Gators' veterans learn from past losses in win over young Wildcats


Calipari's new best friend should be freshly minted NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who reportedly wants to push the NBA's minimum age from 19 to 20. If that happened, Calipari would get two years with many of his charges. He could develop chemistry, could help his players find their ideal roles. Until then, he'll have to hope for another Instant Team like the one that won him a national title two years ago. But even then, that team would have to overcome groups of wily veterans such as these Gators, who weren't good enough to leave early for the NBA but were smart enough to figure out how to make the whole better than the sum of its parts. "They've been together for a while," James Young said. "That's what got them the win."

Senior writer Andy Staples has covered college football for SI since 2008, developing an encyclopedic index of the best food in every college town along the way.