GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The University of Arkansas football team still has a shot to get bowl eligible.
Two weeks after Mississippi State beat Arkansas 7-3 in Fayetteville, playing in a bowl seemed like the longest of shots.
Arkansas had to win its final four games to finish 6-6, starting with a trip to Florida after an open date.
The Razorbacks never had won at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium -- dubbed "The Swamp" by former Coach Steve Spurrier -- and the Gators had outscored them 217-102 at home in five previous meetings.
But Arkansas no longer is winless at The Swamp.
After enduring five losses by seven or fewer points in a six-game losing streak, Arkansas finally had a close game go its way, winning at Florida 39-36 in overtime on Saturday.
"As good a win as I've been a part of, ever, to be honest with you," Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said.
It was the first game Arkansas (3-6, 1-5 SEC) had played since Pittman fired Dan Enos as offensive coordinator on Oct. 22 and replaced him with Kenny Guiton, the Razorbacks' receivers coach.
Guiton, a former Ohio State quarterback in his third season at Arkansas, moved from the sideline to the press box and called plays for the first time in a game on Saturday.
"I'm really proud of our team," Pittman said. "In two weeks' time a lot of stuff went on in the program, and the kids just stayed with us and stayed believing.
"I don't know how many times we've come down here, but it feels good to be the first team to ever win here. It's a big deal, and there ain't but one first."
From an interview area near the Razorbacks' locker room, they could be heard calling the Hogs.
"To be that excited, they had earned that," Pittman said. "We never have had a bad football team.
"We've had some bad luck, we've had some bad results, and bad coaching by me. But we've always had a decent team. We just [had been] losing games like that. And to win, that was incredible."
For the first time since Arkansas beat Kent State 28-6 on Sept. 9, Pittman got to use his signature "Turn that damn jukebox on!" phrase in a winning postgame locker room.
"A lot of noise," Pittman said. "A lot of yelling and screaming and dancing."
Pittman was asked if he danced with the players?
"Hell, I can't dance that good," he said. "But whatever it was, I did."
Arkansas jumped out to a 14-0 lead and Florida tied it 14-14 before the first quarter ended. The Razorbacks rallied from deficits four times from scores of 23-20, 26-23, 33-30 and 36-33.
"We gained some momentum," Arkansas fifth-year senior quarterback KJ Jefferson said. "We can hang our hats on this one.
"We know we have some things we've got to clean up, some detail stuff we have to clean up and be more efficient at."
Jefferson and Tyrone Broden connected on the game-winning 4-yard touchdown pass.
Broden, a senior transfer from Bowling Green, became a key receiver with two of Jefferson's top targets -- tight end Ty Washington and receiver Andrew Armstrong -- out of the game because of injuries.
"I've never been a part of something like that before," Broden said of the postgame celebration that started on the field and moved into the locker room. "Just good to see everybody happy. Everybody smiling."
It was an especially memorable 21st birthday for Arkansas redshirt sophomore linebacker Chris "Pooh" Paul.
"We talked about this all week and we knew coming into this game any team that's traveled down here for the University of Arkansas has never won in The Swamp," Paul said. "We took pride in that in our preparation this week. Coming down here, we executed the plan."
Florida is 359-114-13 all-time in The Swamp and had been 4-0 this season, including a 29-16 victory over then-No. 11 Tennessee on Sept. 16.
"I can't really explain it, because it had been so long," Paul said of the emotions in the locker room. "Going in there and seeing those guys happy and jumping around, we didn't know what to say, so it was just a bunch of yelling.
"It was a bunch of screaming and yelling. But seeing those guys so excited, man, it just brought joy to me. It brought a whole new life to this team."
The game went into overtime after Florida kicker Trey Smack missed a 44-yard field goal attempt as time expired in regulation.
"I didn't even watch it," Jefferson said. "I was looking in the stands just watching the reaction.
"Once I saw our fans jump up, I knew he missed it and right then and there I knew we had a shot at winning it and that's what we did. We took advantage of it."
Arkansas still has to win out to be guaranteed of playing in a bowl for the third consecutive season, but all of the games are at home after a stretch in which the Razorbacks played five of six games away from Fayetteville.
Arkansas plays Auburn (5-4, 2-4) at 3 p.m. Saturday, Florida International (4-5) on Nov. 18 and Missouri (7-2, 3-2) on Nov. 25 -- the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.
Auburn has won its last two games, 27-13 over Mississippi State at home and 31-15 at Vanderbilt. Missouri, ranked No. 12 in the first College Football Playoff selection committee poll released last week, played tough at No. 2 Georgia before losing 30-21.
The Razorbacks are 2-2 at home, including BYU winning 38-31 to start Arkansas' their losing streak.
"I want to see us play really well at home," Pittman said. "I want to see us play really well in front of our fans. Really well, because they'll be back out there.
"Our fans, they haven't left us. They'll be back out there, but I want to play really well for them."
Pittman said the Razorbacks will have a good week of practice to get ready for Auburn.
"This will [make it] easier to have a good week," Pittman said of winning at Florida. "We do keep them accountable for everything that they're doing. We'll get better.
"Bumps and bruises, we've got a bunch of them. So we're going to have to get healthy for next week."