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Friday, September 20, 2024

It's hard enough to get Urban Meyer or any other member of the Florida football team to say anyting about Lane Kiffin or his remarks let alone get them to say what they plan on doing as retaliation for Kiffin's offseason comments.

But we all know it's on the Gators' mind, and Meyer certainly has not forgot being called a cheater by Kiffin in February. Or when Kiffin was first introduced as head coach at Tennessee saying he can't wait to sing Rocky Top all night long after the Volunteers beat the Gators this year.

For now though, all UF is worried about is winning on Saturday in its conference opener.

However, once the Gators have a commanding lead heading into halftime, their mindsets are going to change.

The first half is going to be all business, and UF will jump out to a large lead - I'm thinking somewhere in the range of 35-3. The second half is going to be personal; it's going to be about proving point.

Meyer will send a message to other coaches saying if you plan on talking trash before the game or trying to embarrass the Gators, there will be consequences.

The most popular idea for Meyer to display his team's dominance over Tennessee is by going out and dropping 100 points on the Volunteers.

While UF might be able to manage to score 100, I don't think Meyer wants to risk injury to his starters by leaving them on the field too long.

Others want him to punish Nu'Keese Richardson for switching his commitment from the Gators to the Volunteers on National Signing Day.

Sure, that will let future commits know that if they plan on changing their minds they better choose a school that will not appear on the Gators' schedule any time soon, but that doesn't directly hurt Kiffin and that's what they want to do.

He can always go back to saving his second-half timeouts for late in the fourth quarter like he did against Georgia last year in retaliation for Mark Richt sending his entire team on the field to celebrate the Bulldogs' first touchdown against UF in 2007.

But Meyer is all about adding wrinkles to his offense, so fans can expect a new comeback to add to his repertoire.

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Even though Meyer will want to prove a point, he wants to win more and won't let his bitterness towards Kiffin prevent him from winning, which is why you will have to stay until the second half to see his revenge.

It will be something that he can pass off as part of the game plan like using the timeouts against Georgia, which he said afterwards was to give Emmanuel Moody some more carries.

So when the Gators get that 30- or 40-point lead late in third quarter, Meyer will put on his "I'm the bigger man" act and take out his starters.

It says to Kiffin, "It is not worth my time to listen to what you say," yet it also puts Tennessee in the same category as Charleston Southern and Troy: A second-rate team that makes good game practice for UF's backups.

The game should be decided by halftime, but the second half will still be worth watching just to see what Meyer chooses to do as his retaliation.

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