It’s been about ten days now. Time to let what happened fully sink in. It is as bad as we thought. I have been a Gator fan for a long time. I was here for Herschel Walker. I was around for 0-10-1. Suffering huge losses in big games is nothing new to me. The Gators pre-Spurrier made games like Saturday an art form.

But this is the most down after a loss as I’ve seen the Gator Nation. Maybe it’s because a lot of us have never experienced this big of a loss before. Or maybe it’s because it’s been a while since the Gators haven’t come through in a big game. But for me, it’s because of all we lost on Saturday. We lost a chance to go back to back in football. We lost a chance to go back to back in both football and basketball (both in the same decade). We lost the perfect season. At Florida , this is the Great White Whale. It is the only thing FSU, Alabama , Georgia , Miami , and Tennessee still have on us. We also lost the win streak. It was a streak that was within reach of an SEC record. Tim Tebow lost a second Heisman Trophy. When he won his first in his sophomore year, t-shirts were made that said “no longer a question of when, but how many”. The answer to that is now known. There would be no more. And we lost the SEC.

So with all that could have been and to not end up with so much as an SEC Title, I rank this loss as the biggest. Here is my list of the most crushing defeats that I can remember.

1. Alabama in the 2009 SEC Championship game.
2. Florida State in Tallahassee in 1996. It turned out ok in the end but at the time it was a crusher. It looked for all the world we had lost the chance at a national championship.
3. Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl in the 1995 season. All was lost on this night too, except for the SEC.
4. 1980 Georgia game. “Run Lindsay Run” resulted in a perfect season for UGA. It also cost us our first SEC title. This would’ve been especially sweet for a team that didn’t win a game the year prior. And we had them on the ropes.
5. 1994 FSU. Technically not a loss. But it was a crusher. Spurrier had finally beaten the ‘Noles in Tallahassee . Or so we thought. He never would do it. Who knows how ’96 turns out if we won in ’94.
6. 2001 Tennessee . This one is particularly galling. It cost us the SEC East. It also cost us a shot to win the SECCG and play Miami for the BCS. It was rescheduled because of 9/11. We had to play the game the week following FSU. If you recall, Earnest Graham was intentionally hurt by Darnell Dockett and was unable to go against UT. We lost by two points. Going for a two point conversion and a tie at the end of the game, our intended receiver was obviously interfered with. No flag.
7. 1998 Tennessee . We hold them to a FG in OT. Then we don’t score the winning TD. Then we miss the game tying FG. UT goes undefeated. We go to the Orange Bowl.
8. 1994 Auburn . We lose at the Swamp while ranked #1. Auburn scores a TD in the last seconds. We go on to win the SEC, but no shot a the National Title following the Choke at Doak.
9. 1985 Georgia . Our very first #1 ranking. We go to the Gator Bowl and lay an egg. Any loss against Georgia is a killer. This one stung.
10. 2003 FSU. We lost a shot at representing the SEC East in the championship game. This game was stolen. It’s the only game I’ve ever been to that I had serious questions whether it was on the up and up. And exactly how does the SEC let a non conference game decide a conference race?
11. 2003 Miami . Up 33-10 in the 3rd. This game was over. And then Zook works his magic and next thing you know Brock Berlin is doing the Gator Chomp at our fans
12. 2004 Mississippi State . The straw the broke Zook’s back. It turned out great in the end. But at the time it was a killer.
13. 2008 Ole Miss. We should have crushed them. Or so we all thought. Nobody knew that Ole Miss was actually good. Another one that turned out good in the end. But at the time it was bad.
14. 1992 SEC Title Game vs. Alabama . A Shane Matthews pick 6 gives ‘Bama the win. They go on to win the National Title. It was the first ever SECCG. It would’ve been nice to win the first one.
15. 1985 Rutgers . Another game that was not technically a loss. However, like the ’94 FSU game it sure felt like one. Florida pulls the starters with a huge end of the 3rd quarter lead. Rutgers rallies to tie. This could have been worse had we not been on probation. It may have cost us a National Title.
16. 2004 Tennessee . The Dallas Baker penalty game. Some questionable officiating cost us this one. That and Zook’s brilliance.
17. Speaking of Zook’s brilliance, the Outback Bowl vs. Michigan following the 2002 season. The Gators are driving fo a tying score late, Grossman is lighting them up, and we run a double reverse pass where Vernell Brown, a DB, throes a pick.
18. 1991 Sugar Bowl. We had just won our first SEC. Going to the Sugar Bowl was like going to the Super Bowl. We then go out and lose to Notre Dame. We still haven’t had a shot to get even
19. 2006 Auburn . We lost a chance at a perfect season that night. Particularly maddening was they still haven’t scored on our defense.
20. 2005 LSU. We lose despite getting five takeaways. How do you do that?

By: James Folsom