For a guy who once lived in Colorado and visited its mountaintops, Urban Meyer realizes to get there you sometimes have to drive through a series of tunnels.
With college football’s mountaintop, the national championship, looming just three victories away for his Florida Gators, Meyer knows that his team can’t afford to have an accident between tunnels.
That’s why the Florida coach is so happy that he was allowed the opportunity to watch the Florida State-Maryland game Saturday night. In his eyes, that 37-3 blowout victory by coach Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles in College Park, Md., was no fluke.
“Everyone expected them to play well (on defense) because they are one of the Top 10 defenses in America,” Meyer said Sunday morning during his weekly teleconference prior to the release of the new BCS rankings and other polls. “Their offense is what caught my attention.”
Jimbo Fisher, FSU’s head coach-in-waiting but currently the 80-year-old Bowden’s offensive coordinator, has the Seminoles clicking at the right time, especially with Florida coming to Tallahassee Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. (ABC) perhaps thinking ahead to its SEC Championship Game a week from Saturday with the BCS’ top-ranked team, Alabama, and a possible berth in the BCS National Championship Game if the (10-1) Gators take care of business these next two weeks.
“I watched every snap of Florida State-Maryland,” Meyer said. “I was impressed.”
In improving to 8-3 overall and 5-3 in its quest for the Atlantic Division berth in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship in Tampa on Dec. 6, the same day Florida and Alabama will be playing in the Georgia Dome to settle things in the SEC, the Seminoles broke a scoreless tie after the first quarter and turned two Maryland turnovers into a 21-0 halftime lead.
The FSU offense was very proficient. Christian Ponder missed on just five of his 24 pass attempts and threw for 143 yards and one touchdown. Ponder also led the ‘Noles in rushing with 81 yards on 14 carries and another touchdown. With Maryland turning the ball over four times, FSU enjoyed a 332-252 advantage in total offense and also held onto the football for 36 minutes and two seconds – 12 minutes more than the Terps.
Florida State can’t do anything more about its ACC fate – that rests on the outcome of the Maryland-Boston College game in Chestnut Hill, Mass., this Saturday (a Maryland win sends the ‘Noles to Tampa). But it sure can put a whole lot of hurt on its cross-state rival by ending Florida’s modest two-game winning streak on Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium.
“This is one of the most important weeks in the history of our program,” said Meyer, who well remembers what happened in 2006 when the Gators won the national championship but took a trip to Tallahassee before heading to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game against Arkansas.
“That was an inferno two years ago down there,” Meyer remembered. “It was 21-14 at the end of the day but it was 14-14 (at one point). We played well on defense, our offense did not play well (because) they played well on defense. I think you throw everything out the window. That’s why there will be no discussion about national titles, no discussion about Alabama. There will be discussion about playing a team I believe is one of the most improved teams in the country and playing very well. From what I saw last night, to go into that stadium (Byrd Stadium on the Maryland campus) and play that well, I think they caught everyone’s attention. Our focus is really clear.”
Long-time defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews has the ‘Noles defense back among the Top 10 teams. Florida State is seventh in total defense (272.64 yards a game), allowing 109.55 yards rushing (21st) and 163.90 yards passing (fourth) while limiting the opposition to just 18.55 points a game (19th). Even more impressive, the Seminoles are No. 1 nationally in tackles for loss (8.64 a game) and No. 4 in quarterback sacks (3.18 a game).
Junior defensive end Everette Brown (6-5, 248), who will see a lot of Florida left tackle Phil Trautwein this Saturday, is No. 1 in the nation in tackles for loss with 1.86 per game (20.5 for 122 yards) and is No. 2 nationally with his 1.14 sacks per game (12.5 for 89 yards).
“We think he’s a high NFL pick because a lot of people are talking about him,” Meyer said. “We’ve faced some good defensive ends before and I’m not sure where he ranks. But he’s in the top 1 or 2 we’ve faced this year. That tells you the kind of challenge we will have.”
Senior linebacker Derek Nicholson (6-2, 235) leads the FSU defense with 70 tackles, followed by senior outside linebacker linebacker Toddrick Verdell (6-3, 222) and safety Myron Rolle with 50 each. Rolle, a 6-2, 218-pound junior who received his undergraduate degree in 2½ years, won a Rhodes scholarship Saturday in Birmingham, Ala., before jetting to College Park, Md., to play in the second half.
Andrews, who has a knack for creating different matchups, might move Brown around a lot on Saturday in an effort to stop the FSU home losing streak to the Gators. The ‘Noles lost 20-13 in Ron Zook’s Florida finale in 2004 before losing 21-14 in Meyer’s only visit to The Doak in ‘06. Against FSU and Bowden, Meyer is 3-0, the other wins (34-7 in ’05 and 45-12 in ’07) coming in Gainesville.
Offensively, however, the Gators continue to click impressively. They scored 10 touchdowns and had 705 yards in total offense, including 394 yards on the ground, during their 70-19 victory over The Citadel Saturday. It was Florida’s seventh straight victory since their only setback (31-30 loss to Mississippi) and Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin and Co. have dispatched those seven foes by a 369-82 scoring margin.
The fact that the Gators have jumped on teams quickly and not be challenged since that last-Saturday-in-September loss has Meyer concerned about his team suddenly playing in a close game in which every mistake is magnified.
“Very much,” he said. “The best thing we can do is make practices very difficult so they are facing a lot of adversity every Tuesday and a lot of practices on Wednesday. You hope you have some toughness (as a team) and some good character guys, which I think we do. It is a concern, though.”
Most of Meyer’s concern could be in the defensive line, where the team lost starting sophomore nose tackle Lawrence Marsh (6-5, 305) on the first scrimmage play and reserve freshman defensive tackle Matt Patchan (6-6, 270) with medial collateral ligament knee sprains. Patchan is out, according to his coach, and Marsh could be, too.
And if his Florida Gators aren’t careful Saturday in Tallahassee, Urban Meyer knows their end-of-season title hopes could suffer some real damage, too. At this time of the season, with the mountaintop in sight, you can take an awfully bad fall off the mountain.