If there's one good thing about having to wait out a post-game traffic jam at Tiger Stadium, it's watching the who's who that must wait with you.
While sitting in the press box at midnight, I caught a glimpse of Gary Barnett, somebody I grew up watching but never thought I would get to talk to.
So, to please the greatest people in the world (those with ties to the state of Illinois), I will share the opinions of the former Northwestern coach about the Gators at Saturday night's game.
Barnett, who also coached at Colorado, covered the game as a color commentator for Sports USA radio.
Despite the Gators' back-to-back losses, Barnett, a coach known for resurrecting lost causes, thinks they will be back.
"I can't see anybody else beating Florida from now on to keep them out of the (Southeastern Conference) Championship Game," Barnett said. "All those young kids, by the time they play the championship game, the freshmen aren't freshmen anymore now."
However, No. 13 UF still travels to No. 17 Kentucky and No. 7 South Carolina and meets No. 24 Georgia in Jacksonville.
Those games will determine if the Gators will get another shot at top-ranked LSU in Atlanta.
If Barnett can relate anything to this year's Gators, it's his 2000 and 2001 Colorado teams.
Colorado went 3-8 with a very young squad in 2000, with inexperience akin to the Gators this year.
The Buffaloes, however, had a chance to ruin Nebraska's season in their final game that year.
They lost 34-32 on a last-second field goal, similar to UF's loss to Auburn.
"I lost one just like Urban did when I had a bunch of freshmen," Barnett said. "They remember. They learn from it. They don't panic. They understand it's early in their careers. They'll be ok."
In 2001, the battle-tested team came back from losing two of its first seven games.
The Buffaloes went on to win five straight to end the regular season, including a 62-36 throttling of Nebraska to win the Big 12 North and a 39-37 win over Texas in the Big 12 title game.
Controversially Colorado, ranked No. 2, did not make the national title game.
That team came closer than any other two-loss squad to sniffing the BCS title.
No. 4 Nebraska, despite its pathetic performance against Colorado, chimed in at No. 2 in the BCS rankings and lost to Miami in a forgettable Rose Bowl.
If Barnett took a young, inexperienced team from a 3-8 record to being .05 points back of No. 2 in the final BCS standings, just think what Urban Meyer can do with a grown-up Gators squad next year.
Barnett also called Tim Tebow the best player in college football after watching him play what arguably be the worst game of his college career.
He even praised Meyer as well.
"To get all those kids ready for this game after last week, I think he's a tremendous coach," Barnett said.
Despite all the good that can come out of playing the top-ranked team in the country to the wire on the road, the only thing that really matters is the result.
"You never need a loss," Barnett said. "You get tired of building character."
