Gators beware: Spurrier still has 'It'

I remember it like it was yesterday, the scene four years ago when Steve Spurrier swaggered into the interview room after his team had knocked Florida out of a chance to win the SEC East.

"The headlines in the Florida papers oughta be, 'Guess who's rooting for Auburn now?' " Spurrier said.

Auburn was playing Georgia that night. Florida had hoped an Auburn win would elevate the Gators into the title game, but South Carolina ended those hopes with a 30-22 win. The Gamecocks still had a chance to win the East, but a Georgia win over Kentucky the following week sent the Bulldogs to Atlanta.

I take you back there to that miserable day for the Gator Nation as a point of reference.

Steve Spurrier was in his first year as the Gamecocks coach, and the program appeared on the rise. Just think what he'd do when he got his own players in there. And it was especially painful for Florida fans to see one of their own stick it to them.

Back then, it still mattered that he was the Great Gator. Today, not so much.

Because today isn't about Florida vs. the Ball Coach.

It's about Florida vs. whoever is next.

Let's go back again to that day. We wondered about Urban Meyer. He had lost for the third time on the road in his first season. There was no sense of urgency on a late 17-play drive that ended in a field goal with only 2:51 to play.

"We were exposed as a bad football team that day," Meyer said.

Nobody walking out of that stadium could have foreseen where the two coaches would be four years later.

Since that game, Spurrier is 27-23 and boasting about being bowl eligible for the fifth straight year.

Since that game, Urban Meyer is 46-6 and has acquired some major bling.

Spurrier's abilities are being questioned. The columnist in Columbia, Ron Morris, wrote this week that the South Carolina administration "would be nuts" to let the Ball Coach go.

Who'd have thought he'd ever need defending?

Back in Florida, Mike Bianchi wrote in the Orlando Sentinel he hopes Spurrier retires so South Carolina won't run him out like some at Florida State are trying to run out Bobby Bowden.

There is a similarity. A coach who was once dominant struggling to just get his team over .500 and dealing with a fan base questioning why his son is calling plays.

The difference, of course, is Spurrier is still coaching his rear off and there doesn't seem to be any question he'll be around for awhile.

But you can't help but wonder one thing — why?

Look, I got it when Spurrier went to South Carolina. I'm one of the few people who believe he wanted nothing to do with a return to Florida to try to recapture past glory. He wanted to build something where nothing significant had been built.

The stadium was there, the fan base there, it was the SEC East where he had familiarity with the teams he'd be competing against.

But why has it not worked?

Everyone has a theory.

* It's the culture of Columbia, where the players just don't buy into it 100 percent and the fans are ready to abandon ship at the first sign of adversity.

* It's tough to recruit to South Carolina with a small state and a group of kids out there who aren't aware of the good times at Florida.

* The game has passed Spurrier by. The plays that used to work at Florida have been figured out. When he came into the league it took a long time for defenses to adjust. But he's not lining up Ike Hilliard in the slot anymore with a linebacker trying to cover him. Defenses are much more sophisticated these days.

* The Redskins experience knocked the It-factor out of him.

* The passion isn't there. He still wants to win but he doesn't have to win the way he did at Florida. Florida is his school. South Carolina is his job. "I pull for the Gators every week but this one," he said this week.

* He hasn't been able to find a quarterback that can do what Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel, Rex Grossman, et al, were able to do.

I don't know if any or all of these theories have some truth to them. Maybe they all have a little.

I also know it would be easy for Meyer to smirk at the different directions these two teams have gone, except Spurrier is one of his good friends in this business and he has tremendous respect for him.

I also know Florida had better be ready to play today. Because the one thing I do believe is Spurrier has not lost It.

It's still there.

Right next to his feelings about his alma mater.

"They know we're going to try to win the game," Spurrier said. "Hopefully, everyone understands that."

Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at dooleyp@gvillesun.com and follow at http://Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley.