We were never named SEC champions in 1984. This was when the league only had 6 conference games. Florida was 5-0-1 and LSU was 4-1-1, tying each other 21-21 in LSU's first game that season (also Arnsparger's first game) and Florida's second game after losing a last second 32-20 (the most misleading final score in sports history) to defending national champ Miami in Tampa.

Florida was in hot water with the NCAA all during the offseason for recruiting violations and the investigation spilled overe into the regular season. Florida destroyed Tulane the week after the LSU game and Gator coach Charley Pell "resigned" and Galen Hall was named interim coach.

Early in November of that season the NCAA,Florida and the SEC sorted out the probation and sanctions. They basically went into effect immediately and it was decided at the time Florida would not represent the SEC in the Sugar Bowl should they either win the league outright or share the title.

LSU ,with a chance to secure a share of the SEC title lost to Mississippi State 16-14 in Starkville (the fifth straight loss to State

)on the same day Florida beat Kentucky in Lexington to seemingly give Florida its first SEC title. Auburn's loss to Alabama two weeks later put LSU in the Sugar with a 4-1-1 conference record over Auburn's 4-2 mark.

It kept getting weird. First of all during the actual Sugar Bowl game between Nebraska and LSU, the Superdome several times flashed on the scoreboard "CONGRATULATIONS FLORIDA GATORS 1984 SEC CHAMPIONS". But at the SEC meetings in May of 1985 in Destin ,a proposal submitted by Tennessee stated Florida's 1984 SEC football title should be vacated due to NCAA probation. It wasn't unanimous,but it passed and Florida's 1984 title was stripped. To put it mildly ,the Gators were livid and their chancellor (president ?) Marshall Crisler dared any SEC AD or chancellor to take his SEC Champs ring off his hand.

So,1984 just went down as VACATED,and not retroactively awarded to LSU. Oddly enough in 1985 Tennessee and Florida each had 5-1 SEC records (with Tennessee's loss a 17-10 one to Florida),but the Gators' probation was still in effect so Tennessee was the sole SEC champion.

In 1990, a different set of NCAA sanctions had Florida on probation for that season. Again, Florida had the best mark in the league, 6-1 (with a 45-3 loss to Tennessee) and Tennessee was 5-1-1. Again,Tennessee was the SEC Champion and Sugar Bowl representative while Florida was "ineligible."