As the coach of a Football Championship Subdivision program, Idaho State's John Zamberlin knows he will be short-handed in scholarship players compared to Georgia this Saturday when the two teams meet at Sanford Stadium.
Because the Bengals have struggled in the NCAA's Academic Progress Report rates, they will be limited in preparation time, too.
Idaho State is allowed to practice just 16 hours for the Bulldogs, who can practice the maximum 20 hours. The Bengals are in their first season dealing with the restricted practice time and have suffered, as reflected by their 1-7 record that includes seven straight setbacks.
"You try to hit everything and emphasize everything, but it kind of goes along with how you feel and how you've performed the previous week," Zamberlin said Monday. "We had a game where we missed four field goals, so we looked back and said, 'How much time have we spent on that?' Then you go emphasize those areas a little more and try to improve and bring those things up to where they need to be.
"It's a tough challenge anyway, but we've got four hours less."
Idaho State isn't alone in its towering task this week.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is in its second season dealing with 16-hour work weeks because of past APR woes. The Mocs will play Saturday at Auburn, which is 9-0 under coach Gene Chizik and ranked No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series standings.
Chizik couldn't imagine how he would handle doing without those four hours of instruction.
"To be honest with you, I have no idea," Chizik said. "I know that basically cuts out a day of practice, so obviously that chops your preparation time by about a fourth or whatnot. I can imagine it is fairly challenging, and I don't know how we would have to adapt to that. It would be difficult, I'm sure."
Both UTC and Idaho State typically use Sunday for reviewing video and take Monday off. They practice Tuesday through Thursday and then take Friday off.
The Mocs are a surprising 11-8 the past two seasons operating under practice restrictions, after going 1-11 in 2008.
"We took a little bit from everything, so we took away meeting time, lifting time, practice time and special teams," Mocs second-year coach Russ Huesman said. "When we get it back, we will add it back to those, a little bit here and a little bit there. We just didn't say, 'We won't do this.' It was more of what could we chop 15 minutes from."
Huesman said the one positive from the 16-hour weeks is that his players have become better students of the game.
Idaho State has adjusted its schedule this week. Bengals players were on their own Sunday for video review, because they will use Friday as an opportunity to walk through the biggest stadium they will encounter all year.
"We want to see their facility and get the rubber-necking out of the way before we go to battle on Saturday," Zamberlin said.
Biggest win ever?
Florida coach Urban Meyer said after Saturday's 34-31 overtime triumph over Georgia that the win may have been his biggest. He didn't back down Monday, calling it "the greatest win of all time in the history of the game."
Meyer believes it's his best from a "big-picture" standpoint, saying the players and staff needed it after three consecutive losses and that everything has tasted better since, including Sunday night's team dinner.
"I can tell you I have no idea what it was, but it was unbelievable," he said.
Odds and ends
Bulldogs defensive coordinator Todd Grantham was caught on camera giving Florida kicker Chas Henry the choke sign before Henry's game-winner. Georgia coaches are not available for interviews on Monday, and the SEC was aware of the incident but had not commented as of Monday evening. ... Georgia's game Nov. 13 at Auburn was picked up Monday by CBS.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.