Read the article.....and it doesn't make me feel better. It does shed some light on what might have happened with the defense heading into the game with Bama and with their uncharacteristic performance on the field: Apparently there was a reason the defense seemed off kilter other than playing a talented Alabama squad. Oklahoma last year was uber talented and these same guys handled them nicely. I would suspect there is a lot of disaffection going on in that locker room between the players who prepared the right way for such a huge game and those that went out during game week and allowed one of the top 3 players on the D to get sloppy and get arrested.
In the final analysis Dave they are still all college kids. Alabama was better than us that day and in my opinion is a better team than us this year.
Pat Dooley's toughest Gator losses list: 1. Georgia, 1980. Trip, Lindsay, trip! 2. Tennessee, 2001. Another Rose Bowl trip shot down. 3. Alabama, 2009. Just a miserable showing. 4. FSU, 1996. We thought it was over. 5. Georgia, 1976. Fourth and Dumb. 6. Georgia, 1966. Nobody could believe it. 7. Auburn, 1994. One of the best games I ever saw. 8. Auburn, 1969. John Reaves threw nine picks. 9. South Carolina, 2005. Knocked UF out of the SEC East race. 10. Tennessee, 1998. How did Gators lose that game? Honorable mention: Alabama, 1999 (regular season); Auburn, 1989; FSU, 1993; Miami, 1984; Nebraska, 1996; Ole Miss, 2008; Georgia, 2007.
That Tenn loss (underlined) for me was the toughest Gator loss ever. I was there.....and the Gators should have beaten that Tenn team. On that night the defense mysteriously disappeared as well.
MCG, I was at that 2001 loss to Tennessee also, that was a tough one. The 96 loss to FSU would have been the toughest if not for getting a 2nd chance due to other teams losing.
Terry, no we expected to win that game with Notre Dame and it was a big disappointment. However if you look over the list they are all SEC games except the loss to FSU in 96. That one almost cost us our first NC, all the others either cost us the SEC or a berth in the SEC. It's also one writers opinion. But I pretty much agree considering our frustration at not winning the SEC for so many years. But how about we make it number 11? That is really quite an honor.
Bill is right....the SEC Championship losses or losses that counted the Gators out were the toughest. When the NC was also out....as in '09 Bama and '01 Tenn then they naturally rise to the top of the list. I would place the ND loss in the top 15 though.
Sid, If you look at the list of losses since that game in the '92 Sugar Bowl you can see that other games lost since then have pushed the ND loss back in the pack. At the time I think it would have been top 8 or top 10 for certain.
I can actually see why it wasn't a big loss for several reasons. First of all it was a bowl game that really didn't mean anything, neither team was going to win a NC based on the outcome. Secondly UF fans/media looked down on ND as an opponent at the time, lots of ND didn't deserve to play US and stuff like that. So when we beat you even though it was very satisfying for ND fans I could see UF fans going whatever...and not really thinking about it any more.
Terry I think at the time beating ND meant something to Gator fans and losing the game absolutely put a damper on the Gator's first "official" SEC Championship. I do think however it enabled Spurrier to better recruit the class of 1992 ( can you say PT ) which rivals Meyer's class of 2006 as the best two recruiting classes in Gator history.
And the '96 FB defeat? Folks, it hurt so bad that we're in denial stage...errrrr, I mean Honorable mention stage.
For me AJ....that '96 debacle is pushing the top Ten to be sure. :cry: I have to put the ones I attended ahead of it though..... '66 Georgia ( Spurrier sacked too many times by Stanfill ) '76 Georgia ( dumb.. da dumb..dumb... ) '85 Georgia ( he left that out but UF was ranked #1 for the first time ever the week before ) '93 FSU ( Warrick Dunn from Ward...somebody tackle the SOB!!! ) '01 Tenn ( thank you Mickey and your hitman Dockett )
Hey, don't forget that is one writers opinion, and hindsight. Both the loss to Notre Dame and the loss to Nebraska was followed up by some great accomplishments and looking back might not hurt as much as it did at the time. In my list the Nebraska loss would be on the top 10 list and the Notre Dame loss just outside the top 10. Terry is partially right about that Sugar Bowl game with Notre Dame. A lot of Gator fans didn't think Notre Dame belonged in that game because they had lost two games late. However we didn't look down our noses at Notre Dame. One memory I have of that game is that Notre Dame didn't follow their team as well to the Sugar Bowl as they had in previous years. A lot of their tickets were returned. It was one of two Sugar Bowl games I attended, the other against West Virgina the year FSU beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl to win their first NC. West Virgina was unbeaten and their fans thought they should have been playing Nebraska. We beat them very soundly. I haven't been to the Sugar Bowl since and likely won't go again. There are several reasons for this, at the top is I most likely couldn't get tickets.
C'mon you Gators, you... You have changed a "Keep the Faith" topic into a debate about which losses hurt the worst. :wink: