College football’s version of “Cash for Clunkers” takes center stage at The Swamp Saturday when Charleston Southern shows up at The Swamp (7 p.m., Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Fox Sports Network/Sun Sports) to face the number one-ranked Florida Gators and take what will probably be the worst beating in its 19-year football history for a $450,000 paycheck. For the Gators, it’s not much more than a chance to take a few whacks at someone that doesn’t share the same locker room. Charleston Southern will be taking its lumps for the good of the entire athletic program. By the time the final horn sounds, the Gators will have worked out some of the kinks of a tough offseason and a brutal August of practices while the Bucs will have earned enough money so that every sport on campus back in Summerville, SC can have its own separate locker room.
In life, we’re told it’s all about the timing and if nothing else, this game is all about the timing. The Gators were willing to pay the bucks for a home game to open the season when a season-opener with Utah couldn’t be worked out and Charleston Southern needed a hefty paycheck that would benefit all 15 of its varsity sports — the perfect case of need meets opportunity.
The Bucs were in the right place at the right time although you have to admit it takes guts to volunteer for what’s going to happen Saturday. Handicapper Danny Sheridan says the Bucs are 73-point underdogs. He might have been kind. It could be worse than that unless Urban Meyer decides to let the entire scout team and all the walk-ons earn enough playing time to qualify for letterman’s jackets.
This game isn’t going to prove anything for the Gators but it is the next rung on the ladder of college football greatness. If everything goes according to plan and expectations, there will be 13 other rungs on the ladder and when the Gators get to that last one at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on January 7, they will have a chance to be considered one of the truly great programs in college football history. This is a chance for the Gators to win back-to-back national championships and that’s only been done five times in the modern era (since 1950) — Oklahoma (1955-56; 1974-75); Alabama (1964-65; 1978-790 and Nebraska (1994-95). If the Gators succeed, it will be their third national championship in four years and only Nebraska (1994-95, 1997) has done that in the modern era.
Look at the names on that list — Oklahoma, Alabama and Nebraska. They are part of college football’s royal family. Those schools had great football programs in place when Florida was still looking for its Moses to lead it out of the wilderness. Until 1990, Florida was a wannabe. Since then, Florida football has evolved into the program that even the elite programs want to be.
It would take decades of unbeaten seasons for Florida (641 wins in school history) to catch up to Oklahoma (788), Alabama (799) and Nebraska (827) but since 1990, the Gators have won more games than any team in the nation. The top ten since 1990 shows (1) Florida 189-51-1; (2) Florida State, 187-55-1; (3) Nebraska, 182-57-1; (4) Miami, 175-56; (5) Tennessee, 175-61-2; (6) Ohio State, 174-52-3; (7) Texas, 171-62-2; (8) Michigan, 169-62-3; (9) Penn State, 163-70; and (10) Oklahoma, 163-70-3.
The Gators have won three national championships (1996, 2006, 2008), tying Nebraska (1994-95, 1997) for the most national titles since 1990. Florida State, Miami and LSU have each won two national championships. Since 2000, Florida (2006, 2008) and LSU (2003, 2007) are the only two teams with two national championships.
The elite of college football like to point to such things as the 11 national championships won by Alabama and the 10 by Southern Cal, but those two have combined for two national titles since 1990 (Alabama 1990 and Southern Cal in 2004). If you’re into ancient history, what Florida has done since 1990 pales in comparison. If you’re into modern history, the Gators belong in the same breath with the best.
Florida’s Moses was Steven Orr Spurrier, who truly led the Gators out of the wilderness. Try ZERO championships in football pre-Spurrier and eight SEC and three national championships in the 19 years since he opened the season with Shane Matthews passing Oklahoma State silly to begin a 122-27-1 run that included six SEC titles and the 1996 national championship.
There was the Ron Zook Error, that three-year, 15-loss setback for the program, but because Zook couldn’t get the job done, the Gators got Urban Meyer so consider it a fair trade. In his three seasons at Florida, Zook was constantly trying to explain why the Gators constantly under-achieved. In his four seasons at Florida, Meyer is forced to tone down the rhetoric because expectations have never been higher.
Heading into the Charleston Southern game, Meyer is 83-17 overall and 44-9 at Florida with two Southeastern Conference and two national championships to his credit. If he succeeds at bringing Florida its third national championship in four years this season, Meyer will have to be compared with Bryant and General Bob Neyland as the best coaches ever in the Southeastern Conference. Bryant (323-85-17 in his career; 232-46-9 at Alabama) won six national championships and 12 SEC titles. Neyland (173-31-12 in his career, all at Tennessee) won three national championships and five SEC titles.
Meyer definitely has timing going for him. He’s been in the right time at the right place throughout his coaching career both as an assistant and as a head coach. He served as an assistant to coaches such as Earle Bruce, Sonny Lubick and Lou Holtz. As a head coach, he has taken three programs on the downswing and turned them into big winners. He won 17 games in two years at Bowling Green and 22 in two years at Utah, which has been on the greatest six-year run in school history since Meyer’s 2003-04 stint.
He has turned Florida into the true beast of the Southeastern Conference and put serious distance between the Gators and in-state rivals Miami and Florida State. While Florida has gone 44-9 with two national championships in Meyer’s four years, Miami is 28-22 and Florida State is 31-21.
Because Meyer has been in the right place at the right time, the Florida program is also in the right place at the right time. Meyer has assembled what is arguably the best coaching staff in the country and they coach a team built on four consecutive top five recruiting classes. What the Gators have in 2009 is the making of a perfect storm when a great team led by the best offensive (Tim Tebow) and defensive (Brandon Spikes) players in the country, a great coaching staff led by Meyer and a favorable schedule meet in a confluence that could take the Gators to another national championship.
It all starts Saturday night against Charleston Southern, a game that will be over long before the first quarter clock strikes zero. Charleston Southern is in the right place at the right time for a big paycheck and a television appearance. Florida might be a Johnny-come-lately among the elite of the college game, but the Gators are in the right place at the right time to elbow their way into the permanent discussion of football’s greatest programs ever.
It’s all about the timing and the timing has never been more right than it is right now.
FEARLESS FORECAST: Tim Tebow plays perhaps three series, gets the Gators three touchdowns and turns it over to John Brantley, who will wow you with the throws he can make for a couple of quarters and then it’s time for Jordan Reed to get over the first game shakes and show he’s not just another freshman quarterback. The Gators will have at least two 100-yard receivers and at least two 100-yard running backs. The defense has a chance to pitch the Gators’ first shutout since 2001 (Mississippi State). In the event Charleston Southern does score a touchdown, the coach will be tempted to go for two and line up and kick onside.