Arrrggghhh!!! Quick, get me a defibrillator!!!
Oliver Barry CRS,GRI Real Estate Broker Bob Parks Realty 1517 Hunt Club Blvd Gallatin TN 37066 Phone: 615-826-4040 Fax: 615-822-2027 Mobile: 615-972-4239 Gators have become dynasty <http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=GS&Date=20090826&Categ ory=ARTICLES&ArtNo=908279978&Ref=AR&Profile=1136&MaxW=600&border=0> Rob C. Witzel /Staff photographer Buy <http://reprints.gainesville.com/cgi-bin/fotobroker.cgi?c=latest.htm&a=&op_b y_line=contains&by_line=C.&b=photo_db&s=&t=&show=3-4> photo Coach Urban Meyer has accomplished a lot with Tim Tebow at quarterback, but Florida's prosperity in the divisional era of the Southeastern Conference is not a new concept. By Pat Dooley <mailto:[email protected]> Gainesville SUN Columnist Published: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 1:10 a.m. The word is tossed around like an old sock in a feisty dog's mouth and usually ends up in the same place - the trash. We like to talk about dynasties in sports long before they actually exist. A team wins two championships in three years and the D-word spills out of the mouths of everyone who can make one or more people listen. A league of their own Since the SEC became a 12-team league in 1992, the Florida football program: Has yet to have a losing conference record. Has played in a bowl game each season. Has won three national titles, seven SEC Championship Game and produced the league's only two Heisman winners. Has played in twice as many major bowl games as any other team in the league. We're hearing it now with these Florida Gators, with Tim Tebow's Gators who have won two of three national titles and are the prohibitive favorites to win another. Does three championships make a dynasty? It's open for debate. But this isn't about the possibility of a dynasty at UF. It's about the dynasty that already exists. People of the Gator Nation, you're living in a dynasty. I'm declaring it and in a bold, new way of doing things. I'm actually backing in up with facts. Florida football is a dynasty in the SEC 2.0. I'm referring to the new SEC, the one that began in 1992 when commissioner Roy Kramer had the smart idea to add two teams so he could have a championship game and increase revenue for the league. There have been 17 football seasons so far in the nouveau SEC and Florida is its king. For those of you who suffered through so many near-misses and big whiffs in the old SEC, to be living in a dynastic world must be exhilarating. Now this is a blasphemous statement in Tuscaloosa, maybe even in Baton Rouge. Up in Rocky Top they'll try to make an argument. But no team in the SEC 2.0 comes close to what the Gators have done. You know why? Because every team in this league has had its slumps. OK, so Vanderbilt's lasted longer than most. Florida survived its bad years. Florida's bad years ended up in Outback Bowls. Alabama's end up getting coaches fired. As do Georgia's. And Tennessee's. Here in black and white are the reasons this is a Gator dynasty, this new SEC. You all probably recognize these numbers but when the seasons are flying by you don't take the time to grasp their overbearing weight. Since the new SEC formed in 1992, only one team has been to a bowl game every year - your Florida Gators. In those 17 seasons, only Florida has been ranked in the final USA Today/Coaches' poll every year. Tennessee is second with 14. Only one program has produced a Heisman Trophy winner with Florida giving us Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow. Every team in this league has had a losing conference record at some point in the span ... except Florida. Tennessee has had two, which is the second fewest followed by Georgia and Auburn at four each. And only one team in the league has not lost at least five games in the regular season. Guess who? Florida has 109 wins in the new SEC. Tennessee is second with 99. Alabama is fifth in total wins (sorry, but you have to count the Tide as being 0-8 in '93 due to vacated wins). For a chart on where each team ranks see my blog on Gatorsports.com. Florida has won the SEC Championship Game seven times, more than twice as many as any other conference team. Major bowl games? Florida has appeared in nine of what are now referred to as BCS bowl games since '92. LSU is second with four. The rest of the SEC has appeared in a total of 10. Florida has had more first-team Associated Press All-Americans (13) than any other SEC school in the new SEC. And Florida, of course, has won the most national championships in the new SEC with three. The numbers tell the story of domination and - most importantly - consistent excellence. Florida has done it with three coaches with two of them being responsible for most of the success. This is a dynasty, people, whether you want to believe it or not. And there is no reason to believe it's going to end for a long time. Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at [email protected]. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
