He's a great aid to Gators

Meyer again looks to taste victory

Florida coach Urban Meyer (left) and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops hope to get their hands on the BCS title trophy tonight. (Doug Benc/Getty Images)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - It is different now with the University of Florida. Winning back-to-back national championships in basketball and being on the cusp of winning two national championships in three years in football will do that, almost creating a sense of entitlement.

How else to explain the ruffles and flourishes that seem to accompany every public appearance by the Gators this week as they prepared for tonight's Bowl Championship Series title game against Oklahoma at Dolphin Stadium.

Security forces cleared a path for quarterback Tim Tebow as he made his way to a podium for a press conference. Or take yesterday, for example, when Gators coach Urban Meyer finished his final press conference, then went into the hotel to make a pit stop at the men's room. "Clear the way, clear the way," said one member of a security team surrounding the coach. "Clear the way."

When Meyer went into the men's room, security stood in front.

Maybe Meyer is what has made the Gators different the past few years, since making the leap from non-BCS status at the University of Utah to BCS status at one of the elite programs in college football in 2005.

The Gators have strong credentials, led by Tebow, last year's Heisman Trophy winner and the heart and soul of an offense that had breezed through the rugged Southeastern Conference schedule with only one misstep.

They are very good. But so is Oklahoma, which has its own credentials and is led by someone with a touch of royalty himself. Coach Bob Stoops, who has won 109 games in 10 seasons in Norman, has produced a record-setting offense - the Sooners have scored 60 or more points in each of the last five games - led by this year's Heisman winner, quarterback Sam Bradford.

The game looks like a standoff in almost every instance.

So it will come down to more subtle things, such as coaching strategy, motivation, and preparation.

In that regard, Meyer can match X's and O's with anyone. He is good and he knows it. So do the Gators and so do their opponents. In this age of parity, any coach who can produce two national championships in three years is in a different class.

Meyer and Stoops are the Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden of their era, but Meyer says he cannot see a similar career path in terms of longevity.

"I don't know if you will ever see that again," said Meyer, talking about Paterno spending half a century at Penn State and Bowden's extended stay at Florida State. "You certainly won't see it at the same institution. People get tired of you and they want to run you out of town; you see that all the time.

"There is great wear and tear on coaching. I imagine it's like it's never been with recruiting, 24/7, 12 months a year; it's a tough lifestyle."

But that lifestyle works for Meyer, who went from a longtime assistant to head coaching success at Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida.

Meyer says his philosophy is basic. "The older I get, the more philosophical I get about what our job really is," he said. "Basically my classroom is this - failure is not an option. There's no such thing as giving a D or an F. Imagine whatever time is necessary to make sure that a D or an F becomes a C or B or in some cases an A.

"The difficulty now compared to what it was years ago is phenomenal. The negative thing is that it is getting worse."

By all accounts, Florida's grades under Meyer have steadily improved.

"Seven wins comes from talent," he said. "You start mixing [in] a little discipline, up to eight or nine wins. Somehow, if you can develop a little leadership on your team, not necessarily seniors, but leadership to get you off the field on fourth down, defense, make a big play at the end of the game to win, that's when you start having great things happen for your program."