The Day After

The headline on ESPN.com's College Football home page called it "Insanity Saturday," and that's exactly what is was. Not only did we (#4 Gators) lose to unranked Auburn, #3 Oklahoma lost to unranked Colorado, #7 Texas lost to unranked Kansas State, #10 Rutgers lost to unranked Maryland, #13 Clemson lost to unranked Georgia Tech, #21 Penn State lost to unranked Illinois, and #22 Alabama lost to unranked Florida State. It was a Saturday full of upsets and a Saturday that showcased exactly what college football is all about.

We weren't supposed to lose to Auburn last night. Oklahoma and Texas surely weren't supposed to lose their games. But that's the thing about college football; anything really can happen each and every Saturday. I mean, who in their right mind outside of Boone, North Carolina would have thought that Appalachian State would beat Michigan to open the season? Upsets are a part of the game, one of the things that makes it so great. Sure there are upsets in other sports, but they don't mean as much as in college football. The lack of a playoff system means that every single game matters; there's no chance to make up for it in a tournament like in college basketball.

The thing that kind of bothered me leading up to the Auburn game was that people seemed to have forgotten this about college football. Sooo meany people were soooo sure that we would not only beat Auburn, but we would kill them. They lost to USF and Mississippi State, they said. But they're still Auburn. They're still the team that takes satisfaction in handing us our only loss last season. Having lost those two games meant they came into The Swamp with a chip on their shoulder and something extra to prove. I could tell by the way the came into the stadium for warmups that they were not fazed and were ready to play like the high caliber SEC team that they are. So I guess what I'm saying is that of course I'm upset about what happened last night, but it's something you have to learn to accept as a fan of the game of college football. It sucks that it happened and it really sucks that it was in The Swamp. I think that's what made it worse for a lot of people. We haven't lost in The Swamp since Urban started here. Everyone was in a complete state of shock. It was a while before people in the student section actually started leaving. But now we have to regroup and get ready for the rest of the season. There's still sooo much football left to be played, starting with LSU this Saturday. So, buck up Gator Nation, and remember...In all kinds of weather, We all stick together.