Urban Meyer Was Made Aware Of Jaguars' Rivalry With Titans From "Day One"; Knows Sunday Presents Great Opportunity
Urban Meyer has an affinity for rivalry games. During his time as a coach on the college level, the three time National Championship coach was known for putting offseason emphasis on rivals, giving them nicknames and breaking the cardinal rule of coach speak by proudly circling certain games on the schedule.
He’d find harmlessly disrespectful monikers for teams like the Florida State Seminoles and Michigan Wolverines, calling them “the team out West” or “the team up North.” He banned the letter M (which acts as the Wolverines logo) from the Ohio State football facility. The Florida Gators wouldn’t leave Gainesville for the FSU game until absolutely necessary. Meyer didn’t want to risk his team getting poisoned food for their pre-game meal, catered in some hotel ballroom by Tallahassee workers.
Rivalries in the NFL aren’t as big of a deal or passionate as they are in college football. Over 150 years of the college game, as well as conference game schedules have allowed more familiarity, steeped games in history and at times pitted brother against brother—on the field and in the fanbase. Still, there is usually one team that a team can’t help but simultaneously look forward to and dread. The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, the New York rivalry…and in the AFC South, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans.
So it’s no surprise Meyer was made abundantly aware of the rivalry early on after taking the head coaching job with the Jaguars. How soon?
“Day one,” he laughed on Monday, as the Jaguars kicked off game week for the front half of their two game series against the Titans, also sharing Jaguars Owner Shad Khan even told him they could call the Titans, “the team up North.”
“I think there’s a respectful rivalry there and they’ve been good. There’s a lot of push against that team, so [from] day one I heard about it.”
During his time in the college ranks, Meyer went 38-5 in rivalry games, including going undefeated versus BYU and Utah State (while at Utah), Tennessee, FSU and Miami (while at Florida, as well as 7-0 against Michigan (while at Ohio State).
The Jaguars are currently 0-4, one of only two winless teams remaining in the NFL, this Sunday’s game allows for a chance to get a win against their rival for the first time since September of 2019. For that matter, Jacksonville has lost seven of their last eight against the Titans, winning only one game in the past four seasons.
It also allows a chance to get back into the AFC South division race, despite losing their first game—week one versus the Houston Texans. That’s because the division is currently up for grabs, with the Texans and the Indianapolis Colts sitting at 1-3, and the Titans at 2-2 overall. The Jaguars understand the importance, and despite a week of distractions, addressed the opportunity first thing Monday morning.
“It’s how we started the meeting. It’s how we started. I let the unit leaders [speak], but that’s the way the meeting started today was the reality, is the ‘where do we stand.’”
For Meyer, where the Jaguars stand is a quickly improving team with a chance to get back into the division race on Sunday, despite the Titans being favored by four.
“The reality is that when you turn on the videotape Week 1 to Week 4, it’s a marked improved team. If you continue to make strides, which [with] young teams and new systems, you would expect that. I see it clear as day. I can see it in practice. There’s a new system, a new group of players, a lot of newness everywhere.”
Meyer isn’t the only coach who can harp on a rivalry though. With a defensive staff brought over from the Baltimore Ravens, linebacker Josh Allen says the players are picking up on the staff’s “beef” with the Titans. The Titans defeated the Ravens in the 2019 season’s AFC divisional playoff game, and the Ravens returns the favor, ending Tennessee’s playoff run in the 2020 season’s Wild Card game.
So despite being here for three years now, Allen is truly appreciating the Tennessee Titans for the rival they are for the first time. It’s feeding in to how the Jacksonville Jaguars are preparing for Sunday’s showdown.
“I think it’s more rivalry I think the coaches are bringing out because we have a lot of coaches from the Baltimore staff. I know they had a lot of beef, so I think that beef is escalating to our beef, so it’s kind of firing us up a little bit.
“We’re looking forward for this weekend and we know it’s going to be a physical game. It’s going to be who punches first and who punches last and who punches consistently. We’re ready. We’re ready to fly around. We’re ready to get this ball, ready to get this win, and it starts with us.”
