For the fourth straight year, the Gators will not be playing in a BCS bowl. And we all know the team’s past failures in a Peach Bowl and a pair of Outbacks. Will the team treat the 2006 Outback Bowl as a must-win game?

> S Jarvis Herring on bowl games under the Gators’ previous coach: “People were thinking, ‘What’s the point?’ instead of, ‘Here’s my last game and a chance to go out on top.’”
> Former LB Channing Crowder on the 2004 Outback Bowl: “They (Iowa) were playing like they weren’t partying all week. They wanted to prove a point and we were like, ‘Well, forget it. Our season is already a mess.’”
> C Mike Degory on this year’s preparation: “There’s a lot more building up to it. We want to finish the season strong. The psychology of a team is sometimes more important than any strategy or talent level.”

Urban Meyer knows the doldrums a team can go through if their bowl destination is a disappointing one. In 1997, Meyer was an assistant at Notre Dame when the Irish played in the Independence Bowl.

> Meyer: “That was one of the toughest situations I can remember being around. No one wanted to go to that bowl game. … The Independence Bowl did a great job; I loved it, especially the food. Sometimes at schools like Notre Dame and Florida, they think they’re better than that, and that shouldn’t be the case.”
> Meyer: “You watch some of these bowls and figure out real fast who’s not playing for something. There’s some teams in that situation every year.”