What are the luckiest moments in Florida Gators history?

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, the day when we wear green and act Irish because we can. It’s also a day of luck, as the Florida Gators have had their fair share of luck over the years.

Sometimes the luck has come in the form of athletic feats that are almost impossible to duplicate. Other times Florida has had to depend on others for their good fortune.

Either way, here are some moments in Florida Gators’ history where it has been better to be lucky than good.

Florida Gators: Thanks Pac-10

When Florida won the national title for the 2008 season, the Gators had to claw back from a regular-season loss to Ole Miss (something about a promise) to get back into the top two of the BCS rankings. But by the time December rolled around, fate was back in the hands of the Gators.

This wasn’t the case for Florida’s first two national title runs. In 1996, Florida lost their showdown with FSU in November, dropping Florida to fourth in the national polls. Nebraska, led at QB by some guy named Scott Frost, lost the following week in their conference title game to Texas and Florida was sitting third heading into bowl season.

The Gators had a rematch set up with FSU in the Sugar Bowl, but a win over the Seminoles wouldn’t mean much if Arizona State, who somehow was relevant in football in 1996, won their Rose Bowl matchup against Ohio State. The Sun Devils lost, which allowed Florida to claim the national title after its beatdown of FSU.

The Pac-10 would pay dividends again in 2006. Florida entered their SEC title game matchup against Arkansas ranked fourth in the BCS standings. Michigan was ahead of Florida, but coming off a loss to Ohio State it was widely assumed the Gators would jump them with a win. The bigger problem was USC (the one with academic standards) sitting in second.

The Trojans lost to UCLA and it allowed Florida to jump up to second and then lay the smackdown on Ohio State to claim the national title.