Damn... I had no idea it was THAT tough. Just about any schedule in the SEC is tough enough.... throw in FSU at a highly competitive level and it's definitely tough.
Well now that we have Conf Champ games, there are more than a few teams that play their rivalry game the week before. Sure FSU/UF is a tough way to end the season for both teams. But Ohio State/Michigan is right before the B1G Champ Game USC plays UCLA and ND and then has to go to the Pac12 Champ game (maybe) Alabama/Auburn Georgia/Ga. Tech Clemson/So.Car Every other year Stanford has to play ND before the Pac12 Champ game. Bottom line is that in any year teams involved in conf championship games will likely have played a tough opponent the week before that game.
In 2014 when Ohio State surprised everyone and rolled to the national title Michigan had not yet hired Harbaugh and was 5-7. Michigan has toughened up considerably since even though they haven't beat the Buckeyes and OSU has fizzled the last couple of playoff seasons..... getting upset by MSU in the Big 10 title game in 2015 then getting smoked 31-0 by Clemson last year in the playoffs. Correlation?
Stu, I have always been a big believer in the negative effect playing a really tough opponent can have on a college team's ability to bounce back the following week with the same vigor and good health they had the week before. These aren't deep pro teams with pros three deep at every position. ( with the exception of Alabama lol ) You get a few guys injured and dinged up or just plain zapped after a tough game the week before and it has a detrimental effect on the next game's performance.... in college football anyway.
I used to think that ending the season with FSU was unique as a tough game for the Gators. However no more look above to see how many teams play games that are similar in how tough they are. Our job is to be good enough to beat them.
There do seem to be a few teams each year that are going along great until they lose a tough game and then they seem to go into the tank. Ole Miss, and Tennessee come to mind in the recent past. I'm not sure it is always physical damage. Sometimes it seems like they lose their mental edge.
Last year Tenn had some serious physical damage during the season.... they were pretty beat up by the time they lost to SC. I think LSU losing to Florida near the end of the season is another example.... that schedule took it's toll on the Tigers. And Bill I am sure remembers the Earnest Graham injury vs. FSU in 2001 that led to a loss to Tenn. the week after in what was one of Spurrier's finest seasons at UF until then. Then the very next week.... after such an intensely contested upset by the Vols in Gainesville 34-32 while the heavy underdog #21 ranked LSU Tigers watched comfortably at home... the #2 Vols were inexplicably beaten 31-20 by the Tigers in Atlanta. I think it does matter who you play the week before the big games.
Things are different now than in 2001 and many more teams play tough games the last game of the season. Sure it ca make a difference but just as much difference to both teams and all the teams listed above are pretty much in the same boat. I feel a lot different about it now than I did then and also had some very strong feelings about the way Bowdens teams played, some saw them as a dirty team which I kind of lean to. However that is all history and we have to play them as they are laid out and I don't see the Gators having any desire to change the schedule.
Bill I agree that other teams have tough games sometimes before their conference title games and before other big games in season. But that doesn't disprove what I am saying in that those games can have a seriously negative effect in team performance 7 days later and especially true if the opponent is taking it easy the week before.
Dave, I've personally read your rants about how impossible it is to win at Auburn with their cheating refs. Now add into the fact that the Iron Bowl takes place every other year down there on the Plains, and I'd take the Iron Bowl. I've seen a couple, not many, but a few, heartless efforts in the UF-FSU series. That is never, ever, ever, ever a problem in the Iron Bowl. How many shootings and murders have resulted from an FSU-UF game? I tell you as a friend, the Iron Bowl is something different with everyone in the state with a vested stake in the outcome. Myself included... because I'm here for the train wreck.
Corey, I know that every team has a rivalry and to them it is very intense. I have lived all over the country and I have to agree that I think the Auburn/Alabama rivalry is one of the most intense I have ever experienced. Alabama doesn't have a pro football team. We have just 2 major college football programs. Since the early 1900's families have primarily fallen into one of two camps. You are either Auburn or you are Alabama and you stay that way for life. Maybe it is because most of my wife's family are Auburn fans and going to any family function is an exercise in restraint. I think UNC/Duke basketball may be just as intense however North Carolina has more major colleges, pro teams so the state is not split 50/50. Now of course this has nothing to do with Florida so I am sure MCG will have to weigh in and change that. :wink:
So what do you guys think about the Auburn AD wanting to move to the SEC East. He gives his reason that it fits their student population better, that they have a lot of kids from states that border Alabama to the East.
I also see that the SEC changed the rules on Grad transfers and that clears the way for former ND QB to choose the Gators for his final season of football. If he does choose UF I wish him well. But frankly his resume on the field is very slim, 2 games Texas in 2015 where he looked like an AA and the bowl game vs LSU after the 2014 season where he also looked good.