re: BEFORE SPURRIER

To be honest; I had never even known that Michigan had won four straight national titles between 1901-1904; and had not lost a game in any of those years. I just looked it up and thought it was somewhat mindblowing.

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The 1959 Ole Miss team gave up 21 points ALL season long.

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a team with future Ole Miss coach Billy "Cheater" Brewer.

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DID UF MEAN shite?

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Yeah, obviously there were already pretty good. To anybody saying that UF was nothing before Spurrier, that's dumber than saying that Miami was nothing before Jimmy Johnson.

From 1983-90, the Gators were arguably the best team in the SEC. Yes, they cheated heavily, and yes, it paid off quite well.

From 1983-91, UF had at least one 1st Round NFL Draft pick for every season. Kerwin Bell used to hold the SEC record for TD passes (later broken by Hodson), and then there were other players in the 80's like Wilber Marshall and Emmitt Smith. The '83, '84, & '85 teams were crazy good, and when sanctions put the hurt on the program (from 1986-88), they just started cheating all over again. The 1989 team was an up-and-comer.

The '83 & '84 teams need no description, but just from a quick look ( LINK), I see that the Gators put the hurt on Bo Jackson and the Plainsmen in '85 (holding him to 48 yards, the lowest of the season for him), and also gave Pat Dye the worst loss of his career in 1990, 48-7.

Spurrier was a 1st year coach in 1990, but he had a lot of damn good players (just look at all the players drafted in the springs of 1991 and 1992), and it's not as if people didn't already fear Florida. They were certainly the most professionally run football program in the SEC at that point, with or without Spurrier.

Spurrier just took an already high-flying program, and took it to the next level ... just like Jimmy Johnson with the Canes.

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From 1983-90, the Gators were arguably the best team in the SEC.

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No; no they weren't. That title has to belong to Auburn.

In that seven year period:

Auburn won four SEC titles
Auburn finished ranked every year except for 1985
Auburn finished ranked in the top 10 ever year except for 1984 and 1985.
Auburn averaged 9.6 wins per season.

Florida won 0 SEC titles
Florida finished ranked only three times ( 1983, 1984, and 1985 to be exact)
Florida finished ranked in the top 10 three times
Florida averaged 7.6 wins per season.

And lastly; Auburn led Florida 4 games to 3 games in the seven times they played that decade.

I don't see how it's even an argument, TBH.

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Florida won 0 SEC titles

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Please.

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In that seven year period

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That's why I gave an 8-year period (1983-90)...

Year, UF Rank, AU Rank
1983, #6, #3
1984, #3, #14
1985, #5, NR
1986, NR, #6
1987, NR, #7
1988, NR, #8
1989, NR, #6
1990, #13, #19

Florida 4-4 against Auburn.

Okay, I concede your point. I didn't realize that Auburn had that many top 10 finishes in the late 80's. Still, the bigger point was that Florida was indeed an SEC powerhouse back then.

If you adjusted the time frame to 1980-90, then UF would look better against Auburn and LSU, but worse against Alabama and Georgia. The SEC was very even at the top back then.

By the time Spurrier was hired, though, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, & Tennessee were already the acknowledged big dogs in the conference, and there was barely much difference amongst them.

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Please

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Hey; they were stripped of or ineligible for those titles. If you are going to count those; go ahead and count 1993 as an SEC Championship for Auburn. I guess that reasoning is bunk; however, because they were still an SEC powerhouse.

But even if you do count those stripped conference titles and count the 1990 season, which would give them 3 conference titles in that period; Auburn still has the better resume.

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The SEC title argument is still ridiculous,

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Count them or not, 4>0 and 4>3.

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and somewhat ironic coming from an Auburn fan given the probation-marred seasons of 1957 and 1993.

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We don't claim anything for 1993; FWIW.

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So what? Does that mean Auburn sucked in 1993 & 1994?

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No; I'd say we were quite good during those years. My original post was merely using SEC Titles as piece of information to suggest that Auburn was a superior program than Florida in your suggested time period. I; myself see actual SEC championships as one good measure of how good a team was during a time period. Florida just happened to be ineligible to recieve any of those SEC titles from those years; just as Auburn in 1993. So; unless you are willing to admit that Auburn is the SEC Champion of 1993; I will not recognize Florida's SEC championships of the 80s and 1990.

I will, however cede(not that it was ever disputed, I might add) that those years were magnificent years for Florida. However, Auburn had years where we easily matched those years in "magnificence" and we accomplished those without having the immense slump in the later part of that decade.

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. It matters not a bit to this argument whether UF's titles during this time were legit or not.

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I understand the argument you are attempting to make and I agree wholeheartedly; I just vehemently disagree that Florida has a case to be considered the premier SEC team of that time period or of the 80s decade. Conference Titles surely count towards comparing programs in regards to which was a better team in that conference.

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In my zeal, I made a rash statement about UF being the best during an 8-year time period without looking at the details. My apologies. But the Gators still kicked some arse back in the day...

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I gotcha.