History is bunk, dude.
- Out of the current lineup of 12 SEC teams, all but 4 teams have had at least one undefeated season since 1936 (the start of the AP poll). The first 3 wouldn’t really surprise people. They are Kentucky, Mississippi State, South Carolina. However, the 4th team surprised me. It’s Florida.
- In a similar vein, there has only been 4 teams since 1936 to post a winless overall record since 1936. They are Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina and, surprisingly, Florida. In fact Florida stands alone in one other piece of SEC trivia: they are the only team in the SEC to post more than 1 winless season since 1936.
When you’re looking up at Vandy, I suppose it is better to change the subject. Hey, did you hear about that raise Urban Meyer got this week?
Get The Picture 
Oh, the raise he is required to donate large chunks of back to the university? Curious, huh?
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I was certain that Vandy had never gone undefeated, because I thought I knew that Vandy had never won an SEC championship. But it appears that in 1943, Vanderbilt played a 5-game schedule and won all five games. They played no SEC teams that year. Many member schools didn’t play at all, allowing Tech to capture the title that year by posting victories over LSU, Tulane, and Georgia*.
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In the beginning, there was the Gulf War.
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Amen, Go Gator!
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I’m only 26 and I knew Florida had A. a few winless seasons and B. never gone undefeated. Is this really a shocker to people? Hell, I thought they had 4 overall but that’s probably dating back before ’36
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I hope those WWII victories keep you warm at night. 🙂
I think if you look back as far as the 50s, when modern two squad football was first being played, then UF is very competitive in series with most programs, including Georgia.
Going back farther than that? Not so much.
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Good, by your standards UF’s recent success will expire in about 40-50 years. Can’t wait.
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I’ve yet to hear a decent argument for the conclusion that “the only years that REALLY matter are [fill in the blank].” So either the whole history of a program matters, or none of it matters.
If it ALL matters, then Florida’s still got some catching up to do before it can really be considered the sort of all-time, historical powerhouse that Gator fans already think it is.
And if NONE of it matters, then Florida’s won no more titles than anyone else.
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Historical powerhouse? Who cares?
Which would you rather have for your school (choose one) ?
A. Great success during your lifetime?
B. Great success during your grandfather’s lifetime?
I started at Florida in 1984. (Yeah, I know, old guy blogging). I graduated in 1991 (Law School, don’t snicker). During my college tenure I saw 3 SEC titles, 2 of which were stripped away. I saw, in my last year, the first official title.
Then, as a young alum, I got to see SEC titles in 93′, 94′, 95′ and 96′. I got to travel to the games. I got to see our first “official” MNC in 96′. All by the time I was 31.
2000, 2006 and 2008 saw more SEC titles, and 2 more MNC’s. So in my 25 years as a Gator I’ve seen 8 “official” SEC titles and 3 MNC’s.
Not to shabby.
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As the Zooker said you people think you invented the game.
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That’s ridiculous.
It wasn’t we people, it was Steve Spurrier.
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All I can say is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEjUQ15lyzk
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Like I said, I’ve yet to hear a decent argument for the conclusion that “the only years that REALLY matter are [fill in the blank].”
And for the record, as a Georgia fan, I appreciate knowing that our program has enjoyed great success in both my AND my grandfather’s lifetime.
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Not fair, I said choose one!
But, obviously, we would all want to have both.
Florida does have a winning record over Georgia in my lifetime and, unless you were born in the 1930’s, over your lifetime too. But in “our” life times both have been successful programs.
Interestingly, in my lifetime, Georgia and Florida have nearly the same win-loss records (against all teams) with Georgia having 2 more wins (362-360).
Since 1906 (UF’s first season) Georgia has a winning percentage edge of 0.6585 to 0.62773 with our teams being ranked 12th and 17th overall, respectively.
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“Historical powerhouse? Who cares?”
YEAH MAN PEPSI TEBOW AWSUM!!!!!
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Not sure exactly what that means.
But if you want to talk history, the most successful team ever is Princeton, holder of 24 recognized National Championships. Yale is second with 19.
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As much as it pains me to agree with a Gator, I’m with you on this.
It’s always struck me as incredibly silly when schools like Michigan and Tech point to MNCs won in the 1910’s and 1920’s to emphasize the the “prestige” and historical greatness of their programs. Early football is not modern football, and the fact that the Ivey League schools were the major powerhouses of the era tells us all we need to know.
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Why? They were the best teams back them. Just because they aren’t today doesn’t diminish what they were back then.
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… Because if some Princeton or Yale grad came up to you today and started yapping away about their school’s history and “prestige” in football, you’d laugh in their face.
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I loathe the gators as much as any ‘Dawg fan but find it hard to rip on a team that has basically owned us the past several years. It burns me to no end to see how they’ve managed to be so successful since Spurrier arrived. I recall Bear Bryant referred to them as a sleeping giant many years ago. I still find some solace in the fact we still lead the all-time series but at some point we’ve just got to start beating them in the actual game. I feel like I scream insecurity when trying to insinuate they are a weak program. Let’s just focus on their fashion sense(less) and off the field issues until we actually win. Ugh, that was painful.
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