The folks in Jacksonville surely expected a better fan response when they matched Urban Meyer’s old school against Urban Meyer’s new school in the Gator Bowl.  Unfortunately for the selection committee, like Meyer, it seems many UF fans won’t be in the stadium for the game.

The Gainesville Sun reports that Florida has sold just 8,000 of its allotted 15,000 tickets to the January 2nd bowl game. 

For all the talk of “best fans in the world” — and every SEC school claims that — the reality is that the majority of fans won’t spend, attend, or travel unless their school is winning.  That’s true all across the league.

And at Florida, 6-6 is not considered winning.

A tip of the cap to Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel today for digging up the following quote from Urban Meyer, given during the 24-hour period of his first “retirement” from Florida in December of 2009:


“I made this clear to Jeremy Foley, if I am able to go coach, I want to coach at one place, the University of Florida.  It would be a travesty, it would be ridiculous to all of a sudden come back and get the feeling back, get the health back, feel good again and then all of a sudden go throw some other colors on my shirt and go coach.  I don’t want to do that.  I have too much love for this university and these players and for what we’ve built.”


Uh, well, er, uh…

Florida officials like Foley continue to say the right things regarding the ex-Gator coach.  And even a prominent UF booster — who is still friends with Meyer — says the coach appears to be in good health again.  He also said that he believes Meyer “has always acted up front.”

Maybe so.  But it’s going to be a bit odd this fall when Meyer throws some other colors on his shirt and goes back to coaching.

If you flipped by ESPN this weekend, you likely saw reports that “sources close to Urban Meyer and Ohio State” had told the network that the former Florida coach — and current ESPN employee — had been talking with OSU officials about their head coaching position.

But Meyer told The Gainesville Sun today that that’s just not true.

“The concerns are still there,” he said.  “Number one, my health.  Number two, my family.  Number three, the state of college football.”  But then he told the paper the following:

“I’ve done some research into the second one.  I’ve found that it is possible to have balance between your job and your family, that there are coaches out there who are doing it.

I’m in a good place right now mentally and physically.  So if something happens with Ohio State, I’ll have a decision to make.  But there has been no interview.  There has been no offer to make s decision about.”

Well that’s as clear as mud.  We find it hard to believe that ESPN would run a story about one of its analysts before actually checking with that employee.

So it’s possible the Meyer has spoken with OSU and he’s simply splitting hairs as to what should and should not be considered an “interview.”

It’s also possible that word got out before Meyer told his family of his talks.  That’s pure speculation, of course, but Meyer decided — before speaking with his family — to return after a one-day retirement from Florida in December of 2009.

Regardless of what Meyer specifically says, it certainly sounds like he’s getting that old coaching itch again… and that if Ohio State makes him an offer he’ll strongly consider it.

We wonder, however, if OSU officials have paid attention to:

1.  What Meyer did at Florida without Tim Tebow (not much)

2.  What Meyer left behind at Florida (a team capable of struggling with Furman)

Arkansas 44 – Mississippi State 17

1. School record 32 completions  for 365 yards and three touchdowns for Tyler Wilson.

2. A big day for a trio of Arkansas receivers –  aka the Warren Commission.

3. Only a last-minute touchdown spares the Bulldogs from the most lopsided loss in the Dan Mullen era.

4. Is Friday’s Arkansas-LSU game a play-in for the BCS championship game?

LSU 52 – Ole Miss 3

5. For the first time in school history, LSU is  11-0 and 7-0 in conference play.

6. Tigers take a knee on four consecutive downs.

7. Largest loss margin for Ole Miss since 1974.

8. Scott Rabalais on LSU – Arkansas:  ”(I)t’s the Razorbacks who should be worried most.”

9. Stewart Mandel: “Welcome to the SEC West Invitational.”

Tennessee 27 – Vanderbilt 21 (OT)

10. Vols win overtime game on a correct reversed call on a non-reviewable play.

11. First defensive return for a touchdown in overtime since 2005.

12. Derek Dooley: Win a “big step for our program.” David Climer: “Since when is beating Vanderbilt — at Neyland Stadium, no less — a big step?”

13. John Adams: “The Commodores committed enough errors to lose two games in the first half.”

14.   Both teams have to win next week in order to be bowl eligible.

Extras:

15. Lee Corso drops the F-bomb.

16. Sorting out the Urban Meyer to Ohio State rumors. They won’t end anytime soon.

17. ”I wonder if Nick (Saban) left me a phone message,” (Lane) Kiffin said. “He likes me.”

In a very short period of time, Gus Malzahn has built a reputation for being one of the nation’s top offensive gurus.  His rapid-fire attack helped fast-track him from the high school ranks all the way to the SEC as a coordinator.  And last year he became a top head coaching candidate as his Auburn offense rolled to a BCS title.

But just how unstoppable is his offense in reality? 

Below are Auburn’s offensive rankings in four main categories in 2009, 2010 and 2011.  We look only at the Tigers’ results against SEC foes (SEC rank in parentheses):

Think Cam Newton made a difference for Malzahn?  Across the board, Auburn was better last year than in either of the offensive coordinators’ other two seasons on The Plains.

The Tigers rushed for 86 more yards per game.  They passed for 15 more yards per game .  They rolled up 101 more yards per game overall.  And they scored 15 points per game more with Newton than without.  Two touchdowns a game can make a heckuva difference in a squad’s final record.

Not all of that is Malzahn’s fault, of course.  Urban Meyer looked better with Tim Tebow, too.  Special players make special coaches.

And that is our overall point.  Without a special quarterback, Malzahn appears to know how to run the football well, but his teams score at a middle-of-the-pack pace in the SEC.

As a head coach away from the SEC and its brutal defenses — say at North Carolina in the so-so ACC — Malzahn may set the world on fire.  But inside his current conference, it appears Auburn’s OC needs a very special, dual threat quarterback to make his offense truly hum.

Malzahn’s a good offensive coordinator, but genius?  We’ll need to see some more big numbers before we go that far.

1.  Florida’s Charlie Weis says his offense doesn’t look like a 5-5 unit, but “you are what you are.”

2.  Urban Meyer reportedly met with Arizona AD Greg Byrne before turning down the Wildcats head coaching job.

3.  Kentucky will face Maryland next year in the first college basketball game to be held in the Brooklyn Nets’ new arena. 

4.  Georgia’s Todd Grantham says he’s focused on coaching, not contract extensions…

5.  But this writer believes Grantham instructed his agent to start angling for a new deal.

6.  Les Miles thinks Houston Nutt will land on his feet because “quality coaches will end up in great jobs.”

Matt Hayes of The Sporting News won’t be getting a Christmas card from Urban Meyer this holiday season.  Hayes has decided that it’s time for Will Muschamp to come right out and say what’s wrong with the Gators’ program as it suffers through its second-straight five-loss season.  That being — in Hayes’ words – that it’s all Urban Meyer’s fault:

“That’s right, the guy who won two national titles in six years at Florida left Muschamp with a heaping pile of I’m getting out of Dodge before it gets really bad.

– Florida has two (constantly injured) 180-pound tailbacks in a physical, grinding league.

– Florida doesn’t have a wide receiver that can get open, beat coverage and consistently makes plays.  Much less catch the ball.

– Florida doesn’t have a true defensive end on the entire squad.

– Florida doesn’t have a legitimate offensive tackle; a significant issue since the new pro-style offense is built around throwing off play-action.

– Florida has 65 scholarship players (20 under the NCAA limit).”

Ouch.  Of course, it’s hard to argue with anything Hayes writes.  Since Tim Tebow’s senior season, we’ve been writing on MrSEC.com that the Gators have been unable to develop skill players to put around their signal-caller.

This year, it’s become clear that skill players weren’t the only problem in Gainesville.

Former Florida coach Urban Meyer has become the most talked about potential coach at two of America’s top football programs — first Ohio State and now Penn State.

But Meyer poured a sprinkle or two of cold water on such talk yesterday when he released this very short statement:

“I am very happy with my role at ESPN.  I have no plans to return to coaching at this time.”

The “At this time” part will definitely get cause the most talk.

We at MrSEC.com have maintained that we do not believe Meyer will immediately jump back into coaching next season.  We could be wrong — as we were in expecting a half-game suspension for LSU’s Tyrann Mathieu this week — but Meyer’s comments regarding his family and their reaction to his departure from coaching suggest he’ll spend at least one more season at home.

We shall see.

Under normal circumstances, it’s not wise to try and follow a legend.  But replacing Joe Paterno might not be as tough now as it always appeared that it would be.  And whoever steps in at State College will inherit a team that’s currently got just one loss on its record (to Alabama).  In other words, the cupboard won’t be bare and there are no NCAA vultures circling overhead (as would be the case at Ohio State).

So guess whose now being mentioned as Paterno’s successor by anyone and everyone today?  Yep, former Florida coach Urban Meyer.

The Philadelphia Inquirer:  Who will take the reins of Penn State’s football program?

“Former Florida coach Urban Meyer appears to be the overwhelming favorite to become the new head coach.”

The Gainesville Sun:  Could Meyer go to Penn State?

“I do miss (coaching).  I miss a lot of things about it, but I also am really enjoying another part, that’s I get to watch my kids play sports.”

The Orlando Sentinel:  Could former Florida coach Urban Meyer replace Joe Paterno at Penn State?

“Surely, Meyer will be high on Penn State’s list.  But with a scandal unlike any seen before in college sports, will replacing Paterno be something that Meyer wants?”

That is a key point.

Students rioted last night over the news that Paterno had been fired (and they should have been tear-gassed and billy-sticked as a result of flipping a news van over and endangering lives over a football issue).  But students would forget JoePa in heartbeat and profess their undying loyalty to Meyer if he signed on with the Nittany Lions.  Such is youth.

The big issue for Meyer might be the administration.  Who will be the new athletic director?  Who will be the new president?  When will those jobs be filled permanently and what will Meyer know of the men hired as his superiors.

From purely a football standpoint, Penn State appears to be in better shape than Ohio State.  But in terms of who Meyer would be working for… well, that’s a bit more murky.

Leading up to the season, former Florida coach Urban Meyer put a little pressure on his replacement when he said that the Gators would be “loaded” in 2011.

Now at 4-4 and trying to run a pro-style offense with spread-option players, that replacement — Will Muschamp — is saying he’s not “loaded” when it comes to people who can carry out a power run game:


“I think we’ve got to build our numbers back.  We’ve got to get better on the line of scrimmage.  It’s very difficult to try and run a power running game… right now with who we have.  And I like the guys we’ve got, but it’s just the bottom line of — you look at some situations of where we are.  It doesn’t take anybody real educated to figure it out right now.”


Muschamp may have said he likes the guys he’s got, but if you were a Gator O-lineman or running back, would you be pleased to hear those comments?