As far as Florida Urban Meyer is concerned publicly, Saturday’s football game against the Tennessee Volunteers (Kickoff 3:30 p.m., CBS) is just another step along the road to where the No. 1 Gators want to be on Dec. 5 – in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome playing for the Southeastern Conference Championship.
It has nothing to do with rivalry between the two schools which was inflamed last December and later fanned on National Signing Day by comments from first-year Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin, the son of long-time Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, who now performs the same duties for his son. The same Monte Kiffin who Meyer considers a close friend, who has shared his defensive philosophy with Meyer during his coaching days at Notre Dame and with Meyer’s staff as recently as two seasons ago following Florida’s season of defensive struggles in 2007.
In case you’ve forgotten, here’s a little of what Kiffin had to say back at his introductory press conference about ending Tennessee’s current four-game losing streak to Florida.
“I’m really looking forward to embracing some of the great traditions at the University of Tennessee,” Kiffin said. “For instance, the Vol Walk, running through the T, singing ‘Rocky Top’ all night long after we beat Florida next year.”
And then, of course, these words from Kiffin at a boosters’ club breakfast following National Signing Day when he gloated about being able to convince Pahokee High School wide receiver Nu’Keese Richardson to drop his verbal commitment to Florida and sign with the Volunteers.
“I’m going to turn Florida in right now in front of you,” Kiffin told the crowd. “Nu’Keese was here on campus and his phone kept ringing. One of our coaches said, ‘Nu’Keese, who’s that?’ He said, ‘Urban Meyer.’ Just so you know, when a recruit is on another campus, you can’t call him. I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn’t get him.”
Of course, Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and the NCAA didn’t love the fact that Kiffin was spouting off about Florida cheating and didn’t realize that Meyer had done nothing wrong. Kiffin apologized – if that’s what you want to call it – but was still sticking to his guns at the SEC Meetings in Destin, Ala., in late May.
“Everybody has to have their own way of handling things and heavens knows I’ve made my share of mistakes with the media,” Kiffin said. “Do I love everything I had to do to get us to this point? No, I don’t. But we had an immediate impact. We couldn’t have sat back in the weeks and hoped we signed a top 10 class in a couple of years.”
This was after Kiffin was asked what his relationship was with Meyer.
“I don’t have a relationship with coach Meyer, but I did ask for adjoining rooms,” he joked.
Meyer, of course, is still not laughing. When asked Sunday on his weekly teleconference call with state and national media if he was surprised that Monte Kiffin’s son would say those things about him and the Florida program, he was quick to answer.
“Yes it did actually,” Meyer said. “That’s one of the only comments I’m going to make, just because I was fairly close with his father and I just know the way he is. Like I said, that’s all over with. Coach Monte Kiffin and myself have a very good relationship.”
And that’s how the teleconference ended, leaving writers to wonder if Meyer was sending a message, if indeed he has forgotten the verbal slaps. But Meyer also admitted he revisited those past comments by Kiffin with his team following its 56-6 victory over Troy that moved Florida to 2-0 this season.
“I talked to them about it last night,” Meyer said. “Every time it comes up, I remind them that it’s about personnel and that’s all that matters. What makes the SEC great is not the coaches but the players. The University of Florida’s focus will be that.
“To me, that’s all water under the bridge,” Meyer added about Kiffin’s past words. “It happened a long time ago. We’re going to try to move the ball against a very good Tennessee. They have two good backs. That (the comments) has nothing to do with this.”
IF NOT FOR KIFFIN: Meyer was asked about the Tennessee rivalry and how he keeps it fresh.
“There’s such an emphasis here, created by us, that it’s all about the SEC, winning the East and getting to Atlanta,” he said. “When it became a rivalry, you have to go back to the 1990s when it was whoever won this game generally went to Atlanta. The timing (it’s both teams’ first SEC game) and the history of the game have made this rivalry significant.”
But as Meyer realizes, Tennessee isn’t the only SEC rival of the Gators. There’s Georgia, there’s LSU and now there’s South Carolina, which is coached by Florida’s Ol’ Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier. It’s not like the days when Meyer was head coach at Bowling Green and Utah.
“We had one big rival at both schools,” he said. “At Bowling Green it was Toledo and at Utah it was BYU (Brigham Young). We went overboard at those places (on rivalry week). Here, we challenge them (his players) by saying it’s another SEC opponent.”
THOMPSON UPDATE: Meyer says team doctors and the training staff believe that Deonte Thompson’s injury – it looked like he tweeked a hamstring on his second touchdown reception of the day and was carried off the field by, among others, quarterback Tim Tebow – is nothing more than a bad leg cramp. “Usually when you have a muscle pull, you don’t have strength,” Meyer said. “(Deonte) had plenty of strength. We’re hoping it was a hydration issue. We had three tough days of practice and then we had the weather conditions Saturday. They (doctors and training staff) expect him to be probable this week.”
If Thompson is unable to go, Meyer said that senior David Nelson would move into his position and most likely be backed up by redshirt freshman Omarius Hines, who has impressed the staff with his play in the last two games.
“(Hines) had injuries to his legs, so he couldn’t participate in the spring, and the injuries have been off and on this fall,” Meyer admitted. “But he’s started to come on of late. We’ve seen the talent he has, plus he’s a good guy. He’s not in the (wide receiver) rotation yet, but he’s close.”
NO NUKING NU’KEESE: Thompson hails from Belle Glade, not far from Pahokee, where Tennessee freshman receiver Nu’Keese Richardson played his high school football. Richardson, of course, spurned Florida at the last minute to sign with Kiffin and the Volunteers.
“Great player, a guy who committed to us for a long time, a good guy,” Meyer said. “Near the end, a lot of it had to do with playing time. Great player. (But that’s) the cost of doing business. We’ve had it the other way. We get really close to these guys. When you get close and that happens, it frustrates you. But it’s the cost of doing business.”