This is another attempt for me at a response article.  I'm disputing Mike Dockery's Can Alabama Beat Florida?  Five Reasons Why Crimson Tide Could Win the SEC.

And here we go...

1.  Florida's big wins against teams that Alabama squeaked by do matter, a lot

The BCS computers, whether you agree with their results or not, are based on formulas developed by genius mathematicians. These geniuses have determined that including margin of victory in a ranking system is a better predictor of a team's future results than by simply considering the result (won or lost).

The BCS computers by rule cannot currently use margin of victory, but the formula inventors still can keep track of margin of victory for their own research. 

The computer ranking creators have decided that margin of victory is significant. It is logical to me, so I will agree with the geniuses

2.  'Bama does not match-up well when you look at common opponents

However, there are some qualifications that have to be made.

One cannot simply say that since Florida beat Tennessee by 24 and Alabama beat Tennessee by 20, Florida is a better team.

It's possible that one of those games was a fluke.

But what do we mean by fluke?  A fluke occurs when unusual circumstances have to occur in order to achieve a certain score.  Maybe there is a heavy rainstorm, or strong wind gusts, or every fumble bounces to one team.

So I'm not buying the idea that there are several flukes that have led to the margin of victory difference.

If you want to talk about flukes, talk about the Florida—Ole Miss game.  30 percent of the Gators' turnovers this year came in that game.  Also, Jonathan Phillips has attempted 67 extra points/field goals this season.  He made 66 of them.  The one that was blocked happened in the same game that the Gators had a season-high in turnovers.  Talk about a fluke.

Alabama squeaked out the Ole Miss win because they won the turnover battle three to two.  Florida lost because they lost the turnover battle three to one.  All we can conclude from those two games is that Florida made too many mistakes.

But that isn't a trend for Florida, so it must be a fluke.

Comparing Arkansas and Tennessee results is not really productive because the results were similar and those two opponents are not exactly firing on all cylinders.

What is significant is the way Florida and Alabama played Georgia and LSU.  There is no excuse for a letdown in these games.  The only reason why a team would not play up to its potential would be injuries.  Injuries also explain why Florida destroyed Kentucky 63-5.  That was not the same Kentucky team that lost to Alabama by three.

So we can learn a lot from these teams' performances against Georgia.  For example, Alabama led 31-0 at halftime.  Then they allowed Georgia to score 30 points in the last 30 minutes.  Florida led 35-3 with over 18 minutes left.  Georgia only managed 7 more points when both teams were using backups.

Florida played better defense when looking at the entire game.  Both teams built a lead, but Alabama was unable to maintain their performance while Florida kept Georgia's starters out of the endzone the entire game.

In the LSU match-ups, Florida rushed for 265 yards while allowing 80.  Alabama rushed for 138 yards while allowing 201.  Which leads me to my next point...

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