Thoughts of the Day: September 17, 2026

Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer went 85-33-1 on the road when they coached the Gators

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning:

In the Southeastern Conference, nothing is more terrifying than a road trip. Just ask Urban Meyer, whose 65-15 overall record from 2005-10 included a 30-11 record away from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. At home, Meyer won 89.74 percent of the time, but 73.17 percent of the time on the road.

“There is no such thing as an easy road game in the SEC,” Meyer responded to a question I asked him Wednesday afternoon. “Getting a win anywhere on the road in the SEC isn't just a win, it's an accomplishment.”

Steve Spurrier compiled a 122-27-1 record at UF during his 12-year run from 1990-2001. The Gators were 55-22-1 on the road during his tenure. The Gators won 93.06 percent of their home games but 71.15 percent away.

The two greatest coaches in University of Florida history – Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer – combined for a 187-42-1 record (81.52 percent) with eight Southeastern Conference and three national championships during their combined 18 seasons. In the non-Spurrier and Meyer years since 1990, the Gators haven’t won a single SEC or national championship. The combined overall record of the Ron Zook, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen and Billy Napier eras is 133-94, which is a mediocre 58.59 percent.

On the road, those five are a combined 51-63 (44.37 percent. The Zook era Gators went 10-9 on the road; Muschamp era 12-12; McElwain era 9-11; Mullen era 15-12; and Napier 5-19. Counting the last two years of Mullen and all four of Napier, the Gators went 10-28 on the road, 6-18 in SEC roadies.  

In the ever-changing world of college football, what the Gators did in the Spurrier and Meyer years is ancient history but whether it’s ancient or recent, the numbers don’t lie and the story they tell is that the Florida Gators (2-0) better keep their chinstraps buckled and make sure they remember to insert a cup in their jocks Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN) at Auburn (2-0).

It will be the first taste of life away from home as Florida’s head coach for Jon Sumrall and it comes at a place that hasn’t been kind to the Gators through the years. Florida is 8-26-1 all-time at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The last time the Gators won there was 1999 when Doug Johnson threw for 310 yards and a TD and Jeff Chandler kicked four field goals for a 32-14 victory over the then-Tommy Tuberville coached Tigers.

The SEC, in its infinite wisdom, ditched Florida-Auburn as an important rivalry after the 2002 season. The Gators lost there in 2006 and 2011. In the only Florida-Auburn matchup since 2011, the Gators beat 7^th-ranked Auburn 24-13 at BHG behind two touchdown passes by Kyle Trask and 130 rushing yards by LaMical Perine including an 88-yarder for a TD that sealed the win.

Even though six seasons have passed since the Gators and Auburn last played, this is a game that has been circled on the Auburn calendar for months. The only time Sumrall and first-year Auburn coach Alex Golesh have met head-to-head was 2024, Sumrall’s first season at Tulane where the Green Wave blew the doors off South Florida, 45-10, in New Orleans.

Considering Florida’s road recent road woes – 10-28 since 2020, 0-6 last season – and a venue that hasn’t exactly proven friendly for UF throughout the years, the Gators are a surprising 2.5-point favorite to win, which would be, in Urban Meyer’s words, “an accomplishment.”

MIAMI GETS $200 MILLION DEAL FROM NIKE

Miami will be leaving Adidas for Nike starting with the 2027-28 athletic year, a deal reportedly worth $200 million over the next 10 years. LSU signed a new deal with Nike late in 2025 that is rumored to be worth in excess of $10 million a year and includes 10 LSU athletes getting NIL deals directly from Nike. Tennessee is leaving Nike for Adidas, a deal that is said to be 10 years for more than $100 million. Texas is coming to the end of its 15-year, $250 million deal with Nike. Ohio State has a similar deal with Nike.

It is worth mentioning the Miami deal and the money numbers for the other schools because Florida hasn’t disclosed an extension with Nike/Jordan Brand. When Michigan switched over to Jordan Brand in 2017, which is a part of the Nike family, the deal was reportedly worth $15 million per year.

Is Florida getting anything close to $15 million a year? And if not, then why? With a stadium renovation estimated at $1.5 billion, the Gators should not be on the short end of a deal with Nike. The last reported deal for the Gators was a 7-year extension of the Nike contract that paid UF $3.1 million per year. That, of course, did not account for the deal to switch over to Jordan Brand in 2017.

IT’S NOT ROCK BOTTOM JUST YET AT FSU, BUT IT’S GETTING CLOSER

Michael Alford was fired as the athletic director at Florida State University back on Monday. Good riddance and long overdue say an overwhelming number of Seminole fans, desperate for a return to relevance. Alford was hired to provide financial stability and instead of putting FSU on a firm foundation, he ran up enough debt that insolvency is almost reach out and touch close. FSU is at least $437 million in debt. Some say more than that.

No matter the exact amount, it’s a staggering debt for an ACC school without the deep pockets of a North Carolina, Duke or Virginia where old money backs up the ACC’s yearly contributions. FSU is heavily reliant on ACC money which is not only dwarfed by the amount of money Florida gets from the SEC but a gap that will continue to widen.

Making matters worse is football coach Mike Norvell, who has posted consecutive losing seasons. To fire Norvell would cost something like $50 million, plus buyouts for his staff. Hiring a new coach and staff would cost millions more, again, money FSU doesn’t have. There is also the matter of NIL money. FSU doesn’t have it for Norvell and it’s not going to find it for a new coach, either.

The FSU faithful live in a dream world that the Southeastern Conference or Big Ten would invite them to join, but there are two chances that will happen: No way and no how. The SEC is content with 16 teams, but if expansion is somehow a necessity, schools that fit the geographic footprint and bring something to the television market. Florida State brings nothing to the television equation. If the SEC were to consider another school in Florida it would be Miami.

It will take a roll of the dice by Florida State, a situation reminiscent of that old Darryl K. Royal adage, “Three things happen when you pass the football and two of them are bad.” In the case of FSU and Norvell, three things can happen and two of them are bad: (1) They can keep him, hope he wins but knowing he probably won’t; (2) fire him and risk bringing in another coach who, faced with the financial difficulties and challenges of the ACC, won’t win big; or (3) get lucky and find someone who can actually win and make the football program relevant again.   

The key word in all this is relevance. Can Florida State become relevant again? Right now FSU is a bug on the windshield of college football.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: College football’s arch-villain returns to the scene of the crime Saturday night. Lane Kiffin returns to Ole Miss, this time as the head coach of LSU, a 3-point favorite to leave Oxford with a win that will certainly catapult the Tigers into the legitimate national championship buzz. A year ago this time Lane was coaching Ole Miss and the world was discovering Trinidad Chambliss. If Ole Miss is to emerge a winner Saturday night it will be because Chambliss shows why many experts think he is the most dynamic and important player in all of college football.

The funny thing is nobody is talking about Trinidad Chambliss this week. As singularly important as he is to the outcome of this football game, any mention of Chambliss and Ole Miss is drowned out by the anger and vitriol generated by Kiffin, who jilted Ole Miss for LSU at the end of an 11-1 regular season run in 2025. We’ve heard all the stories about how Lane really wanted to coach Ole Miss in the playoffs and how Ole Miss responded with a resounding no. Ole Miss chose to take its chances with defensive coordinator Pete Golding in the College Football Playoff and came within a pass interference no-call of beating Miami in the semifinals. Pete went 2-1 in the playoffs. Could Kiffin have done any better? Maybe, maybe not.

As good a football coach as Lane Kiffin is – forget all the drama that seems magnetically attracted to him wherever he goes – he still hasn’t won a championship anywhere he has been a head coach. Not at Tennessee, not at Southern Cal, not at Florida Atlantic and not at Ole Miss. At every whistlestop on the Lane Kiffin journey there has been a hiccup or two that has taken his team out of championship contention. There is no denying Kiffin can scheme scary good offenses and has figured out how to manipulate the portal to ensure he has high level talent to coach up. Those things aren’t debatable. What is debatable is Kiffin’s ability to emerge victorious in a must win situation.

This is a must win situation on which 90 percent of the pressure is squarely on Kiffin’s shoulders. He NEEDS this game in the worst way to eradicate the perception that he can’t win the big one. He can’t afford one of those “get your popcorn ready” moments like the one he had at Alabama in 2023. He’s famous for things like that. Because they have happened so frequently in his coaching career you have to wonder if he has a self-destruct mechanism that takes over any time he’s faced with a game he has to win. There is no doubt about it, this is a must win for Kiffin that goes beyond the perception of the unfaithful husband returning to the home town of the blushing bride after the nasty divorce. That he might have to try to pull it off without quarterback Sam Leavitt, a surprising "doubtful" listing by LSU Wednesday evening only makes this story juicier.

Throw in the matter of the recent showdown between Kiffin/LSU with Greg Sankey and 15 of the 16 presidents of the Southeastern Conference and Taylor Sheridan could turn this into 10-episode season of must-watch TV. Sankey got the best of Kiffin and LSU on this one but in doing so created what LSU fans see as a Butch Cassidy persona for Lane Kiffin. Kiffin is an outlaw, but the faithful in Louisiana think he's ever so lovable as long as he will do that voo doo that he does so well for the Tigers. To Sankey, the rest of the SEC and most college football fans, Kiffin is John Wesley Harding, who once shot a man for smiling.

For Tiger fans, an LSU win Saturday night will be like several million middle fingers raised in unison to Sankey and the rest of the SEC. To the rest of the college football world and especially the SEC offices in Birmingham, an LSU loss will best be described by one word. Righteous.