On to the Goal

Due to life circumstances and general laziness, I missed a number of actual interesting items last week, the most interesting of which came from Smart Football (not really a surprise anymore, is it?). In his latest post, Chris shares a video of the “shovel option,” which Florida famously unleashed for drive-saving first downs at several critical moments in the SEC and BCS title games. This particular video, however, was filmed juuuuust a few years earlier:

Look familiar? Yep, The Bear was one smart guy.

There are obviously some differences between the two plays that Chris and a couple of the commenters can explain far better than I. But to me, this is the latest example of how the term “innovator” is so frequently misused when referring to football coaches. This misnomer is especially common when talking heads discuss Meyer. In the lead of his pièce de résistance on the “Urban Meyer Offense,” Chris explained it perfectly. I’ll reprint it at length here because it’s so good, but please read the full post if you haven’t done so already. Emphasis mine.

The book “Spread Formation Football,” written by Coach Meyer, begins with the line: “Spread formations are not new to football.” Very true.

Wait, I should have been more specific. “Spread Formation Football” was written in 1952 by Coach Dutch Meyer of TCU. Yet that Meyer’s edict applies with as much force to today’s Coach Meyer as it did then, if not more so, because it highlights a simple truth. Urban Meyer, and his offensive coordinator, Dan Mullen, are not geniuses, nor are they innovators. Indeed, Florida’s offense is not new; it is not novel; it is not even that unique. Urban Meyer would agree and say, that’s okay. His offense may not be new; it is merely very, very good.

I highlighted those two sentences because I think they help distill the point down to it’s simplest form: Meyer isn’t inventing new schemes, he’s merely bundling them in a way to make the most effective use of the (admittedly prodigious) talents of his players.

As if the whole “loyalty” tiff wasn’t enough Urban Meyer drama this offseason, Steve Spurrier (perhaps inadvertently) kicked up the whole “Meyer to Notre Dame” talk on Paul Finebaum’s radio show last week.

Well we learned Friday that Urban Meyer has a quote for us: He isn’t going to Notre Dame.

Meyer, who has been embroiled in a controversy over remarks he made at a Gator Club two weeks ago, said he didn’t know what Spurrier was talking about when the former UF coach called Friday.

“I didn’t know what he was getting at,” Meyer said. “Here’s a quote for you - I am not going to Notre Dame. There’s gotta be something else going on in sports. Isn’t there car racing going on?”

Yeah, there’s other stuff going on in the sports scene, even if you don’t care about the basketball or hockey playoffs. But for whatever reason, the rumor mill often trumps other newsworthy events, sometimes even the actual games. Two seasons ago the media focused incessantly on whether Les Miles would leave LSU for Michigan and that was mere hours before the Tigers took to the field to play for a national championship. Like it or not, even if there is actual news to report, this crap is going to be discussed.

The Meyer-Notre Dame rumor will never die, but it should go into hibernation until at least the end of the 2009 season. Florida may be engaged in an unprecedented run of success (in modern times, at least) while Notre Dame is struggling to maintain its grip as an elite program. The good news for Gator fans, however, is that though the Irish may be struggling, they’ll at least appear to be elite in 2009. Check out this schedule:

09/05/09	vs. Nevada	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
09/12/09	at Michigan	Ann Arbor, Mich.	TBA
09/19/09	vs. Michigan State	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
09/26/09	at Purdue	West Lafayette, Ind.	8:00 p.m. ET
10/03/09	vs. Washington	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
10/17/09	vs. USC	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
10/24/09	vs. Boston College	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
10/31/09	vs. Washington State	San Antonio, Texas	7:30 p.m. ET
11/07/09	vs. Navy	Notre Dame, Ind.	2:30 p.m. ET
11/14/09	at Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, Pa.	TBA
11/21/09	vs. Connecticut	Notre Dame, Ind.	2:30 p.m. ET
11/28/09	at Stanford	Palo Alto, Calif.	5:00 p.m. PT

To recap

• Two terrible BCS teams: Washington, Washington State
• Two somewhat dangerous but ultimately beatable non-BCS schools: Nevada, Navy
• Two decent 2008 outfits that will be without their playmaking running backs: Pitt, Connecticut
• Four bad-to-mediocre BCS teams: Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Stanford
• One respectable BCS foe: Boston College
• One date with EXTREME DEATH: USC

Against that schedule, anything less than 10-2 would be a disappointment. And frankly, I have a hard time seeing how the Irish could do any worse than 9-3 and a Gator Bowl or somesuch. If I’m right, it will be awfully hard to justify getting rid of Charlie Weis and thus almost impossible to pry Meyer away from Gainesville. Just to be on the safe side, it might be best to forgo Schadenfreude and say “Go Irish” a few times this fall.

Highly suspect rumors are swirling that former Gator quarterback Cam Newton may be interested in transferring to Tennessee. The rumor appears to have started over on Losers With Socks on May 6 and has picked up a bit of steam on message boards and other random Internet backwaters since. Fowler threw some cold water on it with today’s post, indicating that “a source close to Newton” says talks have occurred decision won’t be made until the end of summer. Mississippi State

The only “journalist-y” report we have seems to indicate this is far from a done deal, so until further notice I’m going with my gut and assuming that Newton’s enduring legacy with Florida and Tennessee fans will be this:

The Shane Matthews story? I don’t hear anything… LA LA LA LA LA LA

I’m still ignoring the bizarre Urban Meyer vs. Shane Matthews “don’t criticize the team” story, even though it STILL refuses to die. I’m giving it one more week and if it’s still percolating, I’ll address the story and, ironically, become part of the problem. Until then, Orson Swindle gives you everything you need and more. Fine work, sir.

How the 2006 and 2008 Gators stack up against the rest of the Aughts

ATL blogger Birds & Braves took a look at how each champion this decade stacks up based on metrics such as yards per play gained and allowed. It’s all interesting stuff, particularly the part about the 2008 Gators being so dominant from this statistical perspective.

Barry Tramel contradicts himself. Universe implodes.

I go out of my way not to unnecessarily rip sports columnists, but Barry Tramel of the Daily Oklahoman has always rubbed me the wrong way, mainly for how douchey he was during the whole OKC-NBA-franchise-jacking saga. Now he is defending the Big 12’s bizarre tiebreaker by going after the SEC’s beloved formula, and this aggression will not stand, man:

ESPN voices rallied around the Southeastern Conference tiebreaker, which goes by the BCS unless the top two teams are within five spots of each other, which then reverts to head-to-head. Quantum physics are more easily explained.

Uhm, no they aren’t. In fact, you just explained the SEC’s three-way tiebreaker in perfect detail. In one sentence. It really is that simple. So to Tramel, the Big 12 formula would go from being “a fine tiebreak” to “quantum physics” with the addition of one extra step. Yes, I know he’s a columnist and not a newsgatherer but this is why people think we don’t need newspapers. I’m a journa-nerd at heart, but man, that’s hard to defend.

UPDATE: No, the SEC tiebreaker is not fair, either. I think it’s slightly better, but that’s not the point. It may be unfair, but it’s not quantum physics.

Yes, Urban Meyer is officially on Twitter. Cower in fear:

http://twitter.com/CoachUrbanMeyer

Something tells me that having to do this type of thing pisses Meyer off to no end, but he does it for the same reason everyone else (save for maybe Pete Carroll) is doing it: Recrootin’. Apparently everyone believes Twitter is an effective recruiting tool. (Judging by the background, so too is Obama.)

Frankly, I’m a little too far removed to know what high school kids think of the technology, but the consensus seems to be, “they like it.” So away we go…