so Florida as we have known for months now has an opportunity right that's the way I want to talk about this I understand the Florida and I we got some stuff that we got to work out all right number one you got Sanford on the schedule but we gonna Overlook that because well it's the SEC and that's what you do you you put FCS opponents on the schedule from time to time but that is because playing in the SEC is really difficult I think the same could be said at the Big 10 but Florida has a unique opportunity in that they are facing one of the toughest schedules in modern football according to rankings and yes rankings do matter you know how why rankings matter because when your team ain't ranked you got something to say about it when your team ain't ranked High you got something to say about it when you think that you are being underestimated you got something to say about it now Scott Strickland athletic director of Florida ain't never been afraid of putting people on the schedule however when they put this schedule together about five years ago I don't think that he expect Oklahoma and Texas to feature as a part of the SEC and Sh as hell didn't expect divisions to go away and didn't have to contend with say a real strong SEC West now it's a strong schedule and I want to get to why basically looking at my rankings look at the coaches poll rankings and what we think are going to be the AP rankings because the AP poll is pretty straightforward right we we respect the AP and even as people want to say I don't want to hear about no rankings till the college football playoff election committee wants to put out rankings and then you going to argue about those two right uh but that's kind of what we do because it also gives us a really good indicator of what games are important and that's how you determine what you're watching on Saturdays aside from your team you gonna be watching the the game that we think is most important and there's nothing that is better at signifying importance than putting a number next to somebody's name the lower the number the better the team real simple so 2011 I'm reminded that LSU they they played one hell of a schedule uh and then turned out be pretty pretty okay for them now I'm also thinking about 2014 Arkansas which I think had like six opponents ranked inside the top 10 That season start and not a lot of them finish that way but 2011 uh LSU kind of pops out in my mind because that 2011 LSU team was well really really damn good and that Alabama team was really really damn good and we're always going to talk about 2011 season 2011 LSU as being one of those teams that we enjoy however as I'm looking at this they beat uh a number three Oregon the Northwestern State was their Sanford Mississippi state was 25 at the time West Virginia 16 Alabama was two and then Arkansas was three that's what made that schedule ridiculous is that Arkansas was amazing in 2011 Bobby petrino's best season at Arkansas he's back at Arkansas as the offense play caller and then I'm thinking about 2019 Auburn which also had a pretty damn tough schedule and they didn't do too well against it they got a win against a number 11 Oregon then they played two lane got the win K State got the win A&M was 17 they beat them Mississippi State Florida was 10 they took an L there Aransas LSU was two they took an L there uh Old Miss they got a win and then Georgia was five they took an L there they beat Sanford and then beat a number five ranked Alabama in the Iron Bowl Gus maon um still damn doing it back then uh and I can't wait to see what central Florida's going to look like because well they're kind of on the schedule when you're taking a look at what Florida's got uh because Florida has eight teams on its schedule that featured in the coaches poll top 25 they got number one Georgia they got number four Texas they got number six Old Miss they got number 10 Florida State so off top one-third of Florida's schedule is ranked in the top 10 then they got number 12 LSU number 15 Tennessee number 19 Miami and number 20 Texas A&M that means twoth thirs of their schedule is ranked inside the top 20 of the coaches poll now we can argue about how the coaches poll is doing its rankings but I think for the most part we're going to agree on most right I I even would go as far as to say 23 out of 25 most of us are going to be on board with uh if not all 25 right but I'm also going is this the toughest schedule that college football has ever seen it's great place to start a conversation because well no it's not because 1899 Swani still exists and 1899 Swani got all to smoke wanted all to smoke ran the table 12 and0 didn't play a single damn home game 1899 wani right going to be up there with 1945 Army and 1995 Nebraska 2018 Clemson 2019 LSU is one of the greatest college football teams that has ever existed if not the greatest college football team that has ever existed for all you Swani alumni that watch this here Channel and this here show I appreciate you all all all ghost all ghost of you I appreciate y'all tell Casper I said what's up and how it's going and we're going to pour one out for him try to get Christina RI back into that comeback for him because I know that I'm not the only person that misses that particular Casper but as I was saying I think that Florida has a unique opportunity and I think Florida has a unique opportunity because I was thinking about who's the last program to have a schedule this stacked that also ended up meeting the challenge now on the one hand fans want to win football games on the other hand fans want to see great football games and both of those things are true Florida's already sold 7,000 more tickets this year than they did last year based entirely on the schedule same thing is true at basically at Purdue who was 4 and8 last year but their schedule is so stacked especially at home that they've already sold more season tickets than they have since 2007 in one single sitting so as I'm looking at the schedule and I was trying to do rack my brain about who I thought was good I was reminded that 2002 USC is the program that we should be looking at for Florida to emulate uh if and when it goes that way because 2002 USC faced a schedule that that was made up of entirely what are known as power Conference teams now which is on its face ridiculous right but if you're taking a look at it and we're counting Notre Dame as a power Conference team for the sake of this you're talking about eight of those teams were ranked at the time of that they played USC five of them finished in the top 20 and then in the final AP we also had five of them finish uh in the top 20 the only one that didn't have a winning record at end with Stanford and we're talking about a Trojans team that finished 11- two was the breakout year for Pete Carroll and began the dynasty I guess when we're talking about greatest college football teams of all time we got to put 2004 SC in there I can't do 05 because you know y'all went and lost to Vince Young in Texas in in the rad Bowl but you understand what I mean here like it could be disastrous for Florida it could also be outstanding for Florida especially in the college football playoff going to 12 teams because we're getting to a space where I think we're going to get to 16 before long I think we're locked in at 12 through the the $7.8 billion contract that is uh the college football playoff for perspective here guys I just I need to because everybody wants to talk about money and and don't like these kids making any the Olympics goes to NBC for 72 7.2 billion they got got it through uh the next two Olympics 7.8 for the college football playoff come on now the college football playoff is more valuable than the Olympics hello going to put that out there but the only way this is a downside is if your name is Billy Napier because this this is a make or break year for you dog like I hate to put it that way but you gonna put it all on Graham Merz to go make it do what it do baby against this now Kudos Bill and apier and Scott Strickland for that matter for not saying uh why did we do this to ourselves but embracing the challenge but what the hell else you g to do you g to moan and complain as you got to go face this I I think also as we're getting closer to the 12 team and 16 team playoff strength schedule is going to have to factor it just is um if you didn't play Nobody and you're a two- loss team maybe you're not getting in if you played this schedule and maybe you're nine and three we're probably going to give Florida the benefit of the doubt of being a tough football team but that said that that that's a lot that's a lot to ask over there I mean you got the defending Big 12 champion on your schedule right an SEC Championship contender in Texas you got two of the last three national champions in number one Georgia you got a Tennessee team that is proven they can give you the what four in the H now if your name is Alabama if your name is Clemson uh they can give it to you 19 Miami we're not quite sure what they're going to be but they're tough A&M same difference we're not quite sure what they're going to be but you know aanu tends to be Tech tough and Mississippi Mississippi's coming off their best season ever in as far as win tallies and they're trying to do what you've done which is win an SEC Championship I think if we're talking about Florida from the perspective of 2002 USC which is how I choose to enter the conversation I think this is a great thing I really do I I think that you could end up right where they were usfc ended up in an Orange Bowl won 11 games prove to everybody that no no no we coming and we going to be here for a while that is how Legend is born that is how great coaches become head coaches I'm about that 2002 staff or even 2015 Alabama staff for that matter all these guys have an opportunity every last one of them all these guys have the chance to be the first team worth remembering since Tim TBO played quarterback at Florida spend some time now no disrespect to Dan Mullen no disrespect to to what they were doing out there but I tend to look at this schedule and I say y'all run through this and y'all make the playoff you gonna be even money to win the national champ ship because nobody's going to go through the meat grinder of this thing quite like y'all are going to go through the meat grinder this thing and at a year where you can afford to take two or three losses with this schedule because of the 12 team playoff I really really really want to see Florida perform to its level in this schedule let's find out just how good they are and then let's use that as a way to find out just how good college football