UF Keeps Hope Alive

Apologize to the Florida Gators now and you can avoid the rush.

Struggling? Vulnerable? Uninspired? Those were only some of the things being suggested recently about a team with high hopes but heretofore little foundation to build them on. That was until Saturday night.

Suspect turned into supercharged. Before a live-wired home crowd of 90,684, the Gators dished out a quick-handed, hard-hitting smackdown of the No. 4-ranked LSU Tigers that was thorough, dazzling and decisive in every phase.

The game ended 51-21. The party lived well into the night. The impact reached even farther.

Earlier, No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 3 Missouri went down. Florida, 5-1 and 3-1 in the Southeastern Conference, did the honors to the Tigers (5-1, 2-1). Guess who's back demanding national attention?

Quarterback Tim Tebow completed 14 of 21 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score. Playmaker Percy Harvin caught six passes for 112 yards and both Tebow TDs. Linebacker Brandon Spikes intercepted two passes and returned the second 52 yards for a score.

Against a defense that was allowing 69 yards rushing a game, the Gators ran for 265 - getting a third-quarter TD run of 42 yards and a total of 129 on 10 carries by freshman Jeffrey Demps. Chris Rainey added 66. Meanwhile, LSU's Charles Scott, the SEC's leading rusher with an average of 133 yards entering the game, was held to 35.

"We were extremely focused," Tebow said. "Extremely hyped coming into the game. There was a lot of passion. I think you kind of saw that in the first quarter, the way everybody was playing."

The Gators could not have asked for a better, or more telling, start.

Taking the opening kickoff, Florida ran twice and faced third-and-12 from its own 30.

No worry, not when you have Tebow, Harvin and a little bit of luck.

With time to pass, but a defender closing fast, Tebow lofted a high, arching pass downfield toward Harvin as he streaked down the middle. LSU safety Danny McCray got a hand on the ball at the 35, but only enough to pop it into the air as if he were a volleyball setter.

Harvin finished with a kill, scoring on the 70-yard strike for a 7-0 lead just 1:38 into the first quarter.

"A real good start," Florida coach Urban Meyer said.

Then things really began to go Florida's way.

After a three-and-out by LSU on its first possession, the Gators went 77 yards to the 3 before settling for a 20-yard field goal by Jonathan Phillips.

Another three-and-out by the Tigers resulted in a 47-yard punt and a 40-yard return by Brandon James to the visitors' 42.

Seven plays later, Tebow found Harvin again, this time running a crossing pattern at the goal line for a 7-yard touchdown pass.

Adhering to the early theme, Spikes ended LSU's next possession with an interception at midfield.

A few ticks of the clock later, the first quarter ended with Florida holding a 186-4 advantage in total offense, 11:29-3:31 in time of possession, and 9-0 in first downs. Yeah, 17-0 on the scoreboard was good, too.

It would not continue quite that well - how could it? The Gators were unable to cash in on Spikes' interception or a fumble recovery by A.J. Jones at the LSU 48 and led 20-0 after a 44-yard field goal by Phillips before the Tigers responded.

LSU showed their fight by answering with a 60-yard march in six plays that ended with a 6-yard pass from Jarrett Lee to Chris Mitchell with five seconds to play.

The Tigers kept the momentum to start the second half, taking the third-quarter kickoff and using 6:19 to go 80 yards. Quarterback Andrew Hatch's 3-yard run cut Florida's lead to 20-13.

At that point, it could have gone either way. The home crowd and the Gators were suddenly sobered. Florida was looking at third-and-4 at its 40 and the Tigers were feeling new life. Tebow took it out of them, running for the first down.

"That was classic Tebow," Meyer said.

A few plays later, he connected on a 37-yard strike to Louis Murphy down the sideline to the 2.

The rout was on.

"That was a huge drive," Tebow said. "I think that's a big difference between this year and last year. They scored to get within six points and we knew we had to put a drive together.

"You see a different team, a more mature team, a poised team. We drove down the field and put it in. It gave us the momentum back, and Spikes and the boys back out there. That's how you build momentum."

And new respect.