By Kareem Shaker

Jacksonville, FL

A year removed from his post in Florida, Urban Meyer's hiring to coach Ohio State sparked the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl officials to designate mutual 6-6 teams the Gators and Buckeyes for the Jan. 2 matchup.

"Urban Meyer being hired is just another element to create more attention [for the bowl game]," Gator Bowl chairman Greg Smith told ESPN.com. "I think it creates more interest in the game so I think that's going to help us on ticket sales and overall national media attention."

Meyer went 65-15 and won two national championships with Florida, but resigned following the 2010 season citing health reasons. But when Ohio State called the renowned leader of men Nov. 20 to see if he would be interested in becoming the Buckeyes' head coach, he agreed to a health contract written by his family and eventually accepted the job on Nov. 28.

Buckeyes legendary coach Jim Tressell resigned and six players were suspended because of a tattoo-and-cash-for-memorabilia scandal early this season. Luke Fickell took over as interim coach.

"I don't know that you can get any more distractions than what we've had," Fickell said. "I think our guys are just so excited to have some clarity about what's going to happen in the future so they can put those things behind them. I don't think this will be nearly as hard on them with the situation."

The two teams have played just once before, a 41-14 Gators win following the 2006 season in the National Championship game, giving Meyer the first of two national titles with Florida.

 

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