Scottsdale, Ariz. – They wear blue and orange, but some observers look at the Florida Gators and see the Ohio State Buckeyes, circa 2002.
Like Ohio State four seasons ago, the Gators come into the Bowl Championship Series title game Monday, in Arizona, as heavy underdogs with a second- year coach and with a defense more highly acclaimed than the team’s offense.
The top-ranked Buckeyes (12-0) just hope second-ranked Florida (12-1) doesn’t impersonate the 2002 Buckeyes and pull an upset as Ohio State did against top-ranked Miami in that Fiesta Bowl.
Florida is a seven-point underdog. But the Buckeyes were 12-point underdogs four years ago when Jim Tressel, in his second season with the team after a 15-year stint at Division I-AA Youngstown State, coached Ohio State to a double-overtime, 31-24 victory over Miami.
“I think there are a lot of similarities on the surface, without knowing the Gators inside and out,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Jim Bollman said Wednesday. “That’s the kind of facts that you can draw up and have a conversation from.”
Don’t expect the Buckeyes to engage in one, however.
“It is incredible to me how people make assumptions along the lines of trying to get some kind of hoopla started,” senior quarterback Troy Smith said. “The 2002 team is totally different from the 2007, 2016 from Florida. Literally, they are in two different states. Literally, they are two different teams. We have different coaches. So to me, they’re not the same at all.”
Star safety returns
Reggie Nelson, Florida’s All-America junior free safety, has rejoined the team after his mother died of breast cancer Dec. 21. She passed away soon after he arrived at her Melbourne, Fla., home following the Gators’ last pre-Christmas practice.
Mary Lakes fought cancer since October 2003 and hadn’t been able to see her son play since September.
“At first it was kind of hard because he didn’t want to say much,” said Charlie Strong, Florida’s co-defensive coordinator. “Now he is getting back to his old self. But I just think him totally getting back involved and just being around his teammates, these guys are the ones that are going to uplift him.”
Familiar surroundings
While Florida plays in Arizona for the first time since a 62-24 shellacking by Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl of the 1995 season, Ohio State awaits its fourth Phoenix-area bowl game since the 2002 season. The Buckeyes have gone 3-0, all in the Fiesta.
“The first thing that I am most familiar with is the In-N-Out Burger, which is around the corner from our hotel,” Smith said. “Probably the height of my day every day is getting a chance to go to In-N-Out Burger. I love those cheeseburgers.”
