Gator Bowl Preview: Florida vs Ohio State

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (6-6, 3-5 in the Big Ten)

Most Impressive Victory: 33-29 over then-#15 Wisconsin

Worst Loss: 34-27 to then-#14 Nebraska

Notable Alumni: Archie Griffin, Eddie George, Troy Smith

It figured to be a rougher than usual year for Ohio State, given the offseason of scandal that led to Jim Tressel’s unceremonious departure, Terrelle Pryor’s suspension (then departure for the NFL Draft), and suspensions for several other key players (including WR DeVier Posey and RB Boom Herron).  Even so, a 6-6 regular season was still jarring after the way the Buckeyes had manhandled the Big Ten for the past decade.  After a rocky start led to a 3-3 record, Ohio State got things together (at the same time that several star players returned from suspension, not coincidentally) and strung together three straight wins, including a dramatic last second win over Wisconsin.  But the bottom fell out again shortly after that and they wound up losing their final three games of the season, capped off by their first loss to Michigan in seven years. 

As rough as the season was, though, Ohio State has been killing the offseason in most respects.  They landed the top coaching candidate on the market (Urban Meyer) and grabbed multiple big-time recruits, including several from fellow Big Ten programs.  (Those NCAA sanctions that include a one year bowl ban were not such good news, of course.)  With Urban Meyer and his new staff out snatching as many elite recruits as they can, this game represents the end of the short, unlikely-to-be-lamented Luke Fickell Era.  We’ll have to wait nine months to see what Braxton Miller can do in Urban Meyer’s offense, but in the meantime it should still be fun to watch him try to run circles around the Gator defense.

FLORIDA GATORS (6-6, 3-5 in the SEC)

Most Impressive Victory: 26-21 over Vanderbilt

Worst Loss: 17-6 to then-#24 Auburn

Notable Alumni: Tim Tebow, Steve Spurrier, Emmitt Smith

Much like Ohio State’s 2011 season, this figured to be a rebuilding campaign for Florida: replacing Urban Meyer, implementing a completely different offense, dealing with the subsequent personnel turnover, etc.  But still: 6-6?  Florida?  That just doesn’t seem right.  Even with an admittedly brutal schedule — they played four straight ranked teams, including LSU and Alabama back-to-back — you still don’t expect Florida to lose that many games.  But lose them they did, which is why they’re starting the New Year in the Gator Bowl instead of a more prestigious bowl.

The biggest culprit for Florida’s blah 2011 season was the underachieving offense.  The Florida offense has been on a steady decline since the boffo numbers it put up in the early Tebow years, but it managed to sink to new depths this season.  They ranked 86th in the nation in passing offense and 74th in the nation in rushing offense and finished with 12 or fewer points in five games.  Charlie Weis and his famed “decided schematic advantage” didn’t exactly help out John Brantley and the rest of Florida’s offensive players too much, so they probably weren’t too sad to see him bolt to Kansas.  There’s almost nowhere but up for their offense to go, but that change likely won’t happen overnight.

THE PICKS:

Ross: There’s no shortage of storylines for this game — Urban Meyer, the 2007 BCS National Champtionship Game, the usual B1G-SEC rivalry  — but this is one of those games, like this year’s Champs Sports Bowl (Florida State-Notre Dame) or last year’s Sun Bowl (Notre Dame-Miami), where the quality of the brand names involved in the game figures to dwarf the actual quality of the game itself.  Neither of these teams were very good, both are very flawed, and there’s a distinct possibility this will be an ugly mess.  But Ohio State seems slightly more excited to prove something with Meyer coming aboard — and they have the best offensive players on the field in Herron and Miller.  That should be enough. 

OHIO STATE 17, FLORIDA 13

Kevin: All of the history points to Florida winning this game. I mean it’s the Big Ten and Ohio State against the SEC. Unless Ohio State is playing ineligible players they can’t win, can they? I think they can. Not really because of themselves but because of Florida. The Gators are a mess and they lost their Offensive Coordinator (which is a good think in the long run but a bad thing in the short run). Don’t bet on this game but give me Braxton Miller and the Buckeyes.

Ohio State 24 Florida 16