No. 1 FLORIDA GATORS

Gators try to be first to win 3 BCS titles

Here we go again.

2002 Miami. 2003 Oklahoma. 2005 USC. 2006 Ohio State.

Not only isn't there a reason to play the national title game, there's no reason to play the season. Hand over the crystal ball to Urban Meyer and the Gators. No one's going to beat Tim Tebow and all those returning starters - how many are there now? 48? Wow!

Florida's now in the realm of being called the best team of all-time, which has only been spouted out by ESPN pundits six different times this decade. Sure the Gators are going to be tough, but no Gator team has ever gone through a season unscathed (though every UF fan still remembers that 5-0-1 team in 1911).

While Florida's non-conference schedule still nothing outside the season-ender against Florida State, the Gators just need to make it through the SEC (which is now the undisputed king of college football, with five BCS champions and an undefeated league champion in the BCS's 11-year history). But this Florida class has a chance to leave it's mark as the BCS's first true dynasty; and while many schools have had successful runs, no team has left their imprint since Nebraska in the mid-90's, which also had one of the best QB's of all-time in Tommy Frazier.

And Tebow has almost wrapped up the moniker of best college QB ever. From being an impact player on the 2006 champion squad, to the first sophomore to ever win the Heisman, to the sappy post-game speech, to the cult-like status that he's acquired, Tebow has done everything

But like 1999 Tennessee, 2000 Florida State, 2001 Oklahoma, 2002 Miami, 2003 Ohio State, 2004 LSU, 2005 USC, are the Gators putting too much pressure on themselves to repeat? Anything less than an undefeated national championship season is seen as below expectations. Anything other than routing SEC foes Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina will be seen as disappointing.

The college football world is already lining it's self up to give Florida a freebie. There's talk of whether a once beaten Gators team is more deserving to play an unbeaten USC or Texas/Oklahoma than an unbeaten ACC or Big East champion. Florida doesn't have to worry about that right now; Urban and Co. can justbask in the glory of entering the season as the Southern Fans' No. 1 team.

CFN 2009 Preview | ESPN Florida Page | CBS Florida Page

Part of a two-week long look into the 2009 Preseason Southern Fans' College Football Poll.