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re: This year marks the 25th anniversary of the 2001 college football season...
Posted on 7/20/26 at 1:39 pm to RollTide1987
Posted on 7/20/26 at 1:39 pm to RollTide1987
South Carolina and Miss. St. played the first game back after 9/11, on a Thursday night. Surreal experience.
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Posted on 7/20/26 at 1:43 pm to Brisketeer
quote:
Arguing against '95 Nebraska? Troll much?
I will argue against most anything, including positions I ultimately support. I enjoy it. It’s why I come to message boards.
Unfortunately, all anyone ever says is, “1995 Nebraska! They were great and awesome!”
No one discusses the context of seasons or personnel matchups compared to other all-time great teams.
It’s like winning 12 games and facing four “top ten” teams with 0 first round draft picks and 4 Top 100 players is just as difficult as winning 15 games and facing five “top ten” teams with 11 first round draft picks and 25 Top 100 players.
That’s a totally invalid observation, though, because it’s “1995 Nebraska! They were great and awesome!”
And that 1995 #9 Kansas team in Memorial Stadium (that was in the middle of a 35 game losing streak to the Huskers) was every bit as challenging as the 2019 #9 Alabama team at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
You betcha.
Posted on 7/20/26 at 2:10 pm to RollTide1987
quote:
And then came the postponed game against the Tennessee Volunteers where, in a game for the ages, the fifth ranked men from Knoxville upset Florida by the score of 34-32. Had that game been played in September as originally scheduled I think Florida wins.
In Gainesville in September is typically brutal.
The day they were originally scheduled to play, the temperature wasn't too high...but there were thunderstorms passing through with 30 mph wind gusts.
When they played in December, the high temperature was about the same as it was on the September date (High 70s) but zero rain and wind was negligible.
When they played in December, it was much better for a passing team than it would have been in September. In the December game, Florida had 371 yards passing and 67 yards rushing. Tennessee had 168 yards passing and 242 yards rushing. The weather in September would seem to favor Tennessee's offense over Florida's.
September 15, 2001
High Temp - 75
Low Temp - 64
Rain - 0.1in (3:20am - 8:35am)
Wind - Max Sustained (24mph); Max Gust (31mph)
December 1, 2001
High Temp - 78
Low Temp - 58
Rain - 0.0
Wind - Max Sustained (7mph); Max Gust (None)
Note...Sustained Wind is speed over a 2 minute period. Gusts are brief sudden increases lasting for less than 20 seconds.
That being said, had they played in September...Earnest Graham would have been healthy. He was up and down that season with Georgia being the only opponent he would surpass 100 yards against.
Posted on 7/20/26 at 5:32 pm to madmaxvol
I don’t think UF has any valid excuses for 2001. Playing UT late in the year (well after teams have had time to break in new starters and gel) was all the more reason to have won that game.
Posted on 7/20/26 at 8:17 pm to Pimphand
quote:
Later that day Colorado headed down to rematch against Texas in the B12 CCG which was made famous by idiotbox Mack Brown putting Chris Simms back in the game despite having thrown four INT needless to say trash was thrown on the field and alcohol sales were stopped but at least Major Applewhite came in and nearly brought us back but ultimately lost 37-39.
An absolutely crazy end to the season. The Tennessee-Florida game is one of the most entertaining SEC games I can think of, and it ended shortly before Texas and Colorado kicked off. Florida’s loss meant Texas would head to Pasadena with a win.
Posted on 7/21/26 at 7:31 am to Globetrotter747
quote:
I don’t think UF has any valid excuses for 2001. Playing UT late in the year (well after teams have had time to break in new starters and gel) was all the more reason to have won that game.
I think two consecutive blowout wins over ranked teams (their most recent being a 24 point win over Florida State) and being an 18 point favorite hurt Florida, as well. Their only loss at that point had been on the road at Auburn where a 45 yard FG in the last 10 seconds decided the game. If they win this game, they go to the SEC Championship game to play an LSU team they had beaten by nearly 30 points earlier in the season...then it's off to the National Championship game to face Miami in the Rose Bowl. I think the chickens had already been counted before the eggs hatched.
Posted on 7/21/26 at 7:43 am to AlwysATgr
Finally, for a team that wasn't physical, they sure beat the heck out of a lot of teams that ostensibly were.
Not being physical kinda allowed that, almost every team in the sec ran the ball 80% of the time. Most every defense was built to stop the run. Spurrier called pass plays 50% of his snaps(unheard of in the early to mid nineties). Conference opponents were at a disadvantage. Teams that couldn’t recruit studs at every position often just focused on stopping the run. Spurrier went off on those teams.
Not being physical kinda allowed that, almost every team in the sec ran the ball 80% of the time. Most every defense was built to stop the run. Spurrier called pass plays 50% of his snaps(unheard of in the early to mid nineties). Conference opponents were at a disadvantage. Teams that couldn’t recruit studs at every position often just focused on stopping the run. Spurrier went off on those teams.
Posted on 7/21/26 at 7:52 am to RollTide1987
they beat 5 ranked teams... the highest ranked was 15th. Am I missing something here?
Posted on 7/21/26 at 8:01 am to JamalMurry27
quote:
Hard to say if they played in September Florida wins
Not really. In mid-September, Tennessee wasn’t close to the team it became by December. If the game had been played as originally scheduled, Donte Stallworth wouldn’t have played because of a broken wrist, and John Henderson probably would have missed the game with an ankle injury. Kelly Washington had hardly played that early in his freshman season, and Casey Clausen was pretty mediocre early in 2001. Florida would have won the game handily if it had been played in September.
Posted on 7/21/26 at 10:30 am to Cockeee Don
quote:
South Carolina and Miss. St. played the first game back after 9/11, on a Thursday night. Surreal experience.
South Carolina won 16-14. Gamecocks recovered MSU's onside kick with under a minute to play to end their comeback bid.
There hasn't been a weekend since that season where every college football game was cancelled. I remember the 11th was on a Tuesday.
This post was edited on 7/21/26 at 10:32 am
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