Steve Spurrier

15):  This weekend, Florida welcomes their former coach and Heisman trophy winner, Steve Spurrier, into the unfriendly confines of the Swamp.  While Florida is a substantial, 23-point favorite, the last time Spurrier brought his gang to Gainesville, it took a Jarvis Moss blocked field goal as time expired to ensure a Gator victory… by a single point.  South Carolina is currently ranked 25th in the BCS and has beaten Ole Miss on the road, a team which Florida failed to beat at home.  While the kinder, gentler Spurrier always roots for his former school as long as they aren’t playing his own, a victory over Florida would remind Meyer once and for all who is Florida’s more legendary coach.

Continue reading "Another Gator Title: So Close And Yet So Far Away"

an undefeated season and an ultimate victory over the Michael Vick-led Virginia Tech Hokies.  Steve Spurrier was still coaching at Florida, but after winning a national championship only several years prior, the Ol’ Ball Coach seemed to have lost his edge on the Swamp’s sidelines.  The Washington Redskins would soon come calling.  Miami, under Butch Davis, was just starting to recover from athletic sanctions suffered by the Dennis Erickson regime.  Larry Coker would take over in 2001, leading Miami to a perfect 12-0.  Coker took them back to the championship game in 2003, only to lose to in overtime to Ohio State.  At Central Florida, Mike Kruczek took over as head coach for a program that had only joined Division 1-A a few years earlier.  Similarly, South Florida’s fledgling football program had only begun in 1997 under the tutelage of a young Jim Leavitt.

Continue reading "College Football in Florida: A Ten ..."