Urban Crisis

“Do you think we’ll still be running this offense five years from now?” one Gator fan asked me last week.
“If Urban Meyer is still your coach,” I answered.
The fan just rolled his eyes and walked away.

“Have you gotten on the ‘bash Urban’ bandwagon?” one Georgia fan asked me this week.

The point being, the honeymoon is over and there are a lot of football fans, Gators and others, wondering what’s going on in Gainesville. First, I don’t think Meyer had any idea what he was getting into when he accepted the job at Florida and joined the Southeastern conference. He complained this summer about going to too many Gator club meetings.

Wrong move.

He needs to embrace that, and rally the troops every summer. Some of my daughter’s (a UF grad) friends ran into Meyer backstage at a Jimmy Buffet concert this summer. “Hey Coach,” they ran up to him excitedly after recognizing him backstage. “We’re Gators!” they exclaimed. “Nice to meet you,” Meyer demurred. “No, we’re Gators!” they repeated, expecting some kind of communal response.

Nothing.

Just another sign that, at least in the beginning, Meyer didn’t get it.

It’s been funny to watch Meyer on the sidelines (same thing applies to Les Miles at LSU). Neither of them had any idea of the difference between where they were and where they are now, in the SEC. It’s LOUD in the SEC. You can’t wear those little earpieces or even just one-sided headsets. You need the big double cups to get by. You want to talk to somebody; you’ve got to get right in their ear.

It can be as loud as you want in Bowling Green and Salt Lake. Sorry, it’s not the SEC.

And that might apply to Urban Meyer’s attempt to run his spread offense at Florida. Either he’s trying to put round pegs in square holes, or the quality of athlete in the SEC isn’t going to allow that offense to work, or both.

It’s clear he’s got good players at Florida, left behind by Ron Zook and some recruited at the last second by Meyer himself. But Chris Leak is completely out of position as an option quarterback. But how do you bench one of your best players just because you’ve changed the offense? A good coach wouldn’t. He’d adapt his system to the personnel, and I was impressed that Meyer and his staff installed some more traditional formations and plays in the week off before the Georgia game.

But it’s just not enough, as evidenced by the South Carolina game.

I also think that running that offense at Bowling Green and at Utah might have been a bit easier because the best players in those regions play offense. In the SEC, there are plenty of good players to go around, on offense and defense. So some top-flight athletes end up on the defensive side of the ball, with the speed and smarts to stop the “spread.” Add top-flight coaches to the mix, and the “spread” might never have a chance in the conference. And it doesn’t have a downfield that Gator fans love.

The jury is still out, but they’re not going to deliberate long, that’s for sure.