Interesting debate here. On the face of it, it seems like a no-brainer: Spurrier is clearly better than the perennially underachieving Bowden, right? But is that really the case?
I'm not sure I agree with some of this author's points on the subject. For instance, criticizing Spurrier for only winning one national title at Florida is kind of silly. A number of coaches that are considered elite have only one (Jim Tressel) or none (Mark Richt). With all the variables in play, it's hard to win a national title in college football, even if you consistently field powerhouse teams. The author also loses credibility by citing this national championship statistic while failing to mention one of Spurrier's greatest accomplishments, the fact that he won six SEC titles in eleven years at Florida. That's dominance, people.
However, I'm not sure I disagree with the author's conclusion that Spurrier would have problems in the SEC East even with Clemson's talent. For one, the point he makes about Clemson simply not being talented enough to hang with Florida is a good one.
Moreover, and what the author fails to mention, is that, hate to admit it, Clemson doesn't have all that much more talent than us, so it's hard to believe that switching rosters would make things a whole lot different. Let's look back at recruiting rankings for the last four years. In 2005-2008, USC had 23rd, 24th, 6th, and 22nd ranked classes, as ranked by rivals. That's an average of 18.75. The Tigers, on the other hand, had classes ranked at 17th, 15th, 16th, and 12th. That's an average of 15. Tigers come out a bit ahead, but not much. You could make the point that Spurrier and staff haven't done as great a job at recruiting certain positions, like the offensive line, and that might be right. However, the talent difference really isn't so much that it makes me think that the outcome of Clemson-Florida games would be much different than USC-Florida games.
All in all, I think that the HBC might have won another game here and there with Clemson's players, but he'd probably still have finished a step behind the Gators, Bulldogs, and Vols in the standings.