Urban Meyer, who checked into Shands Hospital for symptoms of dehydration in the early hours of Sunday morning, participated Sunday evening in the coaches teleconference for the 76th annual Allstate Sugar Bowl (January 1, New Orleans, LA) where the fifth-ranked Florida Gators (12-1) will represent the Southeastern Conference against undefeated and third-ranked Cincinnati (12-0).
Questions during the teleconference were limited to the football game, so there was no news or information about Meyer’s health.
Although a loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game cost the Gators a chance to win their second straight national championship and finish the season unbeaten, Meyer said there will be no problem getting his team ready for the bowl game. The Gators had their 22-game winning streak snapped by Alabama but Meyer said the seniors still have plenty to play for.
“We have the winningest senior class in the history of the Southeastern Conference — I believe it’s either 46 or 47 wins — and our legacy is going to depend on how we finish this season,” Meyer said.
Finishing the season on a winning note means finding a way to handle a Cincinnati team with a dynamic offense. The Bearcats finished undefeated for the first time in school history, preserving their perfect record by rallying from a 21-point first half deficit to beat Pitt, 45-44, in the final seconds for the Big East Championship.
Meyer said there will be no lack of respect for Cincinnati.
“We have great respect [for Cincinnati],” Meyer said. “When I went to watch them practice [a couple of years ago], I walked away saying that’s an SEC caliber football team, which tells you the respect I have for the players and the way they’re coached.”
Until that practice, Meyer had never met Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, who has taken the Bearcats to consecutive Big East championships and BCS bowl games. It was during a visit to Cincinnati to visit his father who was hospitalized at the University of Cincinnati hospital, about three blocks away from where the football team practices, that he got a chance to meet Kelly and observe the Bearcats practicing.
Seeing that practice impressed Meyer enough that he said he watches the Bearcats play on television whenever he can.
“I had never met Coach (Brian) Kelly and one of their coaches is a very good friend, Tim Hinton,” Meyer said. “I was invited down to practice. Without disrespect to the University of Cincinnati, I didn’t expect what I saw and what I saw was one of the best teams in America practicing and the way their defensive staff was coaching and the way Coach Kelly was directly involved, I remember walking away from that and saying wow. Since then I made it a point and I never miss a game when they were on.”
One of the storylines that will develop for this BCS bowl game matchup will be Meyer’s ties to the University of Cincinnati. Meyer played defensive back at Cincinnati and graduated from the school in 1986. That’s where he met wife Shelley, a graduate of the nursing school. Meyer’s dad, Bud, has a degree in chemical engineering from Cincinnati and his sister Gigi is the vice provost of the university.
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Kelly, who is rumored to be the top candidate for the coaching vacancy at Notre Dame, said the Bearcats were disappointed that their unbeaten record didn’t get them into the BCS National Championship Game (Alabama plays Texas). Although happy to face the 2008 national champions (Florida) in the Sugar Bowl, Kelly called it “bittersweet.”
Playing against the Gators, Kelly said, is an opportunity to go against the team that sets the standard for college football.
“Florida Gator football is synonymous with success and it is really the benchmark for college football over the last half dozen years,” he said, adding that his team was extremely motivated. “Their eyes are wide open when you say Florida Gators are the matchup.”
While some will view this as a chance for Cincinnati to make a statement that it belongs with the top programs in college football, Kelly isn’t sure the Bearcats have anything to prove after going 33-6 in the last three years.
“We’ve proved a lot of things and I don’t know if we have a lot to prove but we need to play really well against a very good football team,” he said.
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Meyer said he isn’t sure about the status of defensive end Carlos Dunlap for the game. Dunlap was suspended for the SEC Championship Game after a DUI arrest last Tuesday morning.
“We haven’t made that determination yet,” Meyer said. “I’ll meet with Jeremy Foley at the appropriate time. We’ll determine that later on, maybe not this week but down the road.”
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Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong reportedly met with University of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich Sunday to discuss the vacant head coaching position. Strong is considered the leading candidate to replace fired Dave Kragthorpe at the Big East Conference school.
Meyer was asked Sunday night if Strong would be available to coach the Florida defense in the bowl game if he was hired by Louisville. Meyer said that would be determined after both schools talk things over if Strong gets the Louisville job.
“Both schools will have to be aligned with Charlie for that to happen,” Meyer said.