Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist
There is a strong case to be made that the Alabama-Florida football games in 2008 and 2009 were the de facto BCS Championship contests in those years.
In 2008, the Gators narrowly defeated Alabama and went on to win the BCS title against Oklahoma. In 2009, the Crimson Tide rolled past Florida and while the BCS title game in Pasadena was closer (I know, I know, if Colt hadn't gotten hurt...), I honestly think the Tim Tebow-led Gators would have beaten Texas. There was a lengthy stretch in the 1990s where the same power relationship was in place. Alabama had no tougher test than the Gators in 1992, for instance.
In the last couple of years, things have changed. Alabama dominated against Urban Meyer's last Gator team in 2010 and smacked Will Muschamp's first Florida team in Gainesville the next year. For whatever reason - and it isn't all on Muschamp, no matter how people want to dump it on him - Florida has had a tough time returning to the heights. Yes, the Gators went 11-2 in 2012, relying primarily on defense. But they didn't make it back to Atlanta and plummeted to 4-8 last season.
This year? It is hard to tell, based on a blowout of Eastern Michigan and a skin-of-their-teeth triple-overtime escape from Kentucky. In that game, Florida seemed to alternate big plays and big mistakes. But any team with big-play potential has to worry Alabama, whose defense has shown some big-play liabilities in three games in 2014.
The Gator secondary didn't look much better than Alabama's, despite the presence of All-SEC corner Vernon Hargreaves. Perhaps the entire game will be played with Amari Cooper racing in one direction and Florida wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, who had a staggering 15 catches for 216 yards and two touchdowns against Kentucky, going in the other.
"We've got to tie some things up in the secondary," Muschamp said after the Kentucky game. "We've got some problems there."
The same seemed true on the UF offensive line. If there is an offensive edge for Alabama, it will come in the running game. That will be magnified for Florida if Alabama maintains the form that has it ranked No. 1 in the NCAA in rush defense this week.
For years, these Alabama-Florida games have been measuring sticks for the two programs. This game will be no different. It may not be absolutely decisive for the future of Muschamp, a good friend of and former assistant coach under Nick Saban, although a win would go a long way to extending his tenure in Gainesville. It may not be decisive for Blake Sims, although it is the game that many quarterback-watchers around UA had circled as a "deadline" for some sort of final decision to be made at that position. Saban seems wisely content to let events take their course.
It will be a test for Sims, though. In a way, he is under the same sort of scrutiny as Muschamp. Both are in jobs that are among the most visible in all of college football. Both took over without experience - Muschamp as a head coach, Sims as a starting quarterback. Both are learning on the job, although Muschamp's had three years and Sims has had only three games. Despite that, this game will go a long way to changing (or confirming) opinions about one or the other.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1681479
TideSports.com Columnist
There is a strong case to be made that the Alabama-Florida football games in 2008 and 2009 were the de facto BCS Championship contests in those years.
In 2008, the Gators narrowly defeated Alabama and went on to win the BCS title against Oklahoma. In 2009, the Crimson Tide rolled past Florida and while the BCS title game in Pasadena was closer (I know, I know, if Colt hadn't gotten hurt...), I honestly think the Tim Tebow-led Gators would have beaten Texas. There was a lengthy stretch in the 1990s where the same power relationship was in place. Alabama had no tougher test than the Gators in 1992, for instance.
In the last couple of years, things have changed. Alabama dominated against Urban Meyer's last Gator team in 2010 and smacked Will Muschamp's first Florida team in Gainesville the next year. For whatever reason - and it isn't all on Muschamp, no matter how people want to dump it on him - Florida has had a tough time returning to the heights. Yes, the Gators went 11-2 in 2012, relying primarily on defense. But they didn't make it back to Atlanta and plummeted to 4-8 last season.
This year? It is hard to tell, based on a blowout of Eastern Michigan and a skin-of-their-teeth triple-overtime escape from Kentucky. In that game, Florida seemed to alternate big plays and big mistakes. But any team with big-play potential has to worry Alabama, whose defense has shown some big-play liabilities in three games in 2014.
The Gator secondary didn't look much better than Alabama's, despite the presence of All-SEC corner Vernon Hargreaves. Perhaps the entire game will be played with Amari Cooper racing in one direction and Florida wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, who had a staggering 15 catches for 216 yards and two touchdowns against Kentucky, going in the other.
"We've got to tie some things up in the secondary," Muschamp said after the Kentucky game. "We've got some problems there."
The same seemed true on the UF offensive line. If there is an offensive edge for Alabama, it will come in the running game. That will be magnified for Florida if Alabama maintains the form that has it ranked No. 1 in the NCAA in rush defense this week.
For years, these Alabama-Florida games have been measuring sticks for the two programs. This game will be no different. It may not be absolutely decisive for the future of Muschamp, a good friend of and former assistant coach under Nick Saban, although a win would go a long way to extending his tenure in Gainesville. It may not be decisive for Blake Sims, although it is the game that many quarterback-watchers around UA had circled as a "deadline" for some sort of final decision to be made at that position. Saban seems wisely content to let events take their course.
It will be a test for Sims, though. In a way, he is under the same sort of scrutiny as Muschamp. Both are in jobs that are among the most visible in all of college football. Both took over without experience - Muschamp as a head coach, Sims as a starting quarterback. Both are learning on the job, although Muschamp's had three years and Sims has had only three games. Despite that, this game will go a long way to changing (or confirming) opinions about one or the other.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1681479
