Florida Gators And the Seven Dwarfs: Who's Capable Of Beating the Gators

That the Southeastern Conference ranks ahead of other conferences around the country in football isn't in question. From top to bottom no other conference can compare with the overall talent and coaching.

Inside the SEC you have first and foremost the Florida Gators followed by regulars Alabama, LSU, Georgia, and in the last couple of seasons, Ole Miss.

These are all teams that rest inside the top 25 with four of them inside the current top 11.

Arkansas has the coaching staff in place as well as the support, both financial and from it's fanbase. Petrino now has the chance to build the same quality program he did at Louisville with the superior talent of the SEC. He should soon have the Hawgs competing for the Western title year in and year out.

Until last year you would have included Auburn and Tennessee among those teams as well. Both programs expect fairly quick returns to a competitive stature. How quickly either of them challenges for the league title is the only real question left to answer.

All together that's eight teams that at any given time could rise up and be capable of challenging at a national level. Under those circumstances you would have the big three in the east with the big five in the west battling each year for conference superiority.

Here's the real scoop though, and it's a bitter pill to swallow for an Alabama fan who grew up with his team being the big bully on the block.

The truth is it's Florida and everybody else. Several writers have referred to it as Florida and the 11 dwarfs. For sake of argument I'm going to limit it to the eight teams I mentioned above leaving us with Florida and the seven Dwarfs.

Now you know the way the drill goes, every time the media wants to talk about the SEC, it's the Gators they fawn over. Deservedly so, too, as year in and year out they've set the tone winning conference championships, and on a different level, national championships.

Now the seven dwarfs do get mentioned from time to time. Of course the questions almost always have to do with how well said team matches up with the Gators. That of course leads to the reporter wondering whether said team has the speed, talent, and coaching to really challenge the Gators for the league title.

It surely gets old watching hour after hour of coverage along those same lines and it's become apparent who's to blame for it.

We are, the so-called seven dwarfs.

Somewhere along the way they forgot the immortal words of the great literary poet Richard Flair who said, "To be the man, you've got to beat the man."

Each and every fall, teams sets out upon their season with grandiose plans of going to Atlanta in early December and walking away a winner, meanwhile placing themselves in contention to win a national title.

Along the way they seem to forget the part about having to beat Florida to accomplish this feat.

Georgia has the pleasure of meeting them every season in Jacksonville. It's the worlds largest cocktail party for one reason these days. To allow Georgia fans to get drunk enough to handle the complete whipping they're going to take at the hands of the Gators.

Tennessee used to be capable of challenging them. Not in recent years, though, and who knows how quickly they'll be back at a level of standing inside the Georgia Dome in early December without them having purchased tickets.

In the west only LSU will have a regular season shot at them this fall. Even if the Tigers were to emerge victorious, the Gators would still likely win the east and be it's representative in Atlanta. 

With the Tide the current favorite to win the west they could likely represent a rematch of last years game in which the Tide came up short in the fourth quarter. If they plan to close the gap between themselves and the Gators, 'Bama may need to develop a bit of the bully themselves.

Ole Miss and LSU however will have their say as to who faces the Gators in the championship game. Both teams have the firepower to reach Atlanta.

They're three talented teams but only the best among them will have a chance at knocking off the Gators.

Florida is the bully on the playground that will continue to represent the conference until one of the seven "dwarfs" has the will and determination to knock them off their pedestal.

Mike Tyson was once considered the unbeatable opponent. So I guess the burning question that faces us this season would be...

Is there a Buster Douglas or Evander Holyfield in the house?