Florida" before the game with Mercer in 1910.
In the second week of play, Florida fought the South Carolina Gamecocks to a 6-6 tie. Earle Taylor scored in the first quarter and the Gamecocks matched in the second. The starting lineup was Swanson, Coarsey, Lawler, Storter, Hancock, Bullock, Buie, Shackleford, Davis, Taylor, Tenney.
Clemson
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Florida upset the Clemson Tigers by a single point, 6-5, in the two school's first-ever meeting. "The game as a whole, was a poor exhibition of football." Clemson scored in the first six minutes when Webb took it over. Towards the end of the fourth quarter, the Gators' Dummy Taylor picked up a fumble and ran 45 yards for a touchdown, and then kicked the extra point to win. Norm Carlson called it "Florida's first road win against a quality college opponent." On the winning extra point, the holder Sam Buie recalled "Doc Walker of Jacksonville bet Captain Hill of Georgia Tech, the referee, that Dummy would make it. They bet, and Dummy kicked it." "It was on the South Carolina trip that the Florida team was dubbed the ‘Alligators,’ and the battle that took place...between the Clemson Tigers and the Florida Alligators is one long to be remembered!" declared the Florida Pennant. The starting lineup was Bonus, Bullock, Wilson, Storter, Baker, Hancock, Buie, Shackleford, Davis, Taylor, Tenney.
Florida beat Columbia College 9-0. Taylor kicked three field goals. The starting lineup was Buie, Hancock, Wilson, Storter, Aker, Coarsey, Swanson, Shackleford, Gavis, Taylor, Tenney.
Florida beat Stetson 26-0. The Stetson Weekly Collegiate called it "the greatest football game ever played in the state of Florida." Taylor drop kicked a 45-yard field goal and ran for two touchdowns. The starting lineup was Swanson, Coarsey, Baker, Storter, Wilson, Bullock, Buie, Shackleford, Tenney, Taylor, Pound.
Florida closed the season with a 21–0 defeat of Charleston. "Florida should have made at least three more touchdowns."
Postseason
The Gators proclaimed themselves "champions of South Carolina" as well as the state of Florida. Earle "Dummy" Taylor, the only five-letter winner in team history, scored 49 of the season's 84 points. He scored 25 pointson the ground and points-after, and 24 on field goals. He also threw two touchdown passes.
