Ron DeSantis says Florida teams would have won College Football Playoff decades ago

Arguing yet again that Florida teams need to get back to their historical heights, Gov. Ron DeSantis says that in any given year decades ago, any one of the state’s major teams could have been national champs.

“One team from Florida would be competing for a national championship almost every year, and sometimes it was all of them competing,” DeSantis said.

“And back in that era, if you had a playoff, then a lot of times the Florida team who may not have been in the one key bowl game at that time, that Florida team — whether it’s Florida State, Florida or Miami — they would have ended up winning the playoff back then.”

DeSantis, who attended Yale as an undergraduate and Harvard for law school, weighed in on how the two state schools might do this year as well.

“Florida State had one loss last year. They started off this season with a loss. We’ll see,” DeSantis said, before turning his attention to the University of Florida’s “very difficult schedule, very difficult conference.”

The Gators, who are unranked going into the season, face off with No. 19 Miami on Saturday.

The Governor has grumbled about Gator football in particular many times in recent years.

This Spring, he told a Gainesville crowd that excuses were running out after a legendary coach left the college ranks.

“You know, Nick Saban has retired from Alabama. So this is the window,” DeSantis said in May in Gainesville.

“I know Georgia is still very tough. It’s a tough league. I get it. But I saw those national championships up back in the day and that was great, and basketball too. I mean, so hopefully we’ll get back there. We’re really looking forward to seeing Florida return to being the college football capital of the world like we used to be.”

DeSantis similarly discussed Billy Napier’s squad during September 2023 comments to the California Republican Party.

While he noted that University of Florida was “the top ranked public university in America,” he added quickly that he needed “their football team to start doing a little bit better.”