The Gator Bowl (or should we call it the Urban Meyer Bowl) will match the Florida gators against the Big Ten’s Ohio State. The game, on Jan. 2, 2012, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, will match Meyer’s former and current employers. Buy Florida v Ohio State Tickets
“Urban Meyer being hired is just another element to create more attention [for the bowl game],” said Gator Bowl chairman Greg Smith. “I think it creates more interest in the game so I think that’s going to help us on ticket sales and overall national media attention.”
Florida coach Will Muschamp said that playing against their former coach will not be a distraction for the Florida players, even though most of them were recruited by and played for Meyer.
“I don’t think it’ll be any distraction,” Muschamp said. “We’ve moved on. Urban did a great job in his time at the University of Florida. Very appreciative of what he did, but again, we’ve moved on and we’re looking forward to playing in the game.”
While this is a dream match-up for the Gator Bowl, and national media and ESPN who will televise it, this has to be a nightmare matchup for Muschamp.
Meyer compiled a 65-15 record in six seasons in Gainesville and two national championships. He left Gainesville after last season, citing health concerns and a desire to spend more time with his family, and became a college football analyst for ESPN. He walked away from the network last weekend and was officially introduced Monday as Ohio State’s next head coach.
Muschamp replaced Meyer last December and has struggled to pick up the pieces from Meyer’s last season in charge, The Gators lost six of their last eight games, and had to rally to beat lower-division Furman last month.
Muschamp called his team “soft” last week and has had to deal with an exodus of players leaving the football program since he took over as head coach. Two more players announced earlier this week that they will leave the program for another school, giving UF 11 transfers since Muschamp took over. Buy Florida v Ohio State Tickets
