I don't think they can pull a Matt Leinart here: "I still think we're a better football team, they just made the plays in the end."
The fans of the SEC have never claimed to be "King of the Universe." Toughest conference in the NCAA? Yes. The best quote I've seen so far about this game came on the field right after the game from UF Jr. Def. End, Jarvis Moss. He suggested an explanation. "We played a lot better teams than Ohio State this year," Moss said, a piece of blue confetti sweatstuck to his neck. "I can name four or five teams in the SEC that would compete real well against them." Heck, we had a horrible year in our terms (6-6) regular season and only gave 24 points up to UF, in the Swamp. Heck, 14 of those points came with less than half of the 4th quarter left. IF you want to remain in the notion of the team lacking motivation and desire, in essence, you are saying "we were not prepared." Translation? Out coached because the UF staff had their team ready to play. Ted Ginn Jr- injured. However, wasn't that due to some excessive celebration in the end zone? That doesn't reflect a lack of excitement of motivation, it reflects the exact opposite. (perhaps a lack of discipline) The facts are...as I see them. When UF matched your 1st TD, then ended up taking the lead, it was the proverbial "punched in the mouth" term of college football. The OSU defense has been characterized this morning as appearing like they "were running in mud." I'll use an different analogy. It reminded me of a boxer who lost his legs after receiving a huge uppercut...just so happens, the OSU defense had 34 of those in the first half.
Ohio St probably played their worst game and was missing a key player. Florida is a good team and made LSU look like crap as well. Maybe LSU contributed to it, and maybe Ohio St contributed last night. And don't forget the idiotic layoff that Ohio St had. Maybe having a conference championship isn't such a bad idea... To all who were saying Urban Meyer wouldn't make it in the SEC, I laugh in your general direction. It is nice to end the season rated 3rd - I'm a little surprised we didn't jump tOSsU.
Two things that dawned on me... One, there's a legit point to say if Tiffin had made the FG against Ark, LSU very well may have been in this game. Two, on the "king of the Universe" comment... The last 6 NC games the SEC has participated in...they've won 5 of them. Can another conference say that?
As someone else pointed out, we don't claim to be Kings, just the toughest conference in college football. And I think tonight proved that to be the truth, because you're right, Florida does have holes in their team, yet they still beat the crap out of OSU. I really don't think Florida is the best team in the SEC, and they're merely good when compared to a few great SEC teams in the past few years. Plus, Arkansas, a team that is not in the SEC's top tier, played a better game against Florida than the Buckeyes did. I've got to hit a few Mich, USuCk, ND, and OSU boards today. For the past few weeks, I've read a lot about how the SEC is overrated. I'd really like to see if anyone there is admitting that maybe they were wrong about the SEC.
I was thinking about this last night. Bama 92' Florida 96' Tennessee 97' LSU 03' Florida 06' Who lost?
