I gave this some reflection yesterday. I think there are some intangibles that get lost in the "counting the number of MNC" debate.
First, SOS was a legend as a Gator as a player - perhaps our greatest player of all time. He is, and always will be, a Gator. No matter what, Urban can't fight the fact that SOS was a favored son of UF for three decades before he became our coach. Second, for much of Spurrier's career, the BCS was not the hoopla it is today. The one thing that mattered, and mattered most was the SEC. In all of our years in the conference, we had never won an SEC title that we were allowed to keep. They say that you never forget your first time - and I still remember where I was on November 16, 1991 when we beat UK to clinch the SEC title. That was followed by heady times; 5 SEC titles in 6 years. Remember the excitement as to whether SOS could catch the Bear for SEC titles and/or SEC wins? We just don't have that now - not to blame Urban - times have changed, the BCS rules all and the SEC title isn't quite as lustrous as it was. Third, my tension in the 90s was always higher because our rivals were also having a string of incredible years; look at the players in the MNC hunt here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ NCAA_Division_I_FBS_National_Football_Championship FSU in the mix 5 times, Miami 4, Tenn, Auburn and Alabama all with 1 each. That even understates how competitive some of these teams were, FSU lost to Tenn in its championship, Tenn was in the race but lost in a couple championship games. I would wager that FSU, Miami, Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama averaged top-10 rankings over the decade of the 90s, and LSU and Georgia weren't far behind. Again, those were heady times and it made the victories all the sweeter. Nowadays, FSU and Miami can't even win the ACC. Tennessee and Auburn fired their coaches. LSU and Georgia have both been very good, but up and down. Alabama is beginning to be good again, but has stunk for most of this decade. To my eyes, the marquee programs in this decade have been UF, USC-W, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio State. None can be considered our rivals, and none are on our schedule other than the occasional bowl game. Again, none of these reasons have anything to do with Urban or his ability as a coach. These are all factors that are out of his control, but that still cause me to miss the 90s, even on the eve of a potential 2nd MNC in 3 years. One difference between the two coaches is how colorful and quote- worthy SOS was, and how much the opposing fans despised him. I kind of miss that, too. -Zeb --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
