Lane Kiffin has been one to — how should I best put it? — pop off at the mouth since he joined UT. He said he was going to beat Florida. He accused Urban Meyer of cheating. He stole two of UF’s players, and then accused Meyer of cheating. And then he accused Urban Meyer of cheating.

Am I getting repetitive?

Urban Meyer hasn’t forgotten about being called out for lousy cheater that he is, and he’s making it clear that he’s going to do his talking on the field this September. His players, too.

“I couldn’t believe what he said,” Florida junior safety Ahmad Black said Monday. “Not trying to be cocky or anything, but we’ve beaten them four years in a row … by a lot, too. But taking shots at our coach is like taking shots at us. We’re family. It’s definitely personal now.”

“That’s OK, because they’ve got something coming,” Florida center Maurkice Pouncey said Monday. “[Kiffin] went public with all his stuff, but we’ll do all our talking on the field. That’s when we’ll have something to say about it.”

Oh, and Florida has pictuers of Kiffin everywhere, reminding them of what a prick he is and how badly they want to kill him. Kiffin’s response when he found this out?

“First, I think it’s a neat thing that Tennessee’s logo is all over Florida’s locker room,” Kiffin said, smiling, during an interview Tuesday morning with “ESPN First Take.”

“We have great respect for Florida and Urban Meyer and what they’ve done there,” he continued. “It’s a big-time place and big-time program. I don’t think bulletin-board material makes a difference.”

We can say what we want about Kiffin. But the bottom line is that he just made this game worth watching again.

[ESPN]

[AJC]

UPDATE: Kiffin says he’s done apologizing, according to the AJC. He said he’s already apologized to the university and to Coach Meyer, and the entire thing has been blown out of proportion. You can read the full story at the link above, but like I said: This makes this series matter again.