Urban Meyer releases 2025 Final Four, national champion pick

Everyone’s picking their 2025 NCAA Tournament brackets before the Big Dance starts. And former Florida and Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer is picking a familiar team as national champion.

The coach turned analyst listed his picks for the Final Four and the national champion on The Triple Option podcast. All four teams are schools he’s deeply familiar with.

“There was a time where Tennessee didn’t like me and I didn’t like them, but I’m OK with them now,” Meyer said. “We’re good.

“So all right, here we go. South, I’ve got Michigan State. ‘Bama East. ‘Bama’s playing at a high level. I’ve got Florida. I think Florida is the national champion. When I was at Florida Billy Donovan was my neighbor; Joakim Noah, (Corey) Brewer, (Al) Horford, (Chris) Richard, I mean unbelievable. So I’ll go right now: Florida’s going to win it all. Then my fourth pick is Tennessee.”

That would give the SEC a chance for an all-league final and a guaranteed national champion in one of its strongest years in history. That might not surprise too many folks.

Meyer, of course, sticking with Florida also isn’t a huge surprise. One, he’s maintained an affinity for the program since leaving. Two, Florida’s really, really good. National champion level good.

“So I have three SEC schools in there,” Meyer said. “I think it’s going to be great. Final Four is great, but I think the Gators are going to pick up their third national championship in school history.”

Steve Spurrier downplays impact of hype for Florida

Perhaps the biggest challenge Florida will have if it hopes to win its third national title is simply dealing with the spotlight. Duke and Florida are the overwhelmingly popular picks to win it all this year. But another former Florida football coach doesn’t necessarily believe that will be a problem. Steve Spurrier chimed in this week.

“I don’t think the talk’s going to affect this team, the way they seem to handle it,” Spurrier said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “They don’t act overconfident or anything. And I like the way Todd Golden and his staff has really handled the whole situation so far. So I think we’ve got a really good attitude about it and we’ll play as well as we can.”

Handling the hype will be key if Florida wants to become national champion. Florida has been a top-ranked team all year, but it has played second fiddle to programs like Auburn and Alabama for most of the season.

Now, coming off the tournament title and having racked up a 30-4 overall record — vs. the 28-5 tally regular season champion and fellow No. 1 seed Auburn amassed — the only real question is whether Florida can handle the pressure in the NCAA Tournament. It’ll be ratcheted up to a whole different level.

And the team spent a good deal of time after Sunday’s win over rival Tennessee celebrating. Can they rein it in in time?

“Little celebration, but it’s not the end of the road,” Spurrier said. “Hopefully the end of the road is, what, two or three weeks from now, whenever the finals are.”