Is IT over?

Here we are, the weekend just before what is usually one of the premier SEC football weekends of the year.

With neither team ranked.

This year is going to put the “Ugh” in UGA.

It’s ridiculous, and quite a bit spoiled, as a Gator fan to think we have nothing to play for. Yet it feels quite that way. Sure, a trip to Atlanta is well within the Gator’s control. Here’s betting that, even should it happen, you won’t find virtually any Orange and Blue in the Georgia Dome come that first weekend in December (unless it’s an Auburn shade).

Yes, I want to keep the impressive streak against Georgia alive and well. But that isn’t really my focus for this game.

I want to know one thing – is IT over?

By IT I mean the Meyer era.

It seemed to be over just after Christmas last year, when Meyer suddenly resigned. For reasons not quite clear, he “un-resigned” shortly there after.

Programs have a fairly predictable path of descent from the heights of success. Key coaching talent is poached from top flight programs. Take a look at the coaching staff for Florida of the 2006 BCS Championship Team –

Coaching staff 2006 Florida Gators

• Urban Meyer - Head Coach
• Steve Addazio - Tackles/Tight Ends
• Stan Drayton - Running Backs
• Billy Gonzales - Wide Receivers
• Chuck Heater - Recruiting Coordinator/Cornerbacks
• John Hevesy - Centers/Guards
• John "Doc" Holliday - Associate Head Coach/Safeties
• Greg Mattison - Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line
• Dan Mullen - Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
• Charlie Strong - Assistant Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers

Three of those men are now head coaches in their own right, with Strong at Louisville, Mullen at Mississippi State and Holliday at Marshall. Gonzales is at LSU, and Mattison with the Baltimore Ravens. Hevesy went with Mullen to MSU.

That leaves Addazio, Drayton and Heater from a staff that won the BCS title only a couple of years ago. Only 3 of the 9 assistants remain.

The coaching core of the Florida 2006 and 2008 BCS Champions weren’t constructed by Meyer when he came to Florida in 2005 – it was formed at Bowling Green in 2001. Mullen, Gonzalez and Hevesy all followed Meyer from Bowling Green to Utah, and then to Florida. Meyer and Mullen were together even before that at Notre Dame, with Meyer as the special teams coach and Mullen a graduate assistant. The two traveled the country learning the foundations of what would become the spread option from names like Scott Linehan and Joe Tiller. Then at Bowling Green, and later Utah, the two perfected what would later be so successful at Florida.

In other words, its as much Mullen’s offense as Meyer’s and perhaps, because Mullen did the play calling, even more so.

Further, don’t underestimate the loss of Charlie Strong. The Gators won the BCS titles in 2006 and 2008 as much on defense as offense.

All that coaching talent – gone. What remains is Meyer and the coaches that, for whatever reason, haven’t been seen fit to be hired away by other programs. The coaching heart (Strong) and soul (Mullen) of the championship teams are gone.

It happens everywhere, whether at FSU in the ‘90s or USC in the early part of the century. The best assistants leave, leaving the rest. Programs decline.

So what I’d like to see this weekend is some sign IT isn’t over. That doesn’t necessarily mean a win, it means the ability to fight when you are down. It means that spark, that passion that seems to be missing. It wasn’t too long ago opposing fans were taunting us when Meyer cried after a loss. Well, Urban “Crier” has a couple of little crystal trophies that your less emotional coaches don’t.

I want that guy back.

Because if it’s over, let’s get on with what’s next.