All Your Big Tenleven Belongs To Urban Meyer

First, there was the BCS title game against Ohio State where Urban Meyer's team put on a display of asswhoopery of great proportions. His team showed what speed and quickness could accomplish against an opponent not used to seeing a squad loaded with fast personnel at every position. Some thought it was a fluke, that the longer layoff really hurt Ohio State, or that Ted Ginn would have saved them from their humiliation(maybe if he could block Earl Everett or Ray McDonald or Jarvis Moss or, well you get the idea).

Then came the Michigan loss to Appalachian State.

But before we get into that, let's have a little background info about coaches "sharing" ideas and philosophies. Due to his success in implementing the spread option offense, Meyer has had other coaching staffs visit him in Gainesville to learn how he does it. Over the past two years, that list has included Texas A&M, Virginia Tech and more recently Appalachian State. Now do you see where this is headed?

Appalachian State head coach Jerry Moore headed down to Gainesville to check out Meyer's system, and against Michigan it was a Meyer-esque style attack that provided one of the biggest upsets ever in college sports.

Meyer said early in the week that he had gotten to know Appalachian State Coach Jerry Moore. Moore visited the UF coaching staff to learn more about the Gators' spread option offense.

The Mountaineers' version of that scheme helped them shock then-No. 5 Michigan 34-32 Saturday afternoon at Michigan Stadium. Meyer saluted Moore again Thursday and said he may call him for a favor.

"I want to see that game film," Meyer said.

In comparing film from both the Florida/Ohio State and Appalachian St./Michigan matchups you can see similar wrinkles, and how Meyer and Moore used their faster players to help spread the field and keep the defense on its heels.

So, as you watch these App. St./Michigan highlights remember that Urban Meyer had a hand in this, and that it was payback for anyone who still believed that Michigan should have played OSU in the BCS title game last year.