Sugar Bowl-ed Over

That was my hacky attempt at a headline that people will use as Cincinnati went down in flames to the Florida Gators 51-24. There will be a write up tomorrow morning, and then a basketball preview around 2. This one sucked. Right Jeff Quinn?

Getty Images/Matthew Stockman

Urban Meyer stepping down at Florida

NOTE: Urban Meyer is not leaving Florida. He's taking a leave of absence. But, still coaching the Sugar Bowl. And may still coach next season. It's an odd situation to say the least. (12.27)

(AJC.COM)

In news that rocked the college football landscape, Urban Meyer will coach his last game at Florida January 1 against the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl. The reasons for Meyer leaving are said to be health related. It's not known at this time if it had anything to do with his hospitalization after the SEC championship game. Meyer had a piece in SI where he said he had a cyst on his brain, but it wasn't life threatening. I have seen this mentioned a few times on a few sites, but no one really knows what's happening.

To repeat, Meyer will coach against Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl. This adds a huge layer to the game Friday. The Sugar Bowl is racked with coaching turmoil, from Cincinnati having Brian Kelly leave, to Butch Jones being coach and not coaching, to Jeff Quinn accepting the Buffalo job, and now Urban Meyer is stepping down from Florida. Here is what Meyer had to say about everything in a released statement by Florida.

“I have given my heart and soul to coaching college football and mentoring young men for the last 24-plus years and I have dedicated most of my waking moments the last five years to the Gator football program,” said Meyer. “I have ignored my health for years, but recent developments have forced me to re-evaluate my priorities of faith and family.”

“After consulting with my family, Dr. Machen, Jeremy Foley and my doctors, I believe it is in my best interest to step aside and focus on my health and family.

 “I’m proud to be a part of the Gainesville community and the Gator Nation and I plan to remain in Gainesville and involved with the University of Florida.

“I’m very appreciative for the opportunity I’ve had to be a part of a tremendous institution – from Dr. Machen to Jeremy Foley and the entire administrative staff at UF. I’m also very thankful for the chance to work with some of the best assistants in college football and coach some of the best college football players and watch them grow both on and off the field as people. I will cherish the relationships with them the most.”

 And here's AD Jeremy Foley, by the Palm Beach Post (HT: Alligator Army)

“Coach Meyer and I have talked this through and I realize how hard this was for him to reach this decision,” Foley said. “But, the bottom line is that Coach Meyer needed to make a choice that is in the best interest of his well being and his family. I certainly appreciate what he has meant to the University of Florida, our football program and the Gator Nation. I have never seen anyone more committed to his players, his family and his program. Above all, I appreciate our friendship.”

UC Game of the Decade

(Credit: The great, great Warming Glow)

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this blog. Thanks for reading. This post is going to combine some news, and a preview of what's to come on the site for the rest of the year. This one has flown by hasn't it? Let's hit this with bullet points, because everyone likes them right?

• New Cincinnati football coach Butch Jones has hired his offensive and defensive coordinators. Offensively it's Mike Bajakian, who last held the job at Central Michigan. There are co-defensive coordinators, Tim Banks and John Jancek. Banks was also at Central Michigan a season a go. Jancek was at the University of Georgia, where he was also a co-ordinator. Nice to see Coach Jones getting some quality people in here. 
• Current Cincinnati interim coach Jeff Quinn has taken the head coach job at Buffalo. He will still coach the Sugar Bowl. The Sugar Bowl is being a big clusterfuck coach wise. With Brian Kelly leaving, and Jones not having much of anything to do with the game, and now Quinn is out getting other jobs. It's a very weird situation. And it's one that I don't think is going to have the best of benefits for the Bearcats. Although, an article was written here about how the team is staying focused with all the turmoil. 
• There will be a Sugar Bowl preview on New Year's Day. Depending on my fluctuating plans, there may be some live blog action. 
• The basketball team is done for the next week, but there will be a preview on Wednesday and a write up of the UConn game either Wednesday night or Thursday. Best idea, just click refresh a whole lot. 
• Speaking of hoops, the school announced a reward system for students who attend games. Depending on the attendance on some of the conference games, there is going to be an attendance article. 6,000 fans is pathetic. Get out there students, you can win season tickets for football next year. 

I'm going to do a little something special the next week. I'm going to roll out a list of the best players of the decade for basketball. Why not one for football? Because the list would be everyone from the last 2 seasons. I remember going to Nippert and running around the area around the stadium and not caring about the game. My friends and I would always move close to to the bench of the visiting team, because our tickets were always on the visiting side. But all that changed. The past 3 seasons, the Nip has been full. It was remarkable watching UC-UConn get top billing on ABC on a Saturday night over Oklahoma-Nebraska. UC played a prominent game the day after Thanksgiving. And a road game at Pitt that the whole nation watched. It was truly the best time to be a UC fan ever. Here are the winners for coach, player, and team of the decade.

Football coach of the Decade: Brian Kelly

Football player of the Decade: Mardy Gilyard

Football team of the Decade: 2009.

Finally, the game of the decade. Not just for football, but for all Cincinnati sports. The 45-44 win over Pittsburgh to win the Big East title.

Oh Say Did UC?

The day of the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati de facto Big East championship game, some Big East bloggers came up with names for fake UC blogs. One of them, was Oh Say Can UC. In this post where I link stories from around the world about UC, I'm going to take that name and tweak it. Will I come up with a better name soon? Maybe. 


Today was a slow news day, so every sports site came out with their All American teams. Mardy Gilyard landed on a bunch of these lists. The AP had him second team. The Sporting News had Mardy on the 2nd team and linebacker Andre Revels on the 3rd team. Rivals had Mardy 2nd team WR and kick returner. Jeff Linkenbach was 3rd team at offensive line. SI had Mardy 1st team as All Purpose.

Jeff Quinn had a Sugar Bowl press conference today. Some highlights (from Lance McAlister's twitter) Picture courtesy of the AP.

• All scholarships offered will be honored...nobody has reneged that i'm aware of
• message doesn't change...just comes from different voice
•  I stand before you as the next man in.....this is the senior's football team..we need them to step up and lead, be mature...i trust them
• nd came looking for bk...he wasn't searching out other places
• we gave brian the menu and he had a feel for what he wanted to do...that sheet is the work of me and the off coaches

In that same vain, Brian Bennett at ESPN conducted an interview with Quinn. Here is part 1. And part 2.
Cory Giger wrote an article about the Big 10 expanding. His suggestion: Cincinnati. Nippert Stadium is really small by Big 10 standards. They would probably have to build a new stadium, or play at PBS or something. I'm not really sure how that would work. 
Rounding around to basketball, the Bearcats ranked 25 in the AP poll and fell out of the ESPN/USA Today top 25, but were the top team receiving votes. 
The great, great, great Rush the Court blog was at the Crosstown Shootout Sunday. Along with their excellent game coverage, there was this fantastic article by John Stevens about his experience. I recommend this highly.
Also, the very, very good Pat Forde wrote about the game on ESPN.com, calling it one of America's great rivalries. 
There was a very handsome man who wrote about the Shootout as well. 
That's all for today. Look for the UAB breakdown tomorrow, and then a write up on Wednesday night/Thursday. Thanks for reading. 

Goodbye Brian Kelly, Hello....

(photo courtesy of the AP/Keith Srakocic)
Everyone knows the news that the best coach in Cincinnati history took a lateral move today and went to Notre Dame. Brian Kelly has nothing but the fullest of my respect for what he's done here. He has shaped the coarse of Cincinnati football for years to come. He took a basketball school and made it a football school. Some of that has to do with UC basketball fans being front running jagoffs, but Kelly helped turn the tide. As good a coach as Mark Dantonio is, he would have never lead fucking Cincinnati to the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. (Quick side note. Cincinnati has sold out all of their allotted Sugar Bowl tickets. Kudos UC fans. Start supporting basketball front runners.) Words can not express what Brian Kelly and his offensive machine have done for the university and for the fans. Thank you Brian Kelly, I hope you go down in flames. Seriously, fuck Notre Dame. Like we needed anymore reasons. 
That brings us to the second part of the post. Who should the new Cincinnati coach be? Lance McAlister reported, and then redacted, a post saying Kerry Combs would coach the bowl game. I'm 1,000,000% certain Kelly won't coach the Sugar Bowl. I believe I said it already. But, that doesn't answer who the coach should be. Lance and Bill Koch offered up their replacements. Both had Skip Holtz, Butch Jones, Jeff Quinn and Chris Peterson. Lance also threw in Kevin Sumlin, Al Golden, Pat Hill, Turner Gill, Brady Hoke, Kerry Combs, Tommy Tuberville, Phil Fulmer and Jeff Jagoffazinski. Let's assume these are the 10 candidates. I will rank them in the order that I want to see them here coaching.

1. Chris Peterson, Boise State coach. Chances: 1%. I have no idea why he would leave when he can go undefeated forever and be the greatest coach in Boise history. He can probably go to Michigan if they fire Rich Rod next year.
2. Turner Gill, Buffalo coach. Chances: 58%. Buffalo had a down year, so this one could be a reach. However, I fell in love with Turner Gill last season and thought he was the man for Auburn. I think he is the hire if the Cats can't get Peterson.
3. Butch Jones, Central Michigan coach. Chances: 63%. He had one of the best statistical QBs in NCAA history in Dan Lefevour. He runs a similar system to the one that we had this year, and I think he could make Zach Collaros a superstar. If I didn't have irrational TG love, Jones would be #2.
4. Kevin Sumlin, Houston coach. Chances: 32% I don't see him making the move. He has a high powered Houston offense, but they are a system team, and I'm not sure that he would be the right fit here. I don't see that system working. 
5. Jeff Quinn, Cincinnati assistant. Chances: 20% For continuation, it would be nice if he came along, but I can't see it happening. I think he's going to join Kelly in losing at Notre Dame
6. Skip Holtz, East Carolina coach. Chances: 74%. I think Holtz is going to be the choice. I'm not really sold on him, but he is winning at ECU, and if you can win there, you can win anywhere. I liked what I saw in the Conference USA championship game. They play Arkansas in a bowl game that I don't remember the name of, and if they win, I think he should get the job. If you can beat an SEC team with ECU, you deserve a BCS job. 
7. Tommy Tuberville, No Job. Chances: 40% yeah a round number. I think TT would hold off for a job in the south rather than come to Cincinnati. He is the most interesting coach for the situation. He can recruit, or hire people to recruit, and he should have won a national title. I think this should be the first offer, and when he secretly turns it down or shows no interest, move on to Holtz or Gill. 
8. Kerry Combs, assistant UC. Chances: 16% He would jump on the job like a dude on prom night. He was the coach at Colerain a few years ago, and although they won, he's not exactly a young fresh coach. If he beats Florida though, he moves up to #7. In all seriousness, if he coaches and beats Florida, I hope the university doesn't Bill Stewart him into the full time job. That would be stone to drag UC right back to wherever they were before Kelly brought them to the top.
9. Phil Fulmer, No Job. Chances: 50% I think fatty Fulmer would jump at the job like it's a cheeseburger. I don't want him to be the coach. I think he's a terrible coach in the modern age. During the 90s, he was a great coach. In the 00s, he sucks. He lost to fucking Wyoming with Tennessee. Wyoming's QB played at Indiana State this year and was the shittiest QB I saw play. And I watched Will Stein. 
10. Jeff Jagoffzinski, No Job. Chances: 0%. He's a jerk off.