Ohio State Buckeye fan’s worst fears were confirmed Saturday as Thad Matta and his traveling sideshow, Greg Oden, came to Gainesville for what many perceived to be prelude to the B.C.S national championship game.  If the football game provides the same result, Ohio State fans should be heading back to Columbus with their collective  tails between their legs.

The atmosphere in Gainesville was electric, Gator fans clearly understanding what a victory would mean for the campus.  The only available tickets outside the O’Connell Center were being scalped for $200 apiece, as this game was played in front of a sell-out crowd of 12,621, the largest ever in the building.  Fans fortunate enough to be inside the raucous arena were witness to the Gators finest performance since their beat-down of UCLA in last year’s championship game.

Hampered by a high ankle sprain earlier in the week and originally scratched from the lineup, Al Horford, Florida’s most dominant power forward since Udonis Haslem, made his presence known early and often, particularly on the defensive end of the floor.  Burdened with the task of covering Oden the majority of the time, Horford held the man-child to 6 points in the first half, going scoreless himself but grabbing six rebounds.  In the second half, however, the Gators proved to much for Oden and the Buckeyes.  A competitive first half turned into a second half rout, at one point featuring a 31-7 Gator run.  UF shot 74% from the floor in that half, while holding the Buckeyes to 36% for the game.

Gators got solid guard play out of Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey, who set the tone early, scoring seven and ten points respectively in the first half.  Florida guards were able to penetrate, as well as hit the outside jumpers effectively to keep Ohio State on their toes.  But in the second half, when Horford stepped outside to hit a couple of fifteen-foot jump shots, the Gator versatility proved to much for Matta and his fab freshman to handle.  UF out-rebounded OSU by 17.

As was their plan, Florida kept going after Oden, who was held to one point in the second half.  Oden did make his presence felt, blocking four shots, two on one possession, but saw effective  double and triple-teams in the second half.  The Gators limited OSU on the offensive glass for most of the game, as the Buckeyes were often held to one shot per possession.  Any missed shots led to UF fastbreaks, which OSU’s transition defense was unable to contain.  The ability of the Gator big men to push the ball up the floor at a frenetic pace also provided a mismatch for Oden, as he appeared winded at several moments of the game.

The Gators returned to their championship form and now the campus awaits to see if they can make it a clean Buckeye sweep, leading Florida to potential, consecutive championships in both major sports.

As we sat in Atlanta and paced..... and paced.... and paced some more, waiting impatiently for the announcement, I objectively tried to find ONE legitimate argument that would give Michigan the nod over Florida in the Championship Game.  And I couldn't do it.

Certainly, Michigan had a (slightly) higher ranking than Florida going into the weekend, but when USC lost to UCLA, those remaining votes had to go somewhere, and the Southeastern Conference champion was given the nod.  And rightfully so.

In the end, two main factors gave the Gators their shot at the national title.  First, they played a more difficult schedule, including ten bowl teams on their schedule (as opposed to seven for Michigan) and a brutal stretch of six consecutive games against bowl teams in September and October.  Secondly, and this cannot be argued.  They won their conference championship in what's arguably considered the college football's best conference this year.

Let's now dispell some of the rather flimsy arguments that I've read supporting Michigan....

1. Common opponent: Vanderbilt.  While Michigan did beat Vanderbilt by a wider margin than the Gators, Vandy had to travel to Michigan on the first game of the season, while Florida had to travel to Vanderbilt, a division rival, after playing a stretch against Georgia, Auburn, LSU and Bama.

2. Michigan's LOSS was more impressive.  If you watched both of these games, you'll know that Ohio State essentially controlled the contest, even though the final margin was a three point victory.  Michigan had the good fortune to play the Buckeyes after three consecutive weeks of tune-up games against lowly Northwestern, Ball State and Indiana.  The Florida-Auburn game came after Florida had just played LSU.  Auburn had been ranked number three in the nation the week before, and was knocked down to number 11 after losing to SEC runner-up Arkansas.  Florida was essentially in control of the Auburn game, until they beat themselves, and a certainly questionable call robbed them of the opportunity to take the lead late in the game.  It was a three-point game, until Chris Leak threw a late interception making it a ten-point final outcome.

3. Nobody wanted to see a rematch.  While this may be true, this certainly does not discount the fact that voters went with who they felt was a better match-up:  The Big Ten champion against the SEC Champion, instead of the top two teams in the Big Ten.  Voters rewarded the team who won their conference, not the team that couldn't.

4. Meyer's late lobbying got them in.  Is a university president or head coach NOT supposed to lobby for his team to get into the championship game, with not only millions of dollars on the line, but also to fight for the opportunity to give his kids what they came to school for?  If Lloyd Carr were more media savvy, perhaps more voters would have given Michigan consideration, but that's still unlikely.  You can't give a team that didn't win it's conference and that lost it's final game of the season the nod over a team that did win it's conference.  Late season losses weigh heavier, we know that going in.  There are no mulligans in college football.  And yes, while Florida was fortunate enough to get a rematch in 1996 to a team it had lost to earlier that seaon, that was pre-B.C.S., the Gators still played an extra game, their conference championship game against Alabama, that year, and two teams ahead of them in the polls that year had to lose.  Michigan lost their final game of the season.

5. Auburn's exclusion from the title game years ago affected voters decions.  Possible, but unlikely.  Again, if you listen to soundbites from each voter explaining why they gave Florida the nod, they'll cite two factors, their tougher schedule and their conference championship.  Many have gone so far as to claim they don't think Michigan would finish 12-1 with Florida's schedule.

6. Michigan is the second best team in the nation.  How do you know this? How can you back that up?  Are saying it's because you barely lost to the top team in the nation?  Is it because you were ranked number two after that loss?  Who's to say you shouldn't have been knocked down to three or four in the polls after that game.  Is it because Las Vegas says the point spread would be less than 8.5 points in a Michigan rematch with Ohio State?  With all due respect to the experts in Sin City, since when do they get a vote in the polls?  If that's the case, why don't we just have a Vegas poll and factor that into the BCS.  What if Michigan got another shot and lost that game?  Would you want a third shot or would you finally admit OSU was the better team?

Michigan fans, don't blame Florida for being granted a shot at the title.  Blame your conference for being stubborn and not modernizing.  And don't arbitrarily root for Ohio State in the championship game out of spite.  They're you're arch-rival, you hate them, remember?  Give us a shot, you never know, we just might take them down.  Then you guys truly will be the second best team in the nation.