This was also written in October of 2006, when I was writing for an SEC Sports website, before I knew of the Gator glory to come.
The SEC has once again beaten itself down, leaving no undefeated teams in college football’s greatest conference. By this point Florida loyalists have all canceled our hotels rooms in Arizona, for the mighty Gators fell hard last Saturday night on the plains of Auburn. Short of some very surprising football games around the league to finish out the season, and a miracle in the voting system, the crystal football is not headed south after January 8th.
Some curses you just can’t break, not this year anyhow. In the 94-year existence of this rivalry, Florida has never headed into Auburn undefeated and come back with a win. They’re also the 4th team ranked #2 in the AP Top 25 to lose this season. Yes, the 7th installation of the 2006 Gator gauntlet ended the best start the team has seen since 1996, and what a great year it would have been to repeat. I realize this is not news to anyone by now, but it’s the first time I could get into it without feeling a repellent combination rage and heartbreak. So maybe that’s a bit overly dramatic? Well, Gator fans never claimed to be gracious losers. It’s like a birthright for a true Florida fan to be a sore loser/get violently angry/scream obscenities at your best friends and family who happen to not be Florida fans, even if you happened to talk a big game about the big game.
However, the Auburn Tigers War Damn Eagle I can’t pick a single mascot ad nauseam… Yeah, they kicked it up a notch from the less than impressive performances they gave in the two weeks leading up to the Florida game. They had a lot to save face from, heading into last weekend. There’s the obvious loss of their #2 spot to the unranked Razorbacks on October 7. Then, there’s the last time they faced Florida in 2002 when Bobby McCray forced overtime by blocking Damon Duval’s field goal with 30 seconds remaining in regulation. In OT, Grossman hit Taylor Jacobs with a 25-yard TD pass on UF’s first possession. Then, Ian Scott’s fumble recovery sealed the deal on Florida’s first-ever OT win in this series. That was a loud day in the Swamp, up there with the loudest I’ve ever heard Ben Hill Griffin get.
However, none of that matters now. It’s all in the past, just like Florida’s dreams of a national title this year. And though the Gators’s defense might have taunted Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox by breaking up four passes and racking up five sacks, it was Auburn who stopped Florida when it really counted: the second half. The Gators couldn’t move, and Auburn scored 19 unanswered points.
Leak did not bring his A-game to the second half. The first major blow in a crushing, kiss-of-death succession of mistakes killed the Gator’s hopes for even a go-ahead field goal, as Leak fumbled deep in Auburn’s territory. Then Eric Brock’s interception set up John Vaughn’s fourth field goal of the evening, which was a fair representation of Auburn’s scoring all night long. The Tigers managed to pull off the win without scoring a single offensive touchdown. With a score of 21-17, a glimmer of hope even after three incompletions, and 31 seconds left on the game clock, Leak hit Dallas Baker across the middle, Baker lateraled to Jarred Fayson, whose own lateral turned into yet another fumble for the Gators. This one recovered by Tigers defensive back Patrick Lee who rushed 20 yards right into the end zone, rubbing salt in the wound of the imminent Florida loss.
It’s a good thing we have a week off followed by Florida/Georgia on neutral ground in Jacksonville. Leak was booed in the Swamp a few weeks back for merely coming out on the field in the second half instead of golden boy Tebow. While I strongly disapprove of the classless behavior shown by Gator fans that day, I can imagine our four-year starter-Heisman-candidate senior wouldn’t have received too warm of a welcome back in the Swamp if we had a game this weekend. Looking forward, let’s just hope Georgia doesn’t decide they have something to prove in two weeks.
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