Florida's Victory Sends A Message To The Big 10 And The Nation

Florida's victory Monday night over Ohio State was a shocker to most everyone, except those living in the nine Southeastern Conference states. For those of us below the Mason-Dixon line, it was validation. In an era where Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso have way too much influence, Monday night was a match-up of our brand of football versus theirs. Speed versus Size. North versus South.

And it wasn't even close. It was hard to find anyone around Auburn, Alabama that wasn't pulling for the Gators on Monday. That's saying a lot. Florida was one of Auburn's biggest rivals for more than 80 years before conference realignment wrecked their annual meetings.

But Auburn fans, like most all other SEC fans, knew this game was more than Florida versus Ohio State. This game was for respect - national respect. All season we listened to the "experts" talk about Ohio State, Michigan, USC and even Notre Dame. Little national respect was given to Auburn, Florida, Georgia or LSU. They were good teams, but those northern schools had the entire package according to the writers and sportscasters.

Within minutes of Florida's complete annihilation of Ohio State, ESPN's Lee Corso was blaming the loss on the layoff the Buckeyes had between games. Fifty days was just too much he said. Never mind that Florida had 30 days off. What's the difference in a month off and a month and a half? It was a downright stupid comment. No, make that ignorant.

Florida won the game because it played an SEC schedule with at least three teams on it that were better than Ohio State. Yes, I said better. They won the game because SEC lineman run like Big 10 running backs. They won because they played better competition throughout the season and then had a month to get healthy.

Matching a top tier SEC school against a top tier Big 10 school will almost always go the SEC's way. Don't believe me? Then why has Ohio State never beaten an SEC team in a bowl game?

The truth is, the SEC and the Pac 10 are the elite conferences in America today. There's no comparison. The Big 10 and Big 12 have yet to catch up. That's why it's infuriating to fans when ESPN plays up Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame (they might as well be in the Big 10) on a yearly basis.

Besides establishing the SEC as the undisputed conference in America, the game also once and for all showed why there needs to be a playoff. If not for UCLA, Florida would never have gotten a chance to play the Buckeyes. It took a major upset of USC just to get a seat at the table. That rings familiar to the 2004 Auburn Tigers.

The three darlings of the national media this season, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame lost their bowl games by a combined score of 114-46. That's a 68 point difference if you're keeping score at home.

So does Florida's win gain the SEC new respect heading into next season? The answer is not likely. Just like Corso's excuses, the Worldwide Leader will continue to tout the North and the Heartland. The SEC will continue to need luck on its side to get a shot at the title. How can something so easy to fix be so hard to implement?