TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

In The End, It Was Tebow Again For Gators

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Once again, all eyes were on Tim Tebow on Thursday. And again, he delivered when it counted.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 9, 2009

MIAMI - Tim Tebow kept his promise.

Of course he did.

His teammates did, too.

So unless you slept under a Texas, Utah or USC blankie, you woke this morning to Florida's third national football championship. You woke to the TV replays from the second half, to the quarterback with his head down, running in the night, with his team on his back. You saw the heart and soul of Gator Nation bouncing off Oklahoma Sooners, fulfilling that promise. No one worked harder. No one pushed his team harder.

You woke to three second-half Tim Tebow scoring drives. The last of them, the clincher, finished off by an old favorite, a Tebow fake run and jump pass for a touchdown that sealed the 24-14 victory over Oklahoma in the BCS Championship Game at Dolphin Stadium.

It didn't start out as his best night. He threw two interceptions in the first half, as many as he'd thrown in the first 13 games of this championship season. But when it mattered, when it counted, Tebow counted more, at least more than Oklahoma Heisman winner Sam Bradford and the historically prolific Sooners offense.

Maybe he didn't win another Heisman. Instead, he stiff armed everything in his way, banged off Sooners and got the trophy he really wanted. Nothing stopped him.

"I promised the guys that I would go out and play with all my heart," Tebow said.

Leading up to this BCS title game, he heard Oklahoma defenders flapping their gums about how Tebow would only be the fourth-best quarterback in the Big 12, or the seventh-best. And there are those who think Tebow won't be a great NFL player, not like Bradford. In the end, Tebow could only be who he was.

A winner like we've almost never seen.

Yes, there were so many other players in this game, so many Florida plays. The Gators defense held an Oklahoma team that had scored 60 or more points in its last five games to 14 all night. Think about that. And there was the amazing Percy Harvin, shredding Oklahoma when it mattered.

But how could you not come back to No. 15?

To his apology and promise after the loss to Mississippi?

No one would work harder or push his team more.

He threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for 109 yards, and 172 yards of his offense came in the last 25 minutes.

At halftime, with the game tied at 7, Tebow told outgoing Gators offensive coordinator Dan Mullen he wouldn't mind carrying the ball a little more. Tim Tebow got his wish, and grabbed this night.

He led the Gators, running again and again, six times for 48 yards, making big plays, until Harvin ran it in for a 14-7 lead. At one point, after Tebow optioned right for 12 yards, he rose and raised his arms to the Gators in the crowd and roared. The crowd roared back.

"I was trying to get us some momentum," Tebow said. "At that point I just kept fighting to make plays."

Oklahoma tied it early in the fourth quarter, but the Gators came back, Harvin breaking off a long run that eventually led to a field goal. But the last scoring drive belonged to Tebow after the defense made another big play - Ahmad Black's amazing interception. Down the field came the Gators. Down the field came Tim Tebow.

Six passes, six completions.

A 17-yarder on third-and-12, with Tebow throwing a strike while rolling left. Then he threw over the middle for 29 yards, another great throw. Then another huge third-down pass. Then another touchdown, Tebow jumping up and throwing, until his team was in the clouds. A little later, he directed a Gator Chop at OU players, drawing an unsportsmanlike penalty. Tim Tebow unsportsmanlike? Never. Well ...

"It was more for the fans," he said.

Will Tebow return for his senior season?

"One More Year," Florida fans screamed.

In a lot of hearts and souls, he'll never leave.

And that's a promise.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT