Spurrier must be thinking where was the 12 team playoff when I coached

As did we...

The point is, having an allegedly weak schedule doesn't mean the team is weak...

 

Right- you sort of make my point for me...
Which is that a rested team who has been tested will beat the untested team in a playoff.
Even a very good team- like FSU in the 90s and Miami in 01.
Both were very good- no one is denying that...

But let's look at 96 since you brought it up.
A beaten up Gator team has trouble w/ Vandy, then loses to FSU the week before the SECCG.

But once we got rested (which happens in a playoff) then we destroyed the previously unbeaten FSU.

So yes, IMO
a rested focused UF team would beat an untested Miami team in 01 once we got rested and re-focused away from the weekly SEC grind.

Btw- we also did this in 06 vs tOSU.
AND in 08 vs OU.

Thanks for making my point for me!!!

 

I think being battle tested helps though

 

You're definitely looking at this through O&B glasses, my friend...

 

I admit that...
But I also use facts to support my conclusions- which I'll say for the 1000th time are certainly theoretical.
But show me where I am wrong on anything I've posted.

 

As I said, I agree with many of your assertions, but dismissing those Cane and Nole teams due to a weak schedule is homerish. It isn't a mortal sin to say that Miami and FSU had MNC-caliber teams in those days. We either got beaten or squeaked by lesser teams throughout the SOS and Meyer eras, and it wasn't because we were injured/they were rested/they cheated ad nauseum. You mention our domination in 1996, but you didn't offer any excuse to FSU's team who were incapacitated by Warrick Dunn's mother's cooking.

Excuses go both ways. The bottom line is the scoreboard, and almost without exception, the winning team was the better team that day.

 

Not in Tallahassee in 96 and certainly not at The Swindle

 

Just for the 2nd half, though, how convenient.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

I agree with both, although SOS was stubborn not to put Danny in the shotgun to neutralize the pass rush. He adapted beautifully after the game. The Swindle, of course, was a monumental disgrace that most of the national media condemned, and IMO, led to instant replay.

 

Well, you know how food poisoning works. It can be time-delayed before the raging dysentery kicks in...

 

I wonder if they had ever practiced Danny in the shotgun before the weeks leading up to the Sugar Bowl game

 

Yet if we had 12 team playoffs, we would have many different champions.

 

FSU from 87-2000 had the best team in the nation over that entire span. (Not every year, but the 14 years combined.)
Miami in 01 was a great team.
Please show me where I said anything different...

I did say the more battle tested teams tend to do better in a playoff.
Especially one that's away from the grind of the season.

Quick question- this past year was Michigan better than Ohio State?
In other words, if they met 10 times would Michigan win 6-7 of them? Was Michigan the best team in the nation?
Of course not. So I only have to go back a few months to prove your statement false.

But let's go back to 96.
If our game was a nail biter, or turned on a few lucky plays, I'd say yes, there was an equal chance for the Crims to beat us in a playoff.
But it was a beatdown.
We had decent refs, a neutral field, and best of all, 4 weeks off to get re-set.
So 52-20 happened.

But to make you happy let's go back to 97.
We beat FSU in the Swamp in a game that we could have lost...
If that FSU team goes to the playoff do they win?
I think they have a great shot.
(Nebraska and Michigan split that year.)

 

Can't argue with any of that...

 

Is this a good place to chime in, channel 1983, and say: UF 28, National Champs 3

 

It's ALWAYS a good time to chime in with that magnificent game! And yes, we WERE the better team that day...

 

Danny was in the shotgun in the game in Tallahassee, and in Atlanta, just not very often.

 

The real bottom line: in any given year, the Gators must lose at least one game. It's the law. We've never run the table and we never will. The upside: it doesn't matter anymore. With a 12 team playoff that will likely grow to 14 or 16, one loss will never hurt us again beyond bragging rights for one opponent for as little as one year. The fact that we were able to prevail as national champions three times in the days when only two teams got a shot and still do it with a loss all three times is impressive in its own right. And yes, the '97 Sugar Bowl was a de facto #1-#2 game because Arizona State had lost before kickoff.

 

You must be thinking of another player. Dunn's mother was murdered shortly before he went to FSU.

 

SEC didn't/doesn't care 2-cents about Florida like they do about a few others.