UF played Bama and lost by a touchdown, just to get ran off the field by Oklahoma in the bowl game. OSU beat Clemson by 21 and got blown out by Bama. Matchups is everything. Although I'm not saying I'll be fine with a blow out, because I definitely want us to win this game, not have a "moral victory" by keeping it close....but regardless, if we lose by 40 points to the #1 team in the country...it doesn't mean we can immediately throw the bag. Getting blown out in a championship game when you know exactly what a team's Strength is, is a lot worse than getting walked in Game 1 when you don't know for sure what to expect. Lets not forget Bama will be running a new offense, completely different scheme, and they have Nick Saban.
Nick Saban himself was a JAG of a Coach his first 4 seasons at Michigan State. His 2nd year there, they got manhandled by Tom Osbourne and #1 Nebraska (55-14). That was MSU's 2nd game, and Nebraska's first game of the season...yet they still got dog walked. When he was at LSU, they were good enough to win the Sugar bowl in 2001, then in 2002 they got blown out 3 times, and didn't beat a single team with more than 8 wins.