Our friend Aaron Torres at Aaron Torres Sports wrote a piece comparing this year's consensus #1 Florida Gators football team to last year's BCS Championship squad. For those of you interested in sports outside the Gator-centric world, he has it all at his site here.

I’ve got bad news for Florida fans: Your football team isn’t as good as last year’s.

But I’ve also got some good news: It might not matter.

On Saturday Florida played an SEC slugfest with LSU that made the next day’s NFL action look tame by comparison. It was physical and it was nasty. I’ve honestly seen MMA fights with less blood-shed then the Gators 13-3 victory in Death Valley.

The story coming into the game was Tim Tebow, and the concussion that left him more woozy than Courtney Love after a night out on the town. Could he play? Could he be effective? Would there be a pre-game prayer without him?

And when Urban Meyer came out and said that not only would he play, but that the game-plan might be altered a little to protect him, I thought the Gators were in trouble. You don’t change the game-plan for one player, on the road in your most important game of the season.

There’s still a long way to go, but the Gators could
be National Champions again

Then the game started, and Tebow did his Tebow thing. He put his head down and picked up first downs. He chest-bumped teammates and yelled words of encouragement on the sidelines. He even channeled his old missionary work, and circumcised a few LSU players at halftime (Ok that last one might not have happened). Most importantly though, if this guy was feeling the effects of the concussion, then I might need to get my own head checked. He was the same leader and superstar he seems to be every Saturday.

Watching the game on CBS, Gary Danielson described the win better than I could have, calling it “mature,” which is exactly what it was. A week ago Georgia couldn’t beat LSU because they gave up too many big plays and got too many inopportune penalties (even if one in particular was completely bogus). Florida on Saturday was the exactly opposite, and played about as mistake free as you can.

But watching this game, it just felt like something was just missing, like Florida just isn’t as good as a year ago. Sure the players are mostly the same, and statistically the Gators are still one of the best. But my eyes are telling me something different.

In 2008, Florida played every game with a chip on their shoulder, took every matchup personal. They didn’t just beat teams, they broke their will to compete. Seriously look at some of their final scores: 49-10 against Georgia, 51-21 against LSU and 56-6 against South Carolina. When they smelled blood, they didn’t just go for the kill, they made sure there were no remains either. They lived for the big stage and the big games.

This year? They treat big games the way I do going to church on Christmas: Let’s grit our teeth, get through this and go home. Last weekend Florida had 327 yards against LSU? 2008 Florida would have been mad if they didn’t have 327 yards by halftime.

Both last year and this year, Florida’s offense is totally predicated on picking up 3^rd and shorts, and honestly that makes sense, since they have the best short yardage back in college football in Tebow. If you can get Tebow a 3^rd and short he’s going to get you a first down, it’s that simple. As George Foreman would say, I guarenteeeeee it!!!

That’s the biggest thing that has changed this year. Sure Florida’s offensive game-plan is still to get 3^rdand shorts, but it just seems like they’re working a lot harder to get them. There’s no Percy Harvin to get eight yards on second down, meaning they can’t risk throwing the ball deep on first down.

And that’s the biggest misnomer about Florida’s offense right now, that they have no deep threats. They do have deep threats (I promise you Riley Cooper and David Nelson are just as fast as a year ago) it’s just too important to pick up yardage on 1^st and 2^nd down to attempt downfield passes.

Take Saturday for example: The announcers kept saying how the Gators were running dive play, after dive play to avoid Tebow getting hit. Maybe partly, but mostly they were using the dive play to set up Tebow getting hit on 3^rd down. That’s the Gators entire offensive game-plan. Get four yards on a dive play on first down, and three yards on second down. Then get the ball Tebow. And we all know he’ll come through.

After watching the Gators five weeks in a row, it seems to me like Urban Meyer has done a complete 180 from last year. Instead of trying to run up and run over opponents, this is what he’s saying: “I have the best defense in college football, go ahead and move the ball on me, I dare you. I’ll tell you what, let’s play a game of ‘Who can get two touchdowns first.’ I guarantee I’m going to win it.”

In my eyes the Urban legend has set the bar. He doesn’t care about dunking the opponents head in the toilet or rubbing their face in the dirt. He doesn’t care about embarrassing anybody. He cares about W’s.

Now the question is, can anybody keep up?

Looking around college football, it really looks like only Alabama can beat the Gators. They play with enough of a smash-mouth running game to keep the chains moving against Florida’s vaunted defense, and are also talented enough to force 3^rd and longs when they’re on defense themselves. And from what I can see, that’s the only way to beat Florida.

So is Florida as good as last year? I don’t think so. Does it matter…Actually, no it doesn’t.

For Florida it all comes down to that December 5 matchup in the SEC Championship game, with what we assume will be Alabama. Win it, and it’s an early Christmas in Gainesville. Lose it, and well…

So enjoy these next seven games Florida fans, they’re all glorified exhibitions. I’ll see you in Atlanta.

Editor's Note: Please visit Aaron and tell him what you think of this piece by clicking here.