C'mon Urban! Give him what he deserves!

What a joke.

Florida's Brandon Spikes has been suspended for the first half of Saturday's game against Vanderbilt for his actions during last Saturday's game against Georgia in which he attempted to poke his fingers into an opposing player's eyes during a pile up.

First of all, what kind of punishment is a half a game suspension? If you're going to go play the part of a coach who cares about sportsmanship and personal conduct on the field, why not give Spikes a whole game to think about his actions? Two quarters is little more than a rest for a collegiate football player.

Furthermore, how about some good old-fashioned up-downs or wind sprints thrown in with a whole game's suspension? Make it clear to Spikes that you won't tolerate that kind of behavior.

One need not look any further than John Wooden for an example of a coach who really won't stand for nonsense.

Wooden, a proponent of academics, once learned that two of his star players had skipped class the day before the undefeated UCLA Bruins basketball team put their win streak on the line against North Carolina, which was ranked not far behind the Bruins in the national polls. Wooden quickly and decisively suspended the players, regardless of the big game.

Or how about Lou Holtz? I watched him once run onto the field while he was the head coach at Notre Dame to physically grab one of his players who had gotten out of hand and earned an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Holtz kept that player out of the game and publicly reprimanded the player in a post-game interview. If memory serves, the player was also suspended the next game.

I'm not buying Meyer's concern over Spikes' actions. To lightly slap his wrist and claim that half a game's suspension is punishment enough is a joke. And what's with the SEC's acceptance of Meyer's "punishment"?

Oh, for the old days when sportsmanship and personal conduct were actually aspects of the game and not politician-like lip service.