Urban Meyer says he has "extremely high expectations" for the 2009 Florida Gators.
Just don't ask him to expand on that.
Nothing has driven me more insane this summer than listening to Meyer and the majority of his players deny that going undefeated or winning a national championship is their goal for the season.
Meyer says the goal is to win another Southeastern Conference title, and he doesn't want his players talking about an undefeated season
"I'm hoping you don't hear them talk about it very much," Meyer said. "I think sometimes what happens is that these young guys get baited into making comments like that. That is certainly not one of our goals. Absolutely not. Our goal is to get to Atlanta, and that's it."
Baited into saying they want to do what every athlete dreams of doing, including Meyer?
Quarterback Tim Tebow is in agreement with Meyer, and hearing him say he just wants to win the conference makes me want to pull my hair out. It's like hearing Michael Phelps say he just doesn't want to cramp up or swallow too much pool water.
This is one of the most competitive guys on the planet. He's leading a team that just won a national title and didn't lose many players. And last season, we saw his true feelings about an undefeated season.
Following the loss to Ole Miss, Tebow apologized to fans specifically for not going undefeated. Meyer helped drill those words into the side of The Swamp, but now, he and Tebow want no part of it.
I don't get it. You have a good team, and deep down, you want to go 14-0 and win a national title. So why not say it?
Defensive tackle Terron Sanders has a theory, and it seems right on the money.
"I think what he's afraid of is: If we have expectations of an undefeated season and we lose a game, all is lost," Sanders said. "He doesn't want that to happen, and he doesn't want the players to feel that everything we worked for is washed down the drain because we lost one game. I think that's the reason why he says not to mention an undefeated season."
Finally, something that makes sense. I can see it from Meyer's point of view, but I still don't believe any of them when they say they just want to win the SEC. At UF's Media Day on Aug. 11, the defensive players talked about setting goals of breaking records for yardage, shutouts and first downs allowed, but they stuck to Meyer's company line when it came to team goals.
They think they can toy with opposing offenses each week, but winning each game isn't doable? Come on.
"When coach Meyer says he doesn't want to hear it again, you know that deep down in the minds of players, we've been there," Sanders said. "We went 13-1, and now we sit back and say, 'Man, if we could have just won that one and gone undefeated.' So the hope of being undefeated is in the back of our minds, but at the same time you don't want to make coach Meyer mad. You just stay focused on the task at hand, which is making it to Atlanta."
So everyone wants to go undefeated, but no one will say it. For once, I think I'd rather hear the "one game at a time" answer.
If they really don't care about going undefeated, they should prove it. Lose to Charleston Southern and smile.
