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By B.J. Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com Senior Editor
SouthernPigskin.com Senior Editor B.J. Bennett looks at the championship expectations at Florida.
It has almost become cliché, picking the Florida Gators number one this pre-season. Every single major media outlet has placed the Gators at the top of their polls, and for good reason. Florida returns 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, perhaps the best college football player ever, and all eleven starters on defense. In the pre-season AP Poll, the Gators received 58 of 60 first place votes; they got 96.7% of the first place votes, the highest margin in college football history. In the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, Florida received 53 of 58 first place votes. Just for a point of reference, Georgia got 22 first place votes as the pre-season number one picks in both polls a year ago.
While most have all but given this season’s title to the Gators, last year’s title run might not be getting the attention it deserves. Perhaps it’s a carryover from “Tebow Fatigue”, perhaps it’s just the nature of our current media and news cycle; keep moving forward, keep looking ahead. Maybe it’s just sheer jealousy. But Florida’s 2008 effort was one of the best championship runs in recent memory. But it some ways, it was overshadowed by the Texas/Oklahoma controversy and discussions about both how Southern Cal or Utah would have performed in the title game.
Before you point out the obvious, yes Florida lost a game, Ole Miss defeated the Gators by one point. That said, Urban Meyer’s team defeated three teams in the top nine, four in the top 13 and five teams in the final top 19. After a regular season where they played four ranked teams, Miami and Hawaii out of conference and on the road in one of college football’s largest venues against Tennessee, Florida did the unfathomable; defeat two number one teams in a row. It’s long been said you have to beat number one in order to become number one. In that case, the Gators earned a mulligan for future use.
After crushing 20th ranked archrival Florida State in Tallahassee 45-15 to end November, the Gators had to beat number one and 12-0 Alabama just to get a chance to play for the national title game. The Gators played two championship games against two teams with a combined 24-1 record entering those contests. Some title teams don’t played a top ten team all season. The SEC regular season aside, Florida played two top-ranked teams two games in a row.
The championship run had a legendary subplot. After losing 31-30 to Ole Miss at home, a tearful Tebow came into a now famous press conference and made a proclamation which ultimately came to fruition.
"To the fans and everybody in Gator Nation, I'm sorry. I'm extremely sorry. We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal, something Florida has never done here. I promise you one thing — a lot of good will come out of this. You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the rest of his team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season. You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season. God bless,” Tebow said in a monologue simply known as “The Promise”.
The above script has been immortalized outside of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Furthering Tebow’s legend was the fact that the Gators didn’t just win after his guarantee, they dominated. Florida was not played within single digits, two games against top-ranked teams included, from that point in the season. The Gators won their final ten games by an average of 35 points per game. Again, in that stretch were two games against top-ranked teams and four tilts with other top 25 teams, including pre-season number one Georgia and defending national champion LSU.
Those numbers put the championship in a little different perspective, a historical one.
Now Meyer and Tebow have Florida poised for another crown. The Gators have a more manageable schedule, on paper, and return dozens of veterans who know what it takes to win championships. Sure there is pressure, as anything but a title will be a disappointment, but expectations are the biggest burden on this team. The seniors on the roster, like Tebow and linebacker Brandon Spikes, have two national championship rings weighing down their fingers already. Despite the load, most expect Florida to be able to raise their hands in triumph once again this January.
Two championships in three seasons, the pre-season number one spot this August. We may be taking this mini-dynasty for granted, but with Meyer, Tebow and the Gators, it’s what we have come to expect.
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