Urban Meyer has reservations about CFB playoffs
Florida head coach Urban Meyer reacts as quarterback Trey Burton fumbles in the end zone against Penn State during the first quarter of the Outback Bowl. (Jan. 1, 2011) Credit: AP
Urban Meyer, speaking to reporters Thursday, said he is “excited” about the new college football playoff format, but expressed fears with regards to scheduling.
“I still don't know the logistics about it with the players and the coaches,” said Meyer, now the head coach of Ohio State. “Say a team plays in the Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton or Orange Bowl and the game is over and all of a sudden we’ve got one more. How much time do they have to prepare? How much class are they gonna miss? And from a coaching standpoint, that’s going to be a tremendous grind.”
A committee of university presidents on June 26 approved the Bowl Championship Series commissioners’ plan for a four-team college football playoff, which will start in the 2014 season. Instead of matching the No. 1 and No.2-ranked teams in the country in the championship game after the regular season – as the current BCS system does – four teams will be chosen by a selection committee to compete in the national semifinals.
“I like the old one the way it was, but the more I hear about the way it's gonna work within the bowl system... I'm anxious to see how it's gonna finish up,” Meyer said. “But I’m excited about the changes. The fans wanted it and we got it.”
Meyer spoke to reporters in an afternoon conference call promoting the American Century Golf Championship, which begins July 17 in Lake Tahoe.
Meyer, who coached Florida to two national championships before retiring in 2010, took the Ohio State job in November. The Buckeyes are ineligible to compete in a bowl game after the 2012 season (as part of the sanctions for NCAA violations), but Ohio State is a perennial powerhouse. And Meyer, presumably, will have had time put his imprint on the team by 2014.
So, how will the playoff format affect Ohio State?
“We haven’t had that much discussion about it,” Meyer said. “We’ve got other issues right now, before worrying about national championship playoffs. We’re just trying to get a little better and get this team cranked up. Everything is going to play out. You play in the Big 10 and you go in the championship game, you’ve got a good team, and you’ll be in the playoffs.”
