SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Utah defensive back Morgan Scalley is having some fun with Urban Meyer in his final days as the Utes' coach.

Meyer is taking over as coach of Florida, but gets one final game with the Utes when they play Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday.

"We find ways to mess around with him a little bit," Scalley said.

Scalley said sometimes during practice, he and a few other Utes have done the "Gator chomp," clapping their arms together as Florida fans do during home games at "The Swamp." He even called Meyer "Gator bait" and dared him to put Utah on the schedule as a non-conference opponent for Florida.

"There's no way you put Utah on your schedule because you know what would happen," Scalley said. "We said, 'If we played you, we'd smoke Florida.' We were just having fun, joking around."

In just two years at Utah, Meyer has developed some close relationships with players like Scalley and knows that his days with Utah are just about finished.

"It's kind of creeping up, but we stay so busy that maybe I'm chicken and I want to avoid it at all costs," Meyer said. "It is getting close, but I think it would be an injustice to these guys to worry about anything other than getting the Xs and Os right in order, making sure we're conditioned and making sure we're healthy."

Pittsburgh defensive lineman Vince Cronchunis has answered so many questions about Utah Heisman Trophy finalist Alex Smith this week, he perked up when asked about the Panthers' own quarterback.Tyler Palko, Cronchunis said, does not have a quarterback's mentality. The Panthers aren't allowed to tackle quarterbacks in practice and Cronchunis said that seems to frustrate Palko as much as anything.Palko doesn't want anybody taking it easy on him."He's very competitive. He's ultra competitive. I've never seen a guy like this. You can't say anything even neutral to the kid. He takes it the wrong way," Cronchunis said. "In any kind of aspect of life as a person or as a football player he's willing to do the best he can. That's what's great about a guy like Tyler Palko. When you have a guy like that at the helm, you're going to win games."

Utah offensive lineman Chris Kemoeatu had half of two games and all of another to think about getting his temper under control.Kemoeatu was suspended for a game last season after getting kicked out of consecutive games for kicking an opponent. Meyer sent Kemoeatu to an anger management class and it seemed to work, although the 6-foot-4, 340-pound lineman said the breathing exercises were a little awkward."I think I've matured from that. It was in the heat of battle and I just reacted," Kemoeatu said. "But I think I learned from that and that's why I've had a very successful season so far."

As a BCS participant, Pittsburgh players are watching other teams play in the early games while they wait to play on New Year's night.A group of Panthers attended Tuesday night's Insight Bowl, where they watched Oregon State beat Notre Dame 38-21.For offensive lineman Rob Petitti, it was nice to know he's playing in the higher profile game still to come, but he was disappointed in Tuesday's outcome."Me and my dad loved Notre Dame. I had like Notre Dame posters all over my room and stuff," Petitti said. "Notre Dame jerseys, hats ... I had everything. And I threw it all away once I got a scholarship to Pittsburgh."