Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer Matchup Promises Plenty of Intrigue

Article courtesy of SEC Sports Hub.

With the head ball coach making his second return to Gainesville this weekend as the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, the atmosphere promises to be intense.

Coach Steve Spurrier is nothing short of a legendary figure in Gainesville and at the University of Florida, having won the first Heisman trophy for the Gators in 1966, coached a Heisman winner in 1996, and led the Gators to their first ever National Championship.

When he returns, he’ll be squaring off against another head coach well on his way to legendary status in Gator football lore.

Coach Urban Meyer has led the Gators to a 40-9 record as their head coach, including an SEC East division title, an SEC Championship, and a BCS National Championship.

This year his team is sitting at No. 4 in the BCS standings with an 8-1 record and a great shot to play for their third National Championship.

If Meyer can win his second National Championship, he might well surpass Spurrier’s fame with Gator fans.

The Gators have already locked up the SEC’s Eastern Division for the second time in Meyer’s tenure at Florida and will play No. 1 Alabama in a virtual play-in for the BCS National Championship Game.

That is, if Meyer’s team can make it past Spurrier’s bunch this weekend.

The matchup has striking similarities to the teams’ game two years ago in Gainesville.

Then too, the Gators had one loss and were poised to make a run at the National Championship. But Spurrier’s bunch came in focused and executed a nearly flawless gameplan, coming up just inches short of a dream-shattering victory.

Instead, Florida’s Jarvis Moss got his hand on what would have been a 48-yard game-winning field goal as time expired.

The Gators survived the matchup against their former coach and wound up winning the school’s second National Championship.

This year, the Gators will hope to replicate that feat, starting with a win this weekend over South Carolina.

Spurrier, on the other hand, hopes to erase the memories of the Gamecocks’ near miss in 2006 with a huge win over the Gators, who many are hailing as the best team in the country.

A win would have to be considered a huge landmark in Spurrier’s transformation of the program and would mean that South Carolina could finish with as many as nine wins during the 2008 season.

When these titans meet on Saturday, the winning team will have something serious to hang their hats on.

South Carolina hopes that they can end the National Championship aspirations of a divisional opponent, while Florida looks to take the next step in their quest for another National Championship.

This weekend, the matchup on the sidelines figures to be just as important as the one between the lines.

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