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GAINESVILLE - If it's any consolation to Florida fans, the Gators might get another shot this season at beating a Bowden.
Just not Bobby.
After Florida's 38-34 loss to Florida State Saturday, the Gators (8-4) likely are headed to the Peach Bowl to face Tommy Bowden and Clemson.
"We'd be tickled to think that we have a chance to get Florida in the Peach Bowl," said Bill Flynn, a selection committee member for the Jan.2 game in Atlanta. "Florida against Clemson would be a hell of a matchup. We don't get a shot at a Florida-type team that often."
Georgia, Tennessee and LSU are ranked ahead of the Gators, and the winner of Saturday's SEC Championship Game between the Bulldogs and Tigers receives a BCS bid. The other two are likely headed to the Outback and Capital One bowls.
"If Florida had won, someone was going to grab them before we got them," Flynn said. "I'd like to say we're the Orange Bowl, but we're not. But we're a damn good bowl. We pay more than the Gator Bowl and we've got the best attendance of any bowl outside of the BCS. We've sold out 10 of the last 12 years and six straight times - 72,000 per game."
A PLAY OR TWO: A big part of Florida's trouble was its special teams. FSU had seven kickoff returns for 215 yards, including Leon Washington's 77-yarder that set up an FSU touchdown. Florida also failed to capitalize on first and goal at the 6 early in the fourth quarter after an FSU offside penalty. The Gators settled for a field goal. "There were enough plays in this game that we should have made that we didn't make to overcome that," coach Ron Zook said of the officiating.
DEFENDING SCOTT: It was a cruel bit of irony that FSU's winning touchdown came because of a mistake by senior safety Guss Scott. All year, Scott has been an integral part of the senior leadership that has held the Gators together. Scott declined to speak with reporters after the game, but his teammates staunchly defended him.
"He took it pretty hard," freshman receiver and Tampa native Andre Caldwell said. "He's a great player. He's one of the best safeties out there and he's our team leader. For somebody to score on him, I know that hurt him a lot because he just wanted to win this for his team and it didn't go our way."