"They Don’t Belong”: Urban Meyer Admits Using Fake Criticism From ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler for Florida’s Championship Push

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Urban Meyer understood that winning a national championship required more than just talent and a game plan. Sometimes, it meant finding the right buttons to push inside the locker room. During one of his championship runs at Florida, the former Gators head coach found a way to turn outside criticism into a powerful tool to get his team going.

“In ’06, Ohio State beat the Wolverines in the game of the century, and everybody said, ‘Well, they should go play with each other,'” Meyer said on the Triple Option podcast on October 20.

“Then we won, USC lost, and took everybody back. And also we got in, and I mean, ESPN and everybody said they don’t belong. They’re not very good. And I mean, I used that. I would meet with my ops guy every day and say, “Okay, make up some good quotes,” then put Herbstreit’s name on it, put Fowler’s name on it, and put someone from ESPN on it.”

“Everywhere they looked, when they ate, I would even—sometimes I’d be eating, and I’d look over, and I’d say, “That’s not true. That’s a good one.” I’d look at my ops guy and go, ‘That’s awesome.’ It was basically saying, ‘You guys aren’t good enough.'”

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In 2006, Florida wasn’t in contention to play for the national championship until a few things worked in its favor. The Gators had a 12-1 record, with a loss to Auburn. However, more than its record, the Florida offense was scrutinized for sluggish play in wins over South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Florida State.

What the Gators had was a conference championship, which Michigan didn’t. Moreover, No. 2 USC lost to UCLA in its last week, further helping Florida’s case. Even then, Urban Meyer used the strength-of-schedule argument to make his team’s case. In the end, Florida was chosen, and they didn’t disappoint.

Florida beat Ohio State 41-14 in the national championship game. The Gators completely made a mockery of the Buckeyes. They held Heisman winner Troy Smith to just four pass completions. 35 passing yards. On its end, Florida had 370 total yards of offense against Ohio State’s 82.

Urban Meyer was proven right; his team deserved to play for the national championship. It also helped that he produced some fake bulletin board material.

“I did it individually with players all the time. I said, ‘Now I know why they didn’t recruit you or something like that. Now, you know, maybe they were right,”Meyer added on the podcast.

Meyer also used the same tactic when he was the OC at Colorado State. He shared a story from those days about a WR he coached, Greg Premis.

Premis became the first player in Colorado State history to register three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. According to Meyer, he was the easiest to rile up, and before the game he would go up to him and tell him that the coach didn’t think he was worth it and that he had the talent to play. Which did help him, as in one game he had 12 catches for 289 yards.

But it wasn’t like Herbstreit and Fowler weren’t aware of what Urban Meyer was doing at Gainesville.

“Every coach in the country looks for an angle,” Herbstreit said in 2020. “We’ve been doing this a long time, and Chris and I used to laugh—Urban Meyer in ’06 used to make stuff up. Just throw it out in their hotel meeting rooms, and somebody would say something, and he’d say, ‘Just put it on Herbstreit or ESPN or whatever. ‘But it would be a fake quote just to get his team mad.”

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