To your first point , yes fsu and um were a force. But we didn’t play miami(fortunately) and lost to fsu in 5 of our first 8 tries. The only difference between them and Alabama now is that we could, and did, lose to the noles and still win our conference, giving us a title. That’s no longer the case. If fsu had joined the SECEast, we would’ve won the conference in ‘91 and ‘95 during Spurrier’s entire 12 years. That’s reality.
Also, while you are correct on miami and fsu with respect to recruiting, remember the canes went under investigation in ‘93(?) and we were the beneficiary with guys like Reidel and other PB/Br/Dade guys. They went on probation and were down for about 5 years. So when we were at our best, the canes just so happened to be relatively down. That’s not a coincidence.
As far as the schedule, it’s certainly different now, but I don’t see it really as any weaker. During Spurrier’s tenure, fsu and ut were stronger than they are now obviously. But uga was weaker and Lsu was a joke. And when we made Atl, we never got an Alabama team like the one we’ll be facing next week. There’s a reason Ark(twice), Auburn(twice), and Msu all made appearances as the West winner during the first 15 years. So no, I don’t think anyone is ok with just winning the East. But if we do end up losing to the best team we face this season, it won’t be any different than 7 of Spurrier’s 12 years. We simply won’t have a title to go with it. But back then, while we could claim the SEC, often times we were the third best team in our own state. It’s not better or worse. It’s just a different time.
