Chad Henne (7) and the Wolverines only loss was to No. 1 Ohio State, so should they get another crack at them in Glendale? Al Tielemans/SI

His wasn't a popular argument these past few weeks, not when his team was squeaking by Vanderbilt and Florida State while Michigan was putting up 39 points on the Buckeyes and USC was blowing out Cal and Notre Dame. But a funny thing happened here Saturday night: The Gators did everything their critics said they couldn't.

That dysfunctional offense? Florida put up just under 400 yards against Arkansas. That non-existent running game? The Gators went for 202 on the ground. And the defense? All it did was hold Razorbacks stars Darren McFadden and Felix Jones to a combined 130 yards on 34 carries -- or 189 less than they put up against LSU a week earlier.

This being the BCS, however, beauty is entirely in the eye of the beholder. One could also point out if he's so inclined that the Gators' quarterback, Chris Leak, threw two ugly third-quarter interceptions to allow Arkansas back in the game; that only 32 of those rushing yards (and only three carries) were actually attributed to a running back; and that McFadden's first-half ankle injury contributed to those low rushing numbers.

"I wasn't going to use it as an excuse," said Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, "but y'all know that Darren McFadden wasn't the same from the first quarter on."

If there was a component in the BCS formula to account for unforced interceptions and opposing stars' injuries, then by golly, the Gators would be in a heap of trouble right now. All it goes by, however, is whether you won and who you beat, in which case it's hard to argue with Saturday night's result -- or Florida's resume as a whole.

You can, however, make a perfectly valid argument that Michigan is a better team than Florida. Its quarterback, Chad Henne, isn't prone to gigantic mental lapses like Leak's third-quarter miscues (one of which was an option shovel pass that almost seemed intended for Arkansas defensive end Antwain Robinson) or his costly turnovers in the loss at Auburn. While Florida doesn't have a single tailback it trusts, Michigan trusts Mike Hart enough to give the ball to him 25-30 times a game. And whereas the Wolverines had just one win in which the result was even in doubt in the fourth quarter -- Ball State, when Michigan emptied its bench too early -- almost every Gator victory over the past two months caused its fans undue digestion issues.

On the flip side, the Wolverines don't have a game-breaker in the class of Florida's Percy Harvin, who burned Arkansas on Saturday for a 67-yard touchdown run and 167 total yards. Where Michigan's defense gave up 500-plus yards the last time it took the field against Ohio State, the Gators held the Razorbacks to 311 on Saturday, LSU to 318, Tennessee to 220.

All of these things should have weighed heavily on the BCS voters' minds Saturday night. Without knowing what exactly the computers (which account for a third of the standings) will spit out, the Gators went into Saturday needing to change the minds of 86 Harris voters and 40 coaches to draw even in the polls. But remember, most of those voters also had USC ahead of one or both teams on their most recent ballots. As CollegeBCS.com publisher Jerry Palm points out, both the Trojans' loss and the Gators' win gives them ample cause to reevaluate.

"I do think Florida will get enough juice from the voters to go past Michigan in the [standings]," Palm wrote on his site late Saturday night.

For his part, Florida's Meyer said, "I have great confidence that [his team] is going to get that opportunity.

"There's a lot of people making a lot of decisions out there, and this is a big one," he said. "We're going to tell a group of young men that just went 12-1 against a difficult schedule ... that they don't have a chance to play for a national championship? I'm going to need help with that one."

Here's guessing he won't have to give that speech. In the end, the voters will -- and should -- opt for reward over rematch.