CHAMPIONS.
Overwhelmed with emotion–simply overwhelmed. 41 out of 50 AP sportswriters can go choke themselves with a Twizzler right now. After five minutes, this game was out of reach. It’s not that Florida was merely good–they were flawless and magnificent like anyone who’s ever appeared on The Actor’s Studio with James Lipton. Chris Leak played a magnificent game-no Evil Chris, lurking in the shadows in the third quarter. No blocked punt, a la Auburn. No improbable decisions.
(Chris…we’re so sorry. We’re so, so sorry.)
And it’s not that Ohio State was bad–they were pathetic. Odious. Null. Reeking. Inert. They had no answer, no adjustments, no nothing. Alex Boone and Kirk Barton spent all night reaching backwards into the void where Derrick Harvey and Jarvis Moss should have been, and instead turning over to look at Troy Smith, eyes wide as dinner plates, turning away from one 270 lb. man attempting to kill him to find another 270 lb. beast running at him with 4.7 speed. His line becomes a paragraph unto itself:
Troy Smith: 4-14, 35 yards. 0 TDs, 1 INT. Sacks: 5
Heisman! UF outplayed them in every single facet of the game. No Ted Ginn excuses, no blown calls, nothing. Florida kicked ass until their toes fell off. It was like watching a small animal get crushed between two glaciers. It was like watching Roy Jones in his prime boxing an Olsen twin. It was like watching Clarence Darrow squaring off against Starr Jones in the courtroom. It was defeat, served rare, with a side of raw loss.
And for us: scoreboard, bitches. Scoreboard. We. Win.









1
psuedosilent observer says:
scoreboard, bitches. Scoreboard. We. Win.
Just had to post that again. hope the ohio people read this and stew on that before pillaging columbus.
January 9th, 2007 at 12:35 am
2
J.J. says:
Was that Chris Tucker? Come on. The only song that can accurately portray my feelings now is Sabotage by the Beastie Boys.
January 9th, 2007 at 12:38 am
3
Newspaper Hack says:
I pillaged some of the best AP photos of the game on my site, so mosey on over if you’d like.
And, thank you, Florida. Mmmmmmmm……zzzzzzzzzz.
January 9th, 2007 at 12:38 am
4
GoBucks says:
Holy fuck. What a totally brutal assramming that was. Congrats and enjoy fellas. Wow.
January 9th, 2007 at 12:39 am
5
Erik says:
SEC-love in the offseason may just make me shoot myself.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:00 am
6
Malibuckeye says:
Great game Gators… Basketball and football- Amazing.
And no, the fires out here had nothing to do with the game. There weren’t enough couches involved…
January 9th, 2007 at 1:00 am
7
kyle says:
every day should be monday.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:04 am
8
glacialspeed says:
Florida was stronger, quicker, faster, tougher, smarter–there’s not a single positive adjective that I can think of that Florida wasn’t.
Their preparation for that game was stunning. I mean, Florida does not have a single SEC-caliber running back on that team, and yet they found a full game’s worth of creative ways to work around it.
tOSU, on the other hand, looked like its offense was coached by Mike Shula. It’s amazing how impressive they looked all season, and how impotent they were tonight.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:05 am
9
kentuckygator says:
Year of the Gator
It’s great to be a Florida Gator!
January 9th, 2007 at 1:06 am
10
G8Rjon says:
We’re the best. No one is better. How did we ever lose a game? I have nothing more to say
January 9th, 2007 at 1:06 am
11
Ed says:
Troy Myth: MINUS 1 TOTAL yds. In the modern history of football, this has never been done.
Congratulations to the champion Gators.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:09 am
12
RB says:
As an SC fan I commend you all. You deserved it. Both USC and Florida exposed the Big Ten for the frauds that they are.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:10 am
13
Jason says:
That stupid bs runback for a td will piss me off until the end of my days. Leak? Magnificent! D-line? Dominant!
I thought they had a running game? I thought Gonzales was every bit as good as Ginn?
January 9th, 2007 at 1:10 am
14
Chuck says:
Congrats Orson and congrats Gator fans. As a Husker fan and a fan of the Big 12, it was very nice to hear all the excuses that will come from OSU fans and Big 10 fans in general. Too bad there is no excuse. Speed kills.
Ted Ginn Jr who? Percy Harvin was amazing.
However, you guys have singlehandedly brought the BCS to its knees. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Let the bitching, whining, and moaning of college football fans commence.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:12 am
15
ACC_Expat says:
To quote Al Bundy: Tee hee.
Congrats to UF, the proprietors of this fine site, and the SEC in general. (I must acknowledge the LSU fen who were witty and charming during my stay in NOLA this past weekend.) Don’t kill yourselves celebrating now, y’hear?
January 9th, 2007 at 1:13 am
16
Rob says:
Suck it, Big Ten.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:17 am
17
Erik says:
I just want this to stay fair – the Big 10’s top teams were overmatched this year, but Penn State and Wisconsin still had their way with their SEC opponents. The Big 10 looks bad enough this year – nobody has to make anything up at this point.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:22 am
18
BDoc says:
Hello work? Yes, I won’t be coming on Tuesday as I have a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP to celebrate!
That was an ass whooping of epic proportions.
Thank you Coach Meyer for bringing the pride and swagger back to G-Ville.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:24 am
19
displacedlion says:
oh mylanta. i’ve never been so happy wearing blue and orange in an ohio state bar as a penn state alum.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:26 am
20
Panhandler says:
To further quote Al Bundy:
“Take me to your finest bathroom!”
January 9th, 2007 at 1:27 am
21
glacialspeed says:
I wonder if Kirk Herbstreit still thinks Michigan deserved to be in the title game.
I know he wishes they had been. Watching the enormous OSU D-line and slowish linebackers attempt to run sideline to sideline grasping at air was painful. Backing up into a prevent defense wasn’t the answer, either.
At least those Michigan boys will stay in one place for a second so you can hit ‘em.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:31 am
22
falgo says:
tOSU = GatorBait
It is Great to be a Florida Gator
January 9th, 2007 at 1:37 am
23
James says:
That clip from Friday sums it up perfectly. Oh, and to all those who said that Meyer can’t win in the SEC, much less the national title, two words: Told ya.
The South has risen again!
January 9th, 2007 at 1:38 am
24
rt says:
good going gators! nothing like servin’ up a cup ‘o STFU to the media when they keep on goin’ on and on and on about how good #1 is when you’re the underdog.
enjoy the ride, kids.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:42 am
25
RB says:
Heist’d
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/15/leakheisyfinalxp5.jpg
January 9th, 2007 at 1:43 am
26
Learned Hand says:
Number 1 was definetely held
January 9th, 2007 at 1:44 am
27
DC Trojan says:
Congratulations to the Gators!
Nice to see that the Big 10 zone defense works like a charm in bowl games. (Ahem).
January 9th, 2007 at 1:44 am
28
dcat says:
I cannot wait for the championship game between Boise State and Florida. That’ll be awesome.
Oh, wait — like figure skating, we let someone other than the athletes decide who wins championships?
When do the NFL playoffs start back up?
dcat
January 9th, 2007 at 1:44 am
29
Ltrain says:
Are you going to do something, Ohio State….
or are you just going to stand there…
and bleed?
January 9th, 2007 at 1:45 am
30
Ed says:
OK, assuming a plus-one playoff, who plays the Gators now? USC or LSU? Or BSU? Or someone else?
January 9th, 2007 at 1:46 am
31
Tom @ thepalestra.com says:
Congratulations. Without a doubt, the better team won tonight. Unlike 1996, there is no doubt. Florida is the completely deserving 2006 National Champions. No excuses. You were simply dominant tonight.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:46 am
32
RB says:
Looking back on this crazy year in college football and the BCS, I think the best BCS matchups would have been,
Orange and Fiesta Bowl stay the same,
OSU vs. Notre Dame in Sugar Bowl
Michigan vs. LSU in Rose Bowl
Florida vs. USC in BCS Nat. Champ.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:55 am
33
dogtown gator says:
Ah, giggling like a meth’d out maniac.
who’d have guessed that Leak would out Mancrush Nelson one night?
good luck to whoever jumps to the NFL. excited about the Tebow, Harvin, Spiller backfield in 2008.
and Orson. dear god, Orson. your writing makes me ashamed and proud to be a writer.
-miguel
January 9th, 2007 at 2:00 am
34
Anon8 says:
RB that’s nice and all, but you can’t go from what you know now. You have to go from when the games were completed. USC lost to two unranked teams, are you telling me that they’re just as good as Florida? Granted OSU was flat out beat, but at the time there is no way you or me or anyone would have said that USC was just as good as the Buckeyes or Michigan.
USC fans can add to the whole “exposing the Big 10 for what it is” bandwagon, but try winning the games you’re suppose to win first before you go on a tangent.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:05 am
35
Anon8 says:
And congrats to all the Gators fans out here is EDSBSland.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:06 am
36
Exhausted yet happily buzzed CliffX says:
As a grad student at OSU who really got into the football culture this year, I offer my congrats to Florida fans. When a team gets decimated like that for four quarters they can’t point the finger at anyone. Florida deserves what they’ve accomplished this season…
…although I’ll be very interested in the upcoming AP poll results…
January 9th, 2007 at 2:13 am
37
Celeste says:
Yeeeeaaaahhhh!!! The O’Dome was on fire tonight. Every shot of crying tOSU fans elicited massive cheers. University Ave is totally f*&$ing nuts. Hells yeah fer palindrome ass-kicking. Go cure cancer! Go Gators!
January 9th, 2007 at 2:15 am
38
Phil K. says:
Congrats, guys. Please spare enough brain cells from liquor – WOOOOOOOOOO LIQUOR – to keep blogging.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:15 am
39
RB says:
So true Anon8. We have choked twice this year against unrankers, yet I still truly believe that SC and UF as they both played in the respective bowls would be an even match. USC can actually pass block and has one of the speediest defenses around.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:17 am
40
Harvey Wireman says:
UF vs tOSU is like the Univision Sports girls vs. the View cast, (with special guest star Star Jones pre-op, Barbara Walters, Rosie O Donnell and Regis Philbin) in a bikini contest.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:21 am
41
Harvey Wireman says:
Regis looks more like a woman than Rosie, by the way.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:22 am
42
Gator KK says:
YOWWWW……..mmm pizza
January 9th, 2007 at 2:24 am
43
Oh Please says:
#34 – Amen. I’ve never heard more crying and whimpering from a 2-loss team as from USC fans. Let them handle the PAC-10’s OSU before sniveling too much about deserving to play the other one. U of Spoiled Children never seemed like such an appropriate name.
And ENOUGH about Boise State. They played out of their shoes and beat a mediocre Oklahoma team that underestimated them – anyone who thinks they could have run with either OSU or UF doesn’t know much about football. Most of their team would concede they weren’t NC material. They scheduled deadbeats and won the single big game on their schedule. It was fun, but not NC stuff. Do people really need to be told these things?
January 9th, 2007 at 2:26 am
44
Tommy O says:
haha…yeah this year proves a “plus 1″ would be pathetically insufficient for college football. congrats again guys.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:35 am
45
Harvey Wireman says:
I want the cotton-picker Subcommandante Wayne’s head on a platter, or at least his take on the biggest whipping I have seen since Georgia Tech beat little Cumberland College.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:36 am
46
Ed says:
Wow. Not a unanimous #1 in AP. Boise got one first place vote. Tool.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:39 am
47
dcat says:
Anon8 –
But in a 16-team playoff USC, Michigan and the others would be able to prove it on the field. And that is the only place we ought to expect sports to prove their champions. Again, except for figure skating. And diving. So until we have a playoff system, major college football is the figure skating of team sports.
That was a great win for the Gators and for Gator fans (or Ohio State haters) and Florida deserves a share of the national championship, but I cannot take seriously any argument against Boise State getting the AP vote. And I don’t want to hear anyone — especially Florida fans, who just saw expert opinion turned on its head — say that they “know” what would happen if Florida played BSU. You only “know” after a game is played. That game won’t be played because the solons who run college football have their heads wedged in their polyp-holes.
And as I type this, ESPN reports that the AP votes Boise State number five, which is fucking ridiculous.
dcat
January 9th, 2007 at 2:44 am
48
RB says:
By record, OSU is obviously 2nd. By logic, Try 5th.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:50 am
49
Oh Please says:
Dcat –
That’s crazy. I also don’t “know” if UF could beat my high school team – they didn’t play. For that matter, we don’t “know” if UF could beat FIU – they didn’t play, either, and that seems to be the only criteria you have for making a decision. Look, OSU “can” beat UF, and if they play 100 times, OSU would win some of them. That’s the reason that a head-to-head matchup is far more arbitrary than you seem to think. Oregon State beat USC, but who thinks they are the better team? My point is that anyone who’s blindly formulaic enough to feel that BSU’s lack of losses makes them equal to, better than, or worthy of a game against UF is willfully ignorant.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:54 am
50
Harvey Wireman says:
tOSU is Number 2 allright, a piece of crap.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:57 am