ESPN College Football

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida's missing gator head could be back soon.

Coach Urban Meyer removed the large replica gator head from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in April and told players they had to earn it back.

But the gator head is still missing.

Meyer says it might return Saturday, when the tenth-ranked Gators open the season against Wyoming.

A Gainesville company cast the Fiberglas head from a model of an 11-foot, 6-inch alligator and presented it to coach Steve Spurrier after he led the Gators to their first Southeastern Conference title in 1991.

Spurrier proudly displayed the head in a rotunda outside the locker room in the stadium's south end zone.

Coaches and players started rubbing the head for good luck before games, and it became tradition -- one the current players would like to see restored before Saturday's opener.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press