Sugar Bowl Odds: Does Urban Meyer's Decision Change Anything?

The Florida Gators aren't the only ones with coaching issues heading into the Sugar Bowl; the Cincinnati Bearcats have been playing musical chairs with their coaches, too. (AP Images)

This week’s Sugar Bowl between Florida and Cincinnati may go down as one of the most unique matchups in bowl history if you go solely by the coaching storylines surrounding the game.

Of course we’ve known for weeks that the unbeaten Bearcats wouldn’t have head coach Brian Kelly in this game because Kelly took over immediately at Notre Dame. His decision not to stick around through the bowl game angered several of his former players. Cincinnati has replaced Kelly with the guy who replaced Kelly at Central Michigan, Butch Jones. But Jones won’t be coaching the Bearcats against the Gators, either. That job falls to offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn, who was passed over for the head coaching job and who already has accepted the top job at the University of Buffalo. All this coaching musical chairs has to be head-spinning for the UC players.

And then there’s the story on the other sideline with Gators coach Urban Meyer. Of course Meyer dropped a bombshell on Saturday in announcing he was going to resign following the Sugar Bowl because of health concerns and to spend more time with his family. Meyer had to be hospitalized following the SEC title loss to Alabama with severe chest pains and has had chest pains other times in the past. He has a relentless work ethic and the stress of running one of the nation’s top programs seemed to be deteriorating Meyer’s health. So why then did he change his mind less than 24 hours later and announce that he would only take a leave of absence after the bowl game and likely would be coaching next season?

More importantly from a betting perspective is what this means on the field. Well, the line jumped to -13 on Bodog’s college football odds (it opened at 10.5) in the wake of this Meyer news.

Obviously oddsmakers believe that the Gators will be plenty motivated to send their coach off with a win just in case he doesn’t come back; I believe the Bodog oddsmakers are correct on that. It figures to be a very emotionally charged UF team at the Superdome wanting to win big for their coach.

And Cincinnati? Those players are probably happy just to have a coach at this point.

Get all your college football betting lines and odds at Bodog Sportsbook!