September 8, 2008

Shannon calls out UF's sportsmanship

After watching the Florida Gators run up the score in the final seconds of the game, Miami coach Randy Shannon called out Urban Meyer in a post-game interview.

"I'll just say this one statement," Shannon said on Sunday. "Sometimes when you do things, and people see what type of person you really are, you turn a lot of people off. Now, whatever you want to get out of that, I won't say it again. But it helped us. It helped us more than you'll ever know."

Despite the lead, Meyer had Tebow throwing on Florida's final drive of the game, with the Gators up 23-3. UF drove deep into Miami territory and kicked a field goal with 25 second left to play.

Meyer didn't take any shots back at the Hurricanes' coach.

"It was a great football game," Meyer said. "Why don't we talk about the players that played a great, hard-nosed football game and quit measuring up to worrying about Florida. I learned a long time ago just coach your team and take care of yourself. Special teams, offense and defense occupies all our time. So I'm good, we've got to move on."

The late pass plays were reminiscent of Meyer's decision to play his first string offense late into the third quarter of the Hawaii game, despite a 56-0 lead.

But the Heisman Trophy winner came to the defense of his coach after Shannon's comments.

"The only part that really, I guess, offended me was when he questioned Coach Meyer and I'll have Coach Meyer's back on anything and to say something like that about Coach Meyer isn't true at all. He is one of the best coaches in the game. That's why I came to the University of Florida is to play for Coach Meyer, because of the type of person he is.

"So if you want to talk about him, you should definitely talk about a lot of other coaches before Coach Meyer. You can talk about running the score up, I don't care. They are paid to stop us and (Gator offensive coordinator Dan) Mullen is paid to score. And if they don't do that? OK, oh well. But you don't have to talk about Coach Meyer as a person and getting in recruits and doing that stuff. That's not necessary. You don't have to go after him as a person. That's not necessary at all."

Tebow continued: "(Meyer) has tried to work guys into being better people on the field, off the field, never says anything bad about anybody, always tries to do the right thing. He tries to take young boys and make them into men and do the right thing. We play with character and strength on the field and off and I don't think you usually see many cheap shots or anything wrong that we do. Yeah, maybe we're going try to score through the whole game. That's our job. We like playing football.

"And when you're on the football field … we're going to try to score. We're going to be nice, we're going to shake their hands, we're going to do all that, be men. But we're not going to not try to score. I don't think that has anything to do with the type of person you are and it's not like we were up that much and we're playing the University of Miami. We're only up by two touchdowns."

All in all, I would have preferred to see the Gators take a knee with a commanding lead on their last drive, rather than try to punch in another score.

Even so, this seems like a little bit of posturing by Shannon, trying to give Canes fans a common enemy. I'm sure it resonates with a good number of the UM faithful.

Final take.... Maybe the Gators should have taken a knee. OK, but this was a rivalry game and both sides had been doing some talkin'.

The Gators own the scoreboard and that's that.

Comments:

Shannon calls out UF's sportsmanship
After watching the Florida Gators run up the score in the final seconds of the game, Miami coach Randy Shannon called out Urban Meyer in a post-game interview.
"I'll just say this one statement," Shannon said on Sunday. "Sometimes when you do things, and people see what type of person you really are, you turn a lot of people off. Now, whatever you want to get out of that, I won't say it again. But it helped us. It helped us more than you'll ever know."
Despite the lead, Meyer had Tebow throwing on Florida's final drive of the game, with the Gators up 23-3. UF drove deep into Miami territory and kicked a field goal with 25 second left to play.
Meyer didn't take any shots back at the Hurricanes' coach. "It was a great football game," Meyer said. "Why don't we talk about the players that played a great, hard-nosed football game and quit measuring up to worrying about Florida. I learned a long time ago just coach your team and take care of yourself. Special teams, offense and defense occupies all our time. So I'm good, we've got to move on."
The late pass plays were reminiscent of Meyer's decision to play his first string offense late into the third quarter of the Hawaii game, despite a 56-0 lead. But the Heisman Trophy winner came to the defense of his coach after Shannon's comments.
"The only part that really, I guess, offended me was when he questioned Coach Meyer and I'll have Coach Meyer's back on anything and to say something like that about Coach Meyer isn't true at all. He is one of the best coaches in the game. That's why I came to the University of Florida is to play for Coach Meyer, because of the type of person he is. "So if you want to talk about him, you should definitely talk about a lot of other coaches before Coach Meyer. You can talk about running the score up, I don't care. They are paid to stop us and (Gator offensive coordinator Dan) Mullen is paid to score. And if they don't do that? OK, oh well. But you don't have to talk about Coach Meyer as a person and getting in recruits and doing that stuff. That's not necessary. You don't have to go after him as a person. That's not necessary at all." Tebow continued: "(Meyer) has tried to work guys into being better people on the field, off the field, never says anything bad about anybody, always tries to do the right thing. He tries to take young boys and make them into men and do the right thing. We play with character and strength on the field and off and I don't think you usually see many cheap shots or anything wrong that we do. Yeah, maybe we're going try to score through the whole game. That's our job. We like playing football. "And when you're on the football field … we're going to try to score. We're going to be nice, we're going to shake their hands, we're going to do all that, be men. But we're not going to not try to score. I don't think that has anything to do with the type of person you are and it's not like we were up that much and we're playing the University of Miami. We're only up by two touchdowns."
All in all, I would have preferred to see the Gators take a knee with a commanding lead on their last drive, rather than try to punch in another score. Even so, this seems like a little bit of posturing by Shannon, trying to give Canes fans a common enemy. I'm sure it resonates with a good number of the UM faithful. Final take.... Maybe the Gators should have taken a knee. OK, but this was a rivalry game and both sides had been doing some talkin'. The Gators own the scoreboard and that's that.