Steve Spurrier has purchased the finest bottle of wine for Dan Mullen.
Florida football won in a big way against Ole Miss in the 2020 opener and head coach Dan Mullen broke a Steve Spurrier record in the process and demanded he gives him a great bottle of wine.
Mullen’s Gators went into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi and set a school record for the most offensive yards vs. an SEC opponent with 642. The coach with the previous record happened to be the Head Ball Coach from his Fun n’ Gun days from a generation ago. While Spurrier paid up, he went all Tom Petty and wouldn’t back down from his tiny wine bottle gift.
@SteveSpurrierUF with the reward for the record setting day. Hopefully more on the way. pic.twitter.com/htU0Uq0a9Y
— Dan Mullen (@CoachDanMullen) September 28, 2020
Dan Mullen said he expects a nice bottle of wine on his desk after breaking one of the Head Ball Coach’s records for yards in an SEC game. Spurrier told me, “Tell coach to win an SEC championship and I’ll bring him two.”
— Pat Dooley (@pat_dooley) September 26, 2020
How nice will these wine bottles be if Dan Mullen wins the SEC in 2020?
While it’s cool to see Mullen’s offense carving up an SEC opponent like that, keep in mind this was Ole Miss’ first game led by Lane Kiffin. Though they gave up more than half-a-hundred on Saturday, the Ole Miss Rebels didn’t have a problem scoring on Todd Grantham’s defense either. It’s a great start to the season for Mullen and Florida, but Spurrier knows better.
During his transcendent run as the head coach of his alma mater, the 1966 Heisman Trophy winner won the SEC six times in his 12 years as the Head Ball Coach, including the 1996 National Championship. Though Mullen did wonders as the Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach prior to leaving for the Florida job, he has never won a division in his decade-plus run as a head coach.
The good news for Mullen is the Gators look to be the favorite to win the SEC East for the first time since 2016. The rival Georgia Bulldogs have a great defense, but the gap could not be wider right now at the quarterback position. Florida has a Heisman Trophy contender in Kyle Trask, while Georgia benched D’Wan Mathis in favor of Stetson Bennett IV and may now start JT Daniels.
Though every SEC team will lose at least one conference game this season, even the supposed juggernaut Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida has a distinct advantage for the time being when it comes to the most important game of the season down in Jacksonville vs. the Dawgs. If the Gators win there, Mullen will get to Atlanta and will have a great shot to win the SEC in 2020.
It may only be two bottles of Sutter Home, but they will be bigger than this mini bottle for sure.
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