With Trip to Tuscaloosa Calling, Florida Searching to Rekindle Feud with Alabama
Once upon a time, Alabama and Florida had the throne to themselves in the SEC. The Crimson Tide and Gators replenished their NFL stockpiles year to year and then jousted to become not only the best team in the SEC—one from the West, the other from the East—but the best team in the country. The rest of college football would eat their dust.
It seemed it would be Nick Saban vs. Urban Meyer, both relentless recruiters, swapping the crystal back and forth for a decade or so. They would own the fertile recruiting grounds in their respective states, raid Georgia as they needed and then become the new Notre Dame by hooking up national recruiting bases.
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It was 2008-09. Florida had spent $28 million on its football facility with the seed of an $8 million gift from Bill Heavener, the college roommate of Bob Tebow, Tim's dad. Alabama was in the process of taking Bryant-Denny Stadium over that magical 100,000-seat threshold. Both programs were paying their head coaches startling salaries.
Bama vs. Florida, as long as Saban was dueling Meyer, would fetch $500 for a seat halfway to the moon in the corner of the upper deck end zone. Bama vs. Florida would have to be played the morning of the Super Bowl just to satisfy the hype. Bama vs. Florida would be colossal.
The colossus collapsed after two seasons.
The last time we saw the Florida dynasty, it was leaving the Georgia Dome in tears on Dec. 5, 2009. Tebow and the defending national champion Gators, ranked No. 1, had just been struck down by the No. 2 Crimson Tide in the SEC title game, 32-13.
Tebow wept as he left the field after his final SEC game. The next season, Florida was 8-5.
Meyer suddenly had health issues—or burnout, or something—and disengaged from recruiting and then resigned. Bama fans insist Saban scared off "Urban Legend" with the Tide's 14-0 season in 2009.
But Saban didn't scare off Auburn. The Tigers popped up out of the bushes in 2010. They pummeled teams with a better version of Tebow, Cam Newton, and bamboozled defenses with the slot machine-like offense of Gus Malzahn that seemed to spit out random plays. The Tigers beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl—now that is an enduring rivalry—and won the national title.
So, after back-to-back tussles in the SEC title game in 2008 and '09—the Gators won one, the Tide won one—Alabama's dynasty was interrupted; Florida's dynasty was blown up. The game didn't matter as much anymore.
The Crimson Tide (3-0) and Gators (2-0) meet Saturday in Tuscaloosa, and while both teams may be unbeaten, this is still not a game that leaves Main Street deserted like it did five years ago. It will be expensive to watch in person, but not a which-way-to-the-poor-house expensive. Alabama vs. LSU is a bigger game now than Bama-Florida. Georgia vs. South Carolina is bigger. Auburn vs. LSU is about to be bigger. Alabama vs. Auburn was always bigger.
Alabama and Saban are still intimidating. They won national titles in '11 and '12 and were one play from possibly playing for the title in '13, until Auburn struck again. The Tide are revved up once more in '14 with their bottomless corps of running backs and formidable linemen.
It's Florida that lags.
The Gators struggled with Kentucky last week. That's probably enough said right there. When the Gators were rolling from 2006 to 2009, they beat the basketball school 63-5 in one meeting. In overtime Saturday night, a moving truck likely was idling somewhere. If Florida had lost to the Wildcats, it would have been dispatched to coach Will Muschamp's house, no doubt.
It has been a bumpy four-year ride for Muschamp. The last time the Gators played Alabama, they lost 38-10 in '11. That happened in The Swamp, no less. After starting last season 4-1, Florida lost seven straight to close the campaign, including a 26-20 decision against Georgia Southern. The fanbase was outraged.
While the Gators may be undefeated going into Saturday's game at Alabama, they still haven't recovered from December of 2009.
"After Meyer stepped down and Muschamp was hired, instability at the the coordinator and quarterback positions, along with numerous injuries, created an almost impossible situation for offensive success," said Alabama color analyst Phil Savage, the CEO of the Senior Bowl and former NFL GM. "Now, with offensive coordinator Kurt Roper on board, you can see some of the natural ability emerging at running back and wide receiver with Jeff Driskel playing the best football of his career."
Tom Lemming, the Chicago-based recruiting analyst, told B/R that he had the last four Muschamp recruiting classes ranked 12th, fifth, fourth and eighth, respectively. There has been a replenishing of the roster, but not like the job done by the other Saban disciple, Jimbo Fisher, who replenished Florida State post-Bobby Bowden and won the national title in '13.
The Gators have some NFL-style talent, including wide receiver Demarcus Robinson and cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III, among others, but it is hard to win consistently with so much quarterback instability. The school that has produced three Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks just can't get the position in order, and some of that has to do with the Gators trying to figure out who they want to be on offense.
Jeff Driskel was hurt last season and is back in '14. It remains to be seen whether he is going to get himself to another level. Driskel had issues finding the open receiver when Kentucky brought extra-man pressure last week, so you can imagine what Alabama is thinking for this week: Squeeze the Gator with the ball and see if he will throw it to us.
The good news for Driskel is the Crimson Tide just don't look as threatening on defense as they did in a four-year stretch from 2009 to 2012, when they had an astonishing 77 interceptions. This season, they have forced one turnover (fumble) and haven't grabbed a single interception in three games. When one wonders why talented Alabama defensive back Eddie Jackson, just five months removed from knee surgery and with a contraption locked to his knee for support, is on the field, now the reason is clear.
It is a stretch to think Driskel is going to restore this rivalry with a monumental performance Saturday, especially on the road and especially because he looked so disjointed against UK. But there is some intrigue.
Alabama has Amari Cooper, its preseason All-American receiver, while the Gators have Hargreaves at defensive back, and he is a star. The Gators have a terrific running back in Matt Jones, who gained 156 yards against Kentucky, while Alabama has the best defensive back in the country, safety Landon Collins, who will play closer to the line in this game and see Jones face-to-face on the second level.
But what the Gators really need is the next Carlos Dunlap or Ray McDonald or Derrick Harvey on the defensive line, or throwback linebackers such as Brandon Siler or Brandon Spikes. They were stars when Florida was on its roll, and indeed a heavy-handed defense is what might rekindle this rivalry to its fullest.
For now, it is just another SEC game in which Alabama is favored by at least two scores. Gators fans will tell you it shouldn't be that way. Ever.
Ray Glier has covered college football and various other sports for 20 years. His work has appeared in USA Today, The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post and Al Jazeera America. He is the author of How the SEC Became Goliath (Howard/Simon & Schuster, 2013).
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