Did Bin Laden Cost Florida A National Title?

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You gotta love the way no team has ever lost a game legitimately… at least not according to its fans.  The refs stole it.  The other team must’ve paid its players.  The sun got in our guys’ eyes.

Well how ’bout this one: “Osama bin Laden screwed us out of a national title!”

That’s the view of at least one Florida fan who contacted columnist Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel this week.  Here’s the fan’s theory, as told by Bianchi:


The Rex Grossman-led Gators had an open date and were schedule to play Tennessee in the third game of the season in 2001, but then 9/11 happened and the Southeastern Conference made the absolute right decision in cancelling all games that week.  The Florida-Tennessee game was moved to the end of the season — after the Gators’ previously scheduled regular-season final against Florida State. 

The Gators ended up routing Florida State 37-13, but star running back Earnest Graham injured his knee in a much-publicized incident with FSU defensive tackle Darnell Docket…

… Playing without the injured Graham and not entirely focused on Tennessee, the Gators lost 34-32 to the Vols.

If the Gators had beaten Tennessee, they would have advanced to the SEC Championship against LSU.  If they had won that, they would have advanced to the national championship game against Miami in the Rose Bowl.


Instead, Tennessee reached the SEC title game and was upset by Nick Saban’s LSU Tigers, knocking them out of a BCS Championship Game matchup with Miami.  The Hurricanes wound up pummeling Nebraska for the national crown.

What’s laughable about this complaint is that it’s so eerily similar to Tennessee fans’ loudest complaint of the last two decades.  The Gators have won 14 out of 18 against the Volunteers.  That’s 14 out of 17 if you only count those games played in September and dump the ’01 contest from the stat sheet.  As a result, many UT fans have hooted and hollered for the SEC to move the Vol-Gator matchup to the end of the season.  The 2001 game was even used as proof by some that the results of the series would be more even if the game came later in the season each year.

Perhaps both fanbases should simply focus on winning the game and forget about the calendar.  When the two foes meet — be it in September or December — both teams have to take the field and play.

The calendar is simply an excuse used by the losing fans.  Much like this bin Laden assertion.