Then again, maybe that was the problem. Bowden became much bigger in his big-game losses because of how he handled them. Spurrier became smaller. And I can't really argue with that. Likewise, I've never heard even one Seminole impugn the character or abilities of Danny Wuerffel.
Fans recognize both as the very best representatives of all that is good about college athletics.
The second thing I want to make clear is that the Gators won the 1996 national title on the square, heads-up. Their team played magnificently in the Sugar Bowl, and proved themselves to be the best in the country, and possibly the greatest Gator team of all time. But this is not about the players or the fans, all of whom I thought were surprisingly well-behaved this year, all things considered. This is about Spurrier. The championship celebration at Florida Field on January 11th was filled with paeans to Almighty God for His intervention in setting up a series of events that led to Florida re-playing FSU for the title.