Today we take a look at the difference in 4^th quarter productivity between the Gators coached under Ron Zook and Urban Meyer.

Back in 2001, Ron Zook seemed to be a great fit. He was defense minded coach who could have spring-boarded off of Spurrier’s already established offensive philosophies and personnel.  Zook had already been to the Swamp in an assistant capacity in addition to having some NFL years under his belt.  Like it or not, he was brought in with elevated expectations and high bar to reach.

Zook would have been great, too, if it wasn’t for those pesky fourth quarters.

Now, we’ve seen some fantastic things under Urban Meyer, and as time has gone on, the team has gone from being Zook and Spurrier recruits to Meyer’s (last year being the first when he’s got a whole team of his boys), so what is it that we’re seeing now that we weren’t from the Zook in the fourth quarter?

From a scoring standpoint alone, Meyer’s teams are just more dominant.  Meyer’s Gators scored 152 more points in the fourth than their opponents in 4 seasons, while in Zook’s 3 years, there is only a 29 point fourth quarter differential.  Some may say these numbers are indicative of the philosophy and hunger Meyer instilled in his players to go the whole game, but take in to account the backbreaking nature of the first 3 quarters of offense that UF has been pouring on the past few years.  Meyer’s coached teams not only crush in the fourth quarter, but in every other quarter as well, racking up a combined 1,487 total points before they even get to the last 15 minutes.  That’s more than 800 points more than their opponents in that same span.

Granted,  Zook had one less year of stats to amass, but his comparable stats in those first 3 amount to a paltry 269 point differential, so maybe it’s that Urban’s teams have just started pouring on the heat much quicker than his predecessor, then kept it on throughout.

Numbers wise, there was also an increase in defense efficiency with Meyer’s arrival, with a first year that saw almost 50 yards less given up per game. This continued in the ensuing years, as Meyer improved from a top 20 defense to an elite squad mentioned in the top 5 in the nation.  This allowed for the offense, while not quite as potent as Zook in Meyer’s first year, to slowly catch up as his own people and system were introduced.  Today, Urban’s offense stands heads and shoulders (and ribs) above the previous.

Some say that strength of schedule figures in somehow, as if the Zook had to face a harder road than Meyer. But both coaches have had to face nightmare scheduling that routinely ranks in the top ten in the nation.  In fact, Meyer’s 2006 schedule was ranked #1 in the nation and he managed a national championship.

So, where does this fourth quarter tale really find its roots?

Perhaps it all comes down to philosophy and conditioning.

Both coaches hit Gainesville as “player’s coaches”, but the terminology describes two very opposite coaching styles.  Zook described his style of coaching as a “wide open, puff o’ smoke come out of your tail and go, man, go... play [these games] hard and have a good time doing it.”. He wanted fans to leave the stadium saying, “those guys are having fun.”.  This was a bit of a change from the hard nosed Spurrier, for there was now a coach that wanted to be your friend, and his ho-hum philosophy may have made players love and listen, but that didn’t equate to whip cracking practices.  Sure, coach Zook may be available to show up at a frat party here and there (which worked out well for any who remember that), but a coach, like a dad, can’t be your friend first and then expect things like drive and accountability.  This player’s coach wasn’t getting the punch he needed from his teams late in the game.  In the second half, when the defense would stay on the field longer and longer, the lack of fire in the conditioning aspect of the players seemed to fade.

Zook lost two games in the second half to Ole Miss during his tenure, mostly due to the Gator’s scoring 0 in the second half of both games in back to back years.  He was heard to say in post game press conferences that his team’s poor second half and abysmal fourth quarters had to do with fatigue, as he was quoted saying after a Miss State loss in 2004 where his defense just couldn’t stop two scores late in the game. Some will point fingers at his reliance on prevent and nickel late, when SEC teams would line up in 3 receiver sets, then run the ball down the Gator’s throat for big gains.  Others point out his overcomplicated offensive system and inability to make goo adjustments at the half, leading to haphazard play and errors like using a WR reverse against Michigan late in a 2002, one of the key reasons they were outscored 17-14 in the second and lost their lead, and the game.  Too much trickery, too much over complication, and a defense and overall team that had none of the core values required for late game holds. 

Meyer’s teams, however, benefit for a “player’s coach” who earns their friendship from the comradely and pride created by doing something hard, together.  Coach Meyer espoused an atmosphere of personal accountability when he hit town, a plan of hard work outs and high expectations.  To him, a win wasn’t enough; he wanted a whole game of hard work and drive.  Granted, here we can give Tebow some of the credit both on the field and in the practice rooms, but it seems that, across the board, players are ready to work themselves into a useless mass of exhaustion everyday for Meyer in a way they never did for Zook.  The players bought and drank the Kool-aid Meyer was selling and the benefits were immediate.  Strict, concise goals were laid out at the beginning of every season, and if you held out and could keep pace with what was expected from you, Coach Meyer promised a National Championship was within your reach.

Darn it all if he wasn’t right.

Even now, Meyer keeps complacency off the screens though regimented and organized training camps meant to ready his players for grueling games and long seasons of “come what may”. His recent press conference on 8/31/2009 highlighted this, when he was quoted as saying, “I’ll know by today if there’s any complacency.  You can’t make it through today’s practice unless you’re reared up and ready to go. I anticipate from their weight work out this morning and their attentiveness…that they’re ready to go.” Even now, with the kick off sitting on the shoulders and beating the heads of every Gator player and coach, there’s no break, no time off, no easy day. 

The most amazing thing about this is that no one’s complaining.  No, it’s like any other day of training camp, just another step towards that goal of bringing another National Championship home to Gainesville, for themselves, for the town, and for their coach. 

Urban Meyer is a player’s coach, not because he’s your buddy, but because you want to win for him, want to be better for him, and you believe in his beliefs, that he knows what it takes to go the distance once more. 

This is the real difference between Zook and Meyer’s fourth quarters, the experience of knowing what a coach needs to do to make a team play at the highest level for a full 60 minutes.  Zook wasn’t supposed to be the man for Florida, too many forget that.  He had never been a head coach, was following a legend in a learning mode, and playing catch up in a town expecting the same team as Spurrier, which leads to mistakes both on and off the field.  This new policy of the easy going coach may have been confusing to the Spurrier led Gators of seasons previous, and in three years, coach Zook had only just managed to instill his own personnel and get his hands dirty.  He should have been a head coach before coming here and was put in an impossible place with a team that, by 2004, featured just eight returning starters and the youngest defense in the SEC (eight freshman/sophomore starters).   Conditioning, passion, drive; these are all things you don’t learn being an assistant or coordinator, you learn how to instill these things by being a coach and knowing what works.

Just check out Illinois these days.

So, on the doorstep of yet another season, take these words and know that we are in good hands with Urban Meyer down the stretch.  Sip your Bourbon Meyers.  Listen for that creeping Jaws music.  The Gators are coming, and they’ve got the whole of the NCAA chasing them this year.  See you in Pasadena (if it doesn’t burn down first).

Joshua Bauer is a columnist for GatorTailgating.com