Meyer pledges loyalty to Jags

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer rarely, if ever, experienced anything like this as a college football coach at Florida or Ohio State. Ten penalties, six dropped passes, three turnovers, down 20 at halftime; confusion on the sideline and in the huddle. The Jacksonville Jaguars essentially looked unprepared in Meyer’s NFL debut, a 37-21 road loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday. It was such a shoddy performance against another team presumed to be one of the league’s worst — and also an AFC South Division game — that critics wondered whether Meyer would stick around long enough to fix the floundering franchise. So when the University of Southern California fired coach Clay Helton a day later, speculation swirled about Meyer’s immediate future in Jacksonville. Meyer responded Wednesday by saying “there’s no chance” he takes the job leading the Trojans. Believe him or not, he insists he’s in for the long haul. “I’m here and committed to try to build an organization,” Meyer said. It’s unlikely to be the last time his name gets linked to a collegiate job opening. After all, the 57-year-old coach has found success at every stop, building winners at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State, and he won two national championships with the Gators (2006, 2008) and another with the Buckeyes (2014). He stepped down after the 2018 season and spent two years working as a college football analyst at Fox Sports, but Jaguars owner Shad Khan persuaded him to return to the sideline in an effort to deliver a consistent contender in Jacksonville. So far, little has gone right for Meyer. He botched the hiring of two coordinators (Chris Doyle, Brian Schneider); filled his staff with longtime NFL types instead of guys who know his wants and ways; invited former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and minor league baseball player Tim Tebow to training camp as a tight end; and had No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence split valuable first-team repetitions in training camp with a quarterback no longer on the roster. The Jaguars are counting on a better performance Sunday against the Denver Broncos, who won their opener against the host New York Giants. Meyer downplayed any “narrative” or “silliness” circulating around him or the team right now: “It’s just we lost a game.” Meyer said earlier this month he doesn’t miss recruiting and made it clear how different college football is now compared to when he stepped down for health reasons.

SOCCER

› ATLANTA — Josef Martínez scored a goal in each half as Atlanta United FC beat Cincinnati 4-0 on Wednesday night. Luiz Araújo opened the scoring for Atlanta (8-79) in the fifth minute, dribbling past two defenders near midfield and racing down the right side to bend it past goalkeeper

Przemyslaw Tyton. Martínez scored his first goal in the 40th minute, heading in

Alan Franco’s redirection of a free kick, and scored again on a breakaway in the 55th.

Ezequiel Barco curled a free kick around the wall in the 86th. Since the beginning of August, Barco has been involved in eight of Atlanta’s 16 goals (five goals, three assists). Cincinnati (4-11-8) ended a club-record 12-game winless run last Saturday.

BASKETBALL

› BOSTON — The Boston Celtics have acquired forward Juancho Hernangómez from the Grizzlies in exchange for guards Kris Dunn and Carsen Edwards. Boston announced the deal Wednesday. As part of the transaction, Memphis will have the right to swap a 2026 second-round draft pick with Boston’s second-round pick that year. Edwards appeared in 68 games over two seasons for the Celtics after being selected in the second round of the 2019 NBA draft. He averaged 3.6 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.6 assist. Dunn was acquired by Boston last month as part of a three-team deal.

› MILWAUKEE — Lisa Byington is making history as the Milwaukee Bucks’ new play-by-play voice on the NBA team’s television broadcasts. The Bucks announced the hiring Wednesday and said Byington is the first woman to work as a full-time TV play-by-play announcer for any major men’s professional sports team. Byington replaces Jim Paschke, who retired after 35 seasons as the team’s main TV play-by-play broadcaster. Earlier this year, Byington became the first female play-by-play broadcaster for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. She was a men’s and women’s soccer play-by-play announcer for NBC Sports in the 2021 Olympics and also did play-by-play work for the Women’s World Cup on Fox in 2019.