TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

UF Expects BCS Title Spot

ADVERTISEMENT

By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2008

ATLANTA - It's not official. The college football world has long assumed the winner of Saturday night's SEC Championship Game would earn a spot in the BCS National Championship Game.

But there is that bothersome BCS polling system to deal with, and while Florida beat the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide 31-20, the Gators began the game No. 4, behind Oklahoma and Texas.

Let's just say the Gators do expect their date for the Jan. 8 title game in Miami.

"I think so," quarterback Tim Tebow said. "I think there are a lot of great teams out there, but I think the SEC is a very good conference, and I think the winner deserves a chance to play for it."

How polite. Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley was a bit stronger.

"We just beat the No. 1 team in the country," he said. "Now it's time to play."

No question Tim Tebow is back in the Heisman Trophy race, potentially joining only Archie Griffin as the only two-time winner. Obviously, Urban Meyer has an opinion.

"No disrespect at all because I think the Big 12 quarterbacks, all three of them, are tremendous players," UF's coach said. "I have a responsibility, and that's my quarterback. I think he's the best in college football. I think he's the best football player in America.

"At the end of the day when you evaluate what 'player' means, not just how many yards and statistics because we've seen what he can do statistically, but to manage a game against the defenses he's faced in the last two months, I think someone should do that study, today's defense, FSU, South Carolina, Kentucky, and you can go down the board. When we played them they were either top 10, I want to say the last few were top 10, and someone gave me the stat four of the last six were top 10 defenses that our quarterbacks faced, and put up fairly ridiculous numbers. Tonight wasn't ridiculous, but he managed the game and won it."

GOOD DEPTH

Not only did playmaker Percy Harvin miss the game with a sprained ankle, UF freshman running back Chris Rainey (pulled groin) played only in the first quarter and carried only one time. Still, the Gators managed 358 total yards of offense against a team that was previously allowing 248.

FILLING THE NEED

With Percy Harvin out, the Gators used different players in his place.

David Nelson, Carl Moore, Louis Murphy and Brandon James all did things Harvin typically performs.

"You don't replace a Percy Harvin, Tim Tebow, Brandon Spikes," Coach Urban Meyer said. "You just don't replace them. What you do is you manage around them and you try to develop the guys that you have. We call it competitive excellence when your number is called, go win the game."

HARVIN: I'LL BE BACK

Percy Harvin stood on the field in street clothes after the game and guaranteed he would be ready for Florida's (assumed) national title game.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be back," he said.

He still made a contribution against Alabama. Before the game he spoke in the locker room.

"I just told them this is big," he said. "Don't come back in the locker room if you didn't leave it all out there on the field. You are going to have to face me and look me in the eye and tell me you gave everything."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT