In the three days since quarterback Tim Tebow blew a gasket while defending UF coach Urban Meyer from the wayward verbal attacks of Miami coach Randy Shannon, much opinion has accumulated.
The Alligator's inbox has been flooded with fan letters on the issue, readers have posted comments under the article on the Alligator's Web site and I have been tagged in a Facebook note about the issue. I've even been assaulted by one of our photographers with inquiries about Shannon's sanity.
Some have called Shannon a whiner and a crybaby. Some have said Meyer is a jerk for running up the score.
Now, I decided, it's time to straighten things out.
First, the facts:
Shannon, after the Gators kicked a late field goal to cushion their lead in UF's 26-3 victory on Saturday night, suggested the extra 3 points would show people Meyer was interested in embarrassing the Hurricanes. Shannon did not use Meyer's name, but implied the score padding will help Miami when it comes to recruiting.
UF kicker Jonathan Phillips, to that point, had not made a field goal in his career.
After practice on Monday, Tebow exploded, coming to Meyer's aid with an emotional series of rants, including this one:
"I'll have coach Meyer's back on anything. To say something like that about coach Meyer isn't true at all. He's one of the best coaches in the game. That's why I came to the University of Florida."
Comment-posters and letter-writers have accurately called Shannon a hypocrite for being upset at the field goal when the Hurricanes scored a late fourth-quarter touchdown against Charleston Southern in week one. On that drive, already up 45-7, his team even went for it on 4th and 3 with 4:28 remaining. They converted on an 8-yard rush, and then went on to score a touchdown.
While Shannon's statement did imply he would not run up the score (even though he clearly would), it did not decry Meyer for doing the same. He probably enjoyed UF's field goal if he thought it would help him get better recruits for years to come.
Former Hurricane Warren Sapp threw his hat into the ring when he called Meyer a "classless dirtbag" on a teleconference for Showtime's "Inside the NFL." Really, Warren? Is that necessary?
Sapp's comments demonstrate perfectly that this entire thing has been blown completely out of proportion. I'll admit it's fun to stir the pot a little, asking questions that you know will get controversial responses.
But this? This is different. A field goal to give a kicker some experience before a big in-conference game is not worth four days of back-and-forth bickering. There's no need for fans to get so riled up about this, and there's no need for the blowhards of the world to hurl insults at Meyer.
To say college football is just a game would be trivializing how much money goes into the sport and how seriously people take it.
But getting all huffy about a 3-point kick? Please, people. It's just a field goal.
