Ohio State coach Urban Meyer declared his 2008 Florida Gators the greatest college football team ever in front of a group of youth football campers over the weekend.
Nevermind the run of Miami Hurricanes championship squads from the early 2000s that had NFL talent oozing through their pores. Or either of the back-to-back Nebraska champions under Tom Osborne in the mid-1990s. Or even the Alabama team that dismantled the 2009 Gators, who were supposed to be even better than the 2008 team with quarterback Tim Tebow as a returning senior, on its way to the national title.
No, as Meyer tells it, we were witnessing the greatest thing college football has ever seen from a team that lost to Ole Miss.
"I've been a part of a couple great teams, I think the best team to ever play the game in '08 (at Florida). And that was (because) animal instincts took over on the field. They protected each other," Meyer said. "What he said is, 'Have you ever tried to reason with a wild animal?' Think about that. Think about what I just said. You try to reason with a wild animal ... you can't reason with a wild animal. They protect each other. Have you ever tried to negotiate, evaluate, take a play off? If you're a wild animal, that doesn't happen."
Meyer's comments on the 2008 UF team come around the six-minute mark.
Given the setting -- a motivational speech to youngsters -- a little overexuberance is to be expected of any coach.
The Gators made a spectacular run following that Ole Miss loss to claim a national title and the team carved out a piece of college football history for itself.
But it was just a piece. Not the whole pie.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
