CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: ELA on July 08, 2022, 03:30:17 PM
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The resumes:
2001 Florida (10-2)
- Lost at Auburn in October after reaching #1
- Lost season finale at home to #5 Tennessee (which had been moved due to 9/11), with a spot in the SEC Championship, and BCS Championship on the line
- Won 6 games against ranked teams, by an average of 31.5 points
- 24-10 win over Georgia was their only win all season by less than 24 points
- All-Americans: WR Jabar Gaffney (consensus), QB Rex Grossman, OT Mike Pearson, DE Alex Brown, LB Andra Davis
2003 Oklahoma (11-2)
- Ranked #1 in the AP Poll the entire season, even after losing to Kansas State in the Big XII Championship
- Lost to LSU in the Sugar Bowl
- Scored 50+ points 7 times, and held 5 opponents to single digits
- All-Americans: QB Jason White (unanimous), DT Tommie Harris (unanimous), LB Teddy Lehman (unanimous), CB Derrick Strait (unanimous), AP Antonio Perkins (unanimous), WR Mark Clayton, OT Jammal Brown,
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These are very similar teams. Both looked like world-beaters....except when they didn't.
Some notes:
OU was blown out by KSU, the other 3 losses by these teams were very close.
Both of Florida's losses were without their starting RB. 10-0 with him, 0-2 without him.
Both had good run defenses (except for Travis Stephens and Darren Sproles).
Big pass offenses, but OU had 1 main WR (1400 yds) and Florida had 2.5 (1000 yds for Gaffney and Caldwell, 750 for Jacobs).
OU had 4 punt return TDs, but Florida only allowed 10 returns all season.
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Part of me thinks OU was just another BigXII team that could only score 14 pts on an SEC team (LSU).
But I also saw Florida lose a game where the longest TD drive they allowed was 4 yards (Aub).
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I just see this is a toss-up and whichever teams "shows up" to play wins big.
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This tops the list of games I wish I could actually see thus far. I suspect they are very similar, except Oklahoma got one too many chances, and blew it, and Florida perhaps got one too few. We always prefer the what could have been. But if Florida had gotten blasted by Miami in the Rose Bowl, and Oklahoma had dropped down to #3 Just to beat Michigan in a meaningless Rose Bowl, which was entirely possible, I think that would shift the narrative. Instead it was Oklahoma who blew that second chance, and Florida who never got it
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Whether their resume warranted it or not, that Florida team would have been favored over Oregon and well over Nebraska. What they did to Maryland in the Orange Bowl was comical - 56 points w/ Grossman coming in late in the 2nd quarter.