While "greatness" is all in perspective to comparative years....1996 players may have been "greater" than 2008 players or vice versa.....what us Gator fans do know is that our team won 2 out of 3 NCs......won 22 straight before the SECCG and will play in a BCS bowl for the 3rd time in 4 years. Maybe they are not "great" by someone else's standards but they're pretty damned good in the minds of Gator fans. Call us bat **** crazy if you must if that's how we feel about Gator football at the moment and it's been a pretty good last 20 years of Gator football.
Hold on MCG, Corey called the Gators and the Irish batshit crazy and I was kidding back and forth with him and asked the question about the difference between batshit crazy, ie Notre Dame and Florida fans, and delusional fans, Bama by his definition. He answered me, all in good fun.
Gators are loaded with great players. Right now there are only a few teams in college football who can match the Gators in terms of talent.
....a few?......you really think there are that many that match the Gators?...... :roll: ....... :wink: :lol:
I know you're just fun'in me..but the answer is of course. 1. Texas 2. USC 3. Oklahoma All probably have as much talent on their rostes based on Rivals rankings. Now how that talent is coached , developed and meshes is of course the rub. It will be very interesting to see how the Gators do next year. They will lose of course Tim Tebow and he can't really be replaced, and they will lose Charlie Strong and a few assistants that he takes with him. How well Urban is able to replace those guys will go a long way to seeing if that talent produces to it's level. Many think that besides USC losing a lot of talent to the NFL they also lost a ton of their top assistants and those guys were not replaced with equal quality assistants. That was the real reason USC fell apart after a good start.
I think UF has plenty of Jesses and Joes on hand. The missing Xs and Os can have a subtle but very serious negative effect on a team if not properly managed. I think UF's offense was affected at times this season by Dan Mullen's departure as a longtime offensive coordinator under Meyer. So....I hope Meyer can bring in a top notch DC who can get his system in place in a real hurry. Offensively it's a whole new game next year with Brantley and Debose. Might not be better but they will score some points together.....sometimes a bunch of points.
Bill, I agree.. You need to add Alabama to Terry's list. I keep telling you folks. Alabama is really loaded with talent and they have tremendous young talent too. Something to consider, Rolando McLain still hasn't filled out his NFL 'feelers' paperwork yet to find out about a projected draft position... If he comes back, and they return Hightower next year... As you southerners say...... oh lawwwwwwwwd. Oh yeah, Dave.. you had a comment too.. Alabama is the only team in the SEC to win an SEC Championship in EVERY decade. Sometimes greatness is defined in bigger terms.
In the world of sports I always say what has happened in my last 20 years of following the Gators is more important than what they did 40 years ago. If they never go to another Final Four in BB.....never compete in that sport again it will be nice to remember Billy D and the 04s but eventually the memory would fade and pale in comparison to more recent successes. Memories of championships are better than nothing however.....never having been there at all, etc.
It's great that Alabama has won a SEC Championship in every decade and they should rightfully be very proud fo that. However like MCG is pointing out we didn't start winning ours official SEC title until 1991. Since the SEC implemented a playoff for the title there have been 18 SEC Championship games. The Gators have appeared in 10 of them and won 7. 7 of those appearances have been against Alabama and we have won 4 and lost 3. We have played 3 against other teams and won them all making us winning 7 of 18 SEC Championship since it was implemented. Alabama has not appeared in any except against us, and they have won 3. I don't have all the other appearances, but Tennessee has won 2 Auburn 1 Georgia 2 and LSU 3. I believe that adds to 18 Florida 7 Bama 3 LSU 3 Tenn 2 Georgia 2 Auburn 1 So what I am getting at is that no question Bama has quite a record, however because the Gators did not win their first until 1991 that does not diminish our accomplishments either. That is just with the SEC playoff, we also won in 91 and Tennesse in 90 to round out the two decades. I expect Florida and Bama to meet in the Championship game other times also. Since we play each other the next two years in the regular season it's possible that one team knocks the other out of the Championship game, it's also possible that we could play twice during the season.
Congratulations to you, KP, and your Tide! Don't let these Crocodiles hijack your topic! Nor that little roundball game the other night. :wink:
Corey--It's true, if R McClain returns, Bama would probably have one awesome pair of ILB's next year, but I'm not going to get my hopes up! Even if he doesn't, Nico Johnson has done very well as a freshman, and as you point out, Hightower should be back. I'm hoping Kareem Jackson stays--if he goes early, Bama could have some problems in the secondary next year, specifically at the corners. Javy Arenas will definitely be missed. As far as Florida goes, I would guess it would be big for the Gators if the Pounceys stay to help protect Brantley. If they do, along with that Freshman Nixon, I can see Florida having a helluavan O-line next year. RTR
Bill....not many teams in the country have had the success that UF has had in the past 20years.....maybe no team has done as well ( 3 NCs.....8 conference titles.....800 winning percentage in BCS Bowls ) Therefore not many want to acknowledge that the last 20 years was as important or more important than what occurred pre 1990. Heck if UF had all of their glory from 1950 to 1970 I would probably constantly build that up while knocking down anything another program was accomplishing in this BCS era. Human nature I guess.
KP...don't know what to make of that game, except that neither team gives up...we both looked so good at times and so bad at other times.
Bryan, As of the date I posted that, it was fact. I haven't heard or checked since. Haven't really had the chance.