- Feb 28, 2021
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Tonight's the 15th anniversary of 41-14.
All these memories are making me very hungry for another championship.
All these memories are making me very hungry for another championship.
41-14: 15th Anniversary
- Thread starter LaylaGator
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- Jun 22, 2014
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A good friend of mine had a bumper sticker that said "Honk if you sacked Troy Smith." Haha
- Dec 31, 2018
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2006 was in some ways more enjoyable for me; in my office at the time were a couple of Meatchicken fans who razzed me for days before the game about how UF didn’t belong in the game and it should have been a meatchicken bucknutz rematch and the Gators were going to be crushed. It was so much fun going in the office the next day! (I confess to being a little worried after the opening kick off.)
- Jun 22, 2014
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- Jul 30, 2014
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Stationed in Cleveland and surrounded by a bunch of bucknut snobs. What a fantastic Tue morning when all the yappers were completely silent.
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- Dec 31, 2018
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I recall realizing very early on that the tOSU offense was in shock - you could see it in their faces; playing in the Big 10, they had never seen d-lineman that fast.
- Jun 9, 2014
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For me it’s a tossup between 1996 and 2006, although they didn’t feel at all the same. The animosity I felt for FSU, fueled by all the late hits during the loss in Tallahassee, almost overshadowed the fact that it was a de facto national championship. You could feel the tension going into that game. I hated Bowden, I hated Peter Boulware and I wanted to clock Mickey Andrews. The thug.
The 2006 title felt very very different. We came out of seemingly nowhere to land a spot in that game and few people gave us a shot at winning. When Ginn returned the opening kick for a score, I wondered if it was going to be another one of those deflating desert evenings like years earlier against Nebraska. The blowout win and how we chased Troy Smith all the way back to Columbus, to me, felt like a huge gift coming down from the heavens. I celebrated big during and after that one.
2008? That was a powerful Florida team that essentially took care of business. That’s how it felt. As close to meh as a national title was ever going to feel.
The 2006 title felt very very different. We came out of seemingly nowhere to land a spot in that game and few people gave us a shot at winning. When Ginn returned the opening kick for a score, I wondered if it was going to be another one of those deflating desert evenings like years earlier against Nebraska. The blowout win and how we chased Troy Smith all the way back to Columbus, to me, felt like a huge gift coming down from the heavens. I celebrated big during and after that one.
2008? That was a powerful Florida team that essentially took care of business. That’s how it felt. As close to meh as a national title was ever going to feel.
- Jun 19, 2014
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I was there for that one too. Very different. The Bucknuts thought it was a coronation of the greatest team in college football history. They knew they were going loooong before we did. They bought up every available ticket. Pretty much the only Gators in attendance got tickets from the UF allotment. The rest were all gone. It was the first game I ever attended that people were offering $1,000 for a scalped ticket and there were none for sale.
It was shortly before that I started reading message boards and I remember being flooded with the most arrogant and condescending Bucknuts fans for weeks leading up to the game. All we kept hearing about was Ted Ginn's speed, how they beat Miami, and the body fat percentage of one of their DL. I never witnessed a deluge of opposing fans like that before or since.
When we got to Arizona, we were completely outnumbered. They were "nice" enough, they'd buy us drinks to apologize in advance for the monumental ass-whipping they were going to give us at the game. They would patiently explain to me (like was a 5 year old) why this was the greatest offense in the history of college football, that we were going to witness history on the 8th. I responded (politely) that this wasn't a good Gator defense, it was a GREAT Gator defense. They might win, but I couldn't imagine anybody running up the score on that Gator defense. They'd smile like I was a retarded kid and explain that the Miami team they beat was supposed to be the best and the fastest and blah blah blah. Also, even if I wouldn't get to enjoy the game very much, I'd have the pleasure of witnessing their incredible band perform, and I should make sure to take a picture of the dotting of the "i". This is the level of arrogance and condescension from all of them. It was to be a coronation feast, and we were the lamb. It was bizarre.
When we got to the stadium, all we saw were Buckeye cars and tailgates. Rows and rows of scarlet with just a spot of orange and blue here or there. We drove around for a while before we found some Gators we could park next to. It was an overwhelming, disconcerting sense of being surrounded by the enemy.
In the stadium it was a little better, maybe 4 or 5 to 1. It still felt like a home game for them. When Ginn ran the opening kick back for a TD I told everybody not to worry, it was coming back. RFN got blocked in the back. No flag. Well sh!t. For a brief moment, I started doubting myself and my team. Then we scored. I breathed a sigh of relief. They had some success running the ball early on. Don't be fooled by the "82 yards of total offense", that subtracts all the negative sack yardage from their running total. If they had stuck with it, the game would have been closer. At least a little closer. Problem is, Tressel panicked. He looked like a deer in the headlights. The game was over when he went for it on 4th down early. The rout was on.
It was glorious. Maybe not as glorious as 1996, but glorious nonetheless.
One of the things I did a few days after the game was go on Warchant and read their game thread. It was fantastic. At first, they were all talking about celebrating a beating, like Nebraska. They wanted to revel in an embarrassing Gator blow-out. They were making score predictions and hoping tOSU would hang 70 on us. They were delirious with joy after Ginn's TD. The game was so fresh in my memory, I could replay it in my head as I read on. I knew exactly which plays they were reacting to. The mood soon soured. They couldn't believe their eyes. Our offense was inept for much of 2006. We didn't really start clicking on O until the very end of the season. They were incredulous, then despondent. You could track their journey through the 5 stages of grief in real time. It was one of the most satisfying game threads I've ever read.
Somebody made shirts after the game--
"...and on the 8th day, he turned the desert into swamp"
I wish I had one of those shirts.
Alex.
- Jun 11, 2014
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- Jun 22, 2014
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Remember all the memes with #30 (Moss?) sacking everything?
Good times.
If you ain't a Gator, you must be Gator bait!
Good times.
If you ain't a Gator, you must be Gator bait!
