Ohio State coach Urban Meyer says it’s “great to be back in Florida” after arriving for Orange Bowl
Bad, bad timing, Urban!
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Patric Young reaches 1,000-point mark for career as No. 13 Florida routs Savannah State 76-34
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Florida center Patric Young (4) goes to the basket with Savannah State forward Jyles Smith (44) and guard Alante Fenner (1) trying to block the shot which would have put Young over the 1,000 career point mark during the second half of an NCAA college basketball in Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013. Florida won the game 76-34. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
Florida Gators headlines
· Patric Young reaches 1,000-point mark for career as No. 13 Florida routs Savannah State 76-34
· Gators’ new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper will rebuild from scratch
· Former Florida Gator enjoys breakthrough season on PGA Tour
· Greg Stoda: Billy Donovan ‘very satisfied’ in 18th year as Gators coach
· Florida Gators roll past Fresno State 66-49
· Casey Prather leads way as Florida Gators hold off No. 15 Memphis 77-75
By Phillip Heilman
Special to The Post
GAINESVILLE —
With one nonconference tune-up remaining on their schedule, Patric Young and the Gators appear ready to roar into SEC play.
Behind stifling defense and a balanced scoring attack led by the senior center, No. 13 Florida thrashed Savannah State 76-34 on Sunday while Young made history of his own.
“I’m not concerned at all going into the league or being on the road and playing in any environment based on what we’ve experienced,” coach Billy Donovan said. “The biggest thing is can we play well and can we continue to get better and improve?”
The Gators continue to show progress since being tripped up twice early in the season. In a game that otherwise lacked much drama, the home team brought the crowd to its feet with 9:44 remaining in the second half and Young on the verge of history.
Young entered the game just 12 points shy of becoming the 50th Gator to score 1,000 career points and had 10 when he went to the foul line for two shots and a chance to reach the milestone.
After making his first try, the 6-foot-9, 240-pound center cracked a smile before missing his second shot off the front of the rim. Young redeemed himself with a rebound and tip-in to eclipse the mark four possessions later and finished with a game-high 15 points.
As he was taken out of the game, Young smiled and waved to fans who offered him a standing ovation as the PA announcer spoke of his accomplishment.
“The fans kept reminding me: ‘Four more, Pat. Two more. One more,’ ” Young said. “I was hoping I could get a dunk and that the fans would go even crazier, but just glad to get it done.”
Florida (10-2) buried Savannah State with a pair of lengthy scoring droughts in the first half. The Gators followed up a 12-0 run over 5:51 early in the first half by reeling off a 14-0 stretch during a span of 8:14 shortly afterward to take a 34-11 lead into halftime.
Savannah State (2-11) failed to have a single player score in double figures, and its 34 points were the fewest allowed by Florida since the Gators routed Southern 83-27 on Nov. 28, 2006.
In addition to another promising performance from Young, Michael Frazier II scored 11 points while making three 3-pointers and DeVon Walker chipped in with eight points and seven rebounds off the bench.
“Patric has been a real team guy ever since he’s been here,” Donovan said. “He doesn’t make anything about himself. I was just happy for him that he could get it tonight.”
The Gators have now won 22 straight home games, two wins shy of the program record set in 2007. Florida concludes its nonconference schedule against Richmond at home Saturday.
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer says it’s “great to be back in Florida” after arriving for Orange Bowl
Updated: 8:50 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013 | Posted: 5:47 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013
BY JASON LIESER - PALM BEACH POST STAFF WRITER
FORT LAUDERDALE —
Urban Meyer was all business when he stepped off Ohio State’s plane, droning on about depth chart rearrangements and matchup issues.
But one thought produced a smile. For the first time since leaving the Gators three years ago, Meyer is coaching in Florida.
“Oh yeah, I love Florida,” he said before boarding the team bus. “It feels great to be back.”
It will feel especially great Friday. His Buckeyes, the No. 7 team in the nation, are in town to take on No. 12 Clemson in the Orange Bowl (8 p.m., ESPN).
For Meyer, that means a return to Sun Life Stadium, where Tim Tebow led Florida to the 2008 national championship.
“There will be good memories, sure,” said Meyer, who won two titles and went 65-15 in six seasons with the Gators. “But I’m just here to try to win the game.”
There are plenty of story lines beyond Meyer’s first game back in Florida, and this should be one of the most compelling collisions of the bowl season. Both teams began the year as national championship contenders and have potent offenses. Ohio State’s Braxton Miller and Clemson’s Tajh Boyd are two of the most electric quarterbacks in the nation.
Furthermore, this is a landmark for the Buckeyes (12-1). Mired in scandal and mediocrity, they have not played in a game of this magnitude in three years.
They lost coach Jim Tressel to a forced resignation over NCAA violations in 2011 and stumbled to 6-7 under Luke Fickell that season. With Meyer already in place as the coach-to-be, they finished by losing to a struggling UF team in the Gator Bowl.
Once Meyer finally took control, Ohio State caught fire. He went 12-0 his first year with no payoff because of a bowl ban. He started 12-0 this year, running his personal winning streak to 25 games, before the Buckeyes squandered a chance to play for the national title by falling to Michigan State 34-24 in the Big Ten championship game.
Had Ohio State won, it would be preparing to face No. 1 Florida State next week in California. Instead, it ceded that right to Auburn and came here for its first Orange Bowl since 1977.
However, this is a welcome consolation prize. The combination of the bowl drought and the criticism the Buckeyes have heard since blowing the Big Ten title game has them eager to get rolling again.
“We need to forget about that game,” said linebacker Ryan Shazier, a junior from Fort Lauderdale. “Everybody says our defense isn’t that good because of the last two games we played, and we’ve gotta show everybody how good we actually are. We had little mistakes, and we’ve gotta get everything right for this game.”
Meyer said it did not take much to redirect his players’ attention toward the Tigers (10-2) after missing out on the trip to Pasedena.
“The fact that we’re playing Clemson in a BCS bowl game wakes everybody up real fast,” he said.
The only major personnel issue Meyer mentioned was the absence of standout defensive end Noah Spence, who did not fly down with the team because “he had some personal issues at home.” Meyer did not know if Spence would be available for the game.
The Tigers landed Sunday afternoon and will begin practicing Monday at Barry University. Ohio State will spend the week working at Nova Southeastern.
These teams could challenge the Orange Bowl’s all-time scoring record. That mark was set when Clemson lost to West Virginia 70-33 in 2012.
The Tigers and the Buckeyes have top-30 defenses, but both are better known for their prolific offenses. Ohio State was fourth in the country with 46.3 points per game this year and topped 60 three times, while the Tigers were tied for ninth at 40.2.
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3:00 ET, Dec 29, 2013 |
Young tops 1,000 points, No. 13 Florida wins 76-34
· Wichita St. extends best start, now 13-0
· Oregon rolls past Morgan State to 12-0
· Young helps Florida rip Savannah State
· Atkins scores 30 as Irish win in OT
· Iowa State G Bluford to transfer
· No. 2 Orange rally past No. 8 Villanova
· Harrison twins get Kentucky by Cardinals
· Dawkins starts for ill Hood, lifts Duke
(AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
By MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) Although Pat Young wasn't keeping count, everyone around him was.
Even coach Billy Donovan.
Young scored 15 points, becoming the 50th player in school history to reach 1,000 in his career, and No. 13 Florida handled Savannah State 76-34 on Sunday.
Young received a standing ovation as he left the game with 5:41 remaining, waving to the crowd as his achievement was announced.
"About the 8-minute mark, I said, `Pat, I'm going to put you in. I'm going to run some plays at you,'" Donovan said. "He said, `Well, Coach, I don't want to force anything.' That's just kind of the kid he is. We put him in there to get that done today and just happy it happened."
Young topped the 1,000-point plateau on a putback with 7:15 to play. It came shortly after he stepped to the free throw line with a chance to join the club. The senior clanged it off the front rim, drawing groans from the crowd. He made amends, though, a few minutes later.
"The fans kept reminding me, `Four more, Pat. Two more. One more,'" Young said. "Before the last game, I didn't even know how close I was. I didn't care about it until they told me, `You're this amount of points away.' I was more conscious of it then."
And now he's relieved it's over.
"I've just been very fortunate to be on winning teams and to be here overall under Coach Donovan," Young said. "I couldn't walk and chew gum when I first got here. So I can do a few more things now. I just want to thank him for believing in me and helping me get better."
Young was one of four Florida players in double figures. Michael Frazier II finished with 11 points for the Gators (10-2), who have won four straight and nine of 10. Casey Prather and Scottie Wilbekin chipped in 10 points each.
Jyles Smith led Savannah State (2-11) with eight points and eight rebounds. The Tigers have lost nine straight.
"Florida had their way," Savannah State coach Horace Broadnax said. "It wasn't too much of a lack of effort on our part. We just weren't able to make it interesting."
It was Florida's 22nd consecutive home win, two shy of the school record set in 2007.
The Gators dominated from the opening tip, getting any shot they wanted against the undersized Tigers.
Florida used two double-digit runs to make the game a rout, outscoring Savannah State 12-0 early and then 14-0 a few minutes later. The Tigers went 5:47 without a basket before enduring an 8:12 scoreless stretch.
Florida led 34-11 at halftime and coasted from there.
It had to be a somewhat different feeling for the Gators, who had eight days off after a brutal stretch that included games against Florida State, then-No. 12 Connecticut, then-No. 13 Kansas, then-No. 15 Memphis and Fresno State. It marked the first time in Donovan's 18 seasons in Gainesville that Florida played consecutive non-conference teams ranked in the top 15.
The only thing worth watching in the second half was Young's countdown to 1,000.
He had eight points in the first half and needed only four more to reach the milestone.
Young got a layup on Florida's second possession after the break and then went nearly 10 minutes without another shot. As he stepped to the free throw line, the crowd knew what was at stake.
So did Young.
He smiled after making the first one, which put him at 999 points, but grimaced as the second free throw came up short.
No worries, though. He crashed the boards for his sixth rebound a short time later and topped 1,000 points with a tip-in. Donovan took him out at the next timeout.
"Today, he looks at it as, `Hey, that's nice,'" Donovan said. "I think it will be something that later on his life, when he looks back on it, he'll realize that when you score 1,000 points, it's always a milestone. I was happy for him. I was happy for the way the crowd kind of cheered him on.
"Patric's been a real team guy since he's been here. He's very unselfish; he doesn't make anything about himself, and I was just happy for him that he got it tonight."
Ohio State's Meyer concedes he's 'awful loser'
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FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2013 file photo, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer hangs his head on the sidelines in the second half of a 32-24 loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten Conference championship NCAA college football game in Indianapolis. Meyer believes he has matured in his 12 years as a head coach. An admitted "awful loser," he doesn't beat himself up after defeats and he doesn't listen to critics or outside opinions. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2013 file photo, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer hangs his head on the sidelines in the second half of a 32-24 loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten Conference championship NCAA college football game in Indianapolis. Meyer believes he has matured in his 12 years as a head coach. An admitted "awful loser," he doesn't beat himself up after defeats and he doesn't listen to critics or outside opinions. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
By RUSTY MILLER
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio —
Losing has never come easy for Urban Meyer.
Since he was a kid playing baseball, football and basketball back in Ashtabula, Ohio, Meyer could handle the pain, the long workouts and the criticism.
But the losses lingered and hurt.
Now that he's the head football coach at Ohio State, things haven't changed.
"I've never, no, I've never handled it well. Awful loser," he said recently in his quiet, paneled office inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. "I guess I'd rather be known as that than as a good loser."
He knows that much of the country views him as less than a gracious loser. Maybe that comes from having so little practice at it — his teams have only lost 24 times in his 12 years and 152 games as a head coach at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and with the Buckeyes.
Fact is, he doesn't care what others think about him, or his program. He either ignores or isn't even aware of the opinions of those outside of the bubble he's built around his team.
"Once again, perception isn't something that drives me, it's obvious," he said.
All of that is important because the Buckeyes are dealing with defeat for the first time in two years.
The 49-year-old Meyer's Buckeyes are coming off a 34-24 loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 7. The setback not only cost Ohio State the conference crown, it dropped it out of the running for a spot in the BCS national title game (Auburn took the Buckeyes' spot against Florida State) and also ended Meyer's and the program's record winning streak at 24 in a row.
Afterward, a photo taken inside the stadium showed a dejected Meyer eating pizza, glumly, while sitting in a golf cart. It went viral on the internet. Indeed, the loss — and all that went with it — was a punch in the gut for the Buckeyes, who had almost forgotten what it felt like to lose.
"Coach Meyer, I could tell it was kind of tough for him because we all were expecting to go to the national championship game," linebacker Ryan Shazier said.
Meyer said a few things to his players in the locker room after the defeat to Michigan State. Then everybody — players, coaches, staff members — took a few days away from each other. They reconvened late last week to begin practice for a date with Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
Meyer, who when younger would withdraw after a loss, appeared at least to his players to have accepted the defeat. After their first workout, Meyer pulled his players around him and bared his emotions.
It was clear that the loss still burned in him, but Meyer knew the Buckeyes were watching him to see how to react to it. Meyer called it "a cathartic moment."
"He's obviously the guy we look at as a template for how to handle things like this," offensive lineman Jack Mewhort said. "He came back from a recruiting trip and came to the middle of the huddle at the end of practice. He was telling us how much he loves us and everything. That meant a lot to us. When you hear a guy like that come in and say things like that, it motivates you to move forward and win another game."
As difficult as the losses have always been for Meyer to swallow, he's made an effort to at least appreciate the wins more.
"We went on a nice run and I kept reminding myself through the journey to enjoy this thing, man. Keep drinking that Kool-Aid (because) someday you might have an empty glass," Meyer said while seated in a comfortable, leather sofa, taking a break from drawing up a practice schedule. "You don't want to live your life always knowing that some pin is going to pop the balloon. But I did enjoy every one of those wins."
Meyer's resume marks him as one of the most successful coaches ever. He won national titles at Florida in 2006 and 2008. He has a career record of 128-24, is 7-1 in bowl games, 11-5 against Top-10 teams and is 4-0 in BCS bowl games.
When he walked away from Florida after the 2010 season and walked into the ESPN booth as a college analyst, he could have avoided all the pressures and stomach ulcers that seem to come with the job of big-time college coaching. But he missed the competition and the kids.
Keep in mind, he left the Gators twice in less than a year. The first exit, though, lasted just a day, and was for health reasons. The second was to be with the family more. So, wrestling with these decisions — obviously — is not easy.
Finally, he came back to Ohio State — a program coming off a 6-7 record and covered in mud after a year of NCAA investigations and sanctions thanks to the ugly end of Jim Tressel's tenure — and almost immediately turned things around.
So those who mock the Big Ten and the Buckeyes, or chide him for abandoning Florida, don't bother him. He likes his players, he likes his program and he says he's in good health. He's heard angry critics call him Urban Liar.
And he doesn't care what anyone else thinks.
"I don't listen a lot. I used to all the time," he said. "And I heard some of the most incredible things and I was, like, 'What was that?'"
Next to the computer monitor behind his oak desk in his office sits a framed quote. It was taken from a letter he got at Bowling Green during his first head-coaching stint. After a defeat.
It reads: "Don't fear criticism. The stands are full of critics. They play no ball. They fight no fights. They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing. Down on the field are the doers, they make mistakes because they attempt many things."
Asked whose words those are, Meyer shakes his head.
"It was an anonymous letter," he said. "It's been on my desk ever since."
Recap: Florida vs. Savannah State
BY SPORTS NETWORK
THE SPORTS NETWORK
Gainesville, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Patric Young scored a game-high 15 points and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career as No. 13 Florida slammed Savannah State, 76-34, at O'Connell Center
Michael Frazier II scored 11 points while Casey Prather and Scottie Wilbekin each chipped in with 10 as the Gators (10-2) ran their home winning streak to 22 games by making 49 percent of their shots.
Young became th 50th Gators player to score 1,000-plus points in his career.
"Patric's been a real team guy ever since he's been here," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "He's very unselfish."
Savannah State (2-11) shot a grotesque 25 percent from the field in losing its ninth straight game. Jyles Smith was the team's leading scorer with eight points.
The Tigers committed five of their 20 turnovers in a five-minute span early in the first half, and the Gators feasted on the mistakes with 12 consecutive points to take a big early lead.
Florida went ahead, 30-7, on a Young drunk following another Savannah State giveaway with just under four minutes left in the half, and the Gators took a healthy 34-11 cushion into the break.
It was more of the same in the second half as the Gators easily coasted to the finish line.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/29/3842874/recap-florida-vs-savannah-state.html#storylink=cpy
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