Eh, I think the reason would have been probably exactly the same unless he was the Peyton Manning of USC or something like that. Nobody wants to admit it now, but the reason the reaction was so explosive was because everyone loved him. We loved the ****-talking, and the team actually showed some promise on the field as the season went along. You don't get that mad when someone who you think is Jeremy Pruitt or Dooley leaves.
I think the comments from the article are spot on. Within 2-3 years I think we would have at least appeared in an SECCG (especially once Urban left UF and UGA being what they were at the time), but then we would have been on probation for probably 2-3 years.