BCS national championship: A Gators demolition

By Robert Rousseau  |   Thursday, January 11, 2007  |  Comments( 2 )

College Football
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Every now and then, a big favorite comes into a national championship game and gets tested. Sometimes these favorites even get beaten, as evidenced by Ohio State's double-overtime victory over Miami of Florida back in 2003.

Even stranger, every now and then a 'sure to win team' gets demolished. Such was the case back in 1993 when the SEC's Alabama Crimson Tide crushed the Miami Hurricanes 34-13 to win a national championship.

And such was the case with a different SEC team earlier this week. Monday night, to be exact.

Simply put, Urban Meyer's Florida Gators spanked the Ohio State Buckeyes, 41-14, on their way to a BCS title that nearly everyone had initially believed was destined for Troy Smith's club.

The truth is, this wasn't even a good game, leading many to wonder aloud whether Ohio State would've even made it to such a postseason contest had it played in the SEC. Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss seemed to encapsulate that viewpoint best after the game.

"Honestly, we've played a lot better teams than them," he said. "I could name four or five teams in the SEC that could probably compete with them and play the same type of game we did against them."

Ouch.

Basically, the following passing statistics tell the story: Florida quarterback Chris Leak looked great, completing 25-of-36 passes for 213 yards and one touchdown. Further, four Florida receivers had four or more catches, and Percy Harvin made the Buckeyes look slow all day, reeling in nine balls for 60 yards.

On the flip side, Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith completed only 4-of-14 passes for 35 yards and an interception. A Ted Ginn Jr. injury near the start of the game no doubt hurt the team (after all, he contributed one of only two scores on the opening kickoff). Still, this loss was due to much more than just that.

Smith was under pressure all day, and the Buckeyes' receivers were simply blanketed.

And Urban Meyer has now done something that it took Steve Spurrier six years to do -- he's won a national championship. Accompanying that is the fact that the SEC has once again shown that its division winner is always a team to be reckoned with.

Maybe we'll all remember that next year. Then again, maybe not.
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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or...
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