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College Football Playoff: Making the Case for Florida

By John Richardson

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While one-loss Alabama continues to get the benefit of the doubt, one-loss Florida continues to get pushed further down the rankings.

Southbound and Down gave you the quick hits yesterday on all of the contenders for a birth in the College Football Playoff.  Included in that list was the Florida Gators.  It appears, though, that the College Football Playoff Committee would rather not see them on any list of contenders.

Why?  Despite winning another game, the Florida Gators dropped from 8th in week 11 rankings all the way to 12th in the week 12 rankings.   The committee sent a strong message that the eye test is the most important of all the criteria in order to receive a higher ranking.  Of course, we already told you that was the case when we explained why the Alabama Crimson Tide cruised to the #2 spot in the rankings.

The case against Florida is easy.  They needed overtime to beat 2-win Florida Atlantic, failed to impress against a South Carolina team that lost to The Citadel, barely squaked by Vanderbilt and their loss to LSU continues to look worse and worse as LSU keeps losing and losing.

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To top it all off, the Gators have looked absolutely Muschamp-ish on offense since Will Grier was suspended.  The defense continues to play at a high level, but no one considers Florida a threat with the current state of their offense.

But what about the case to be made for the Florida Gators?

The Gators have a formula that should get them in the playoff and it is actually quite simple.  You ready?  Win.  Win and you’re in.  If the Florida Gators can beat Florida State and Alabama/Ole Miss in the SEC Championship Game, they should be in the College Football Playoff.

I don’t care how bad they have looked.  I don’t care if they pass the eye test.  If Florida can get through the gauntlet that is the SEC with only one loss, there is no way 4 teams in the country have a stronger resume than they do.

If the Gators win their final two games, they would have wins over the SEC West Champion, Florida State, Georgia, Tennessee and Ole Miss.  Their only loss on the season would be in Death Valley immediately after discovering their stud quarterback was out for the year.

Be my guest.  Top that resume.

Next: The SEC West: The Deepest Division in College Football

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