And, as it should've been, it was a virtuoso performance that provided the perfect regular-season curtain closer to a legendary, for-the-ages career.
Yes, of course, we are speaking of Tim Tebow, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for another two scores as Florida drubbed Florida State, 37-10, and officially started the countdown toward a battle of the unbeatens for SEC bragging rights and a spot in the national championship game.
However, that Dec. 5 date with football Armageddon will have to wait as it's all about Tebow on this day. In addition to the scoring barrage that further cemented his spot in SEC scoring annals, the senior quarterback threw for 221 yards and ran for another 90 in what was, hands down, his best all-around performance in what's otherwise been an uneven season for the former Heisman winner.
The only thing that could've made his Swamp swan song any better or any more memorable? Completing the now-famous jump pass early in the fourth quarter to put the final exclamation point on a remarkable and historic four years in Gainesville.
All in all, though, it was the perfect capper to the illustrious career of a quarterback who was arguably the most beloved/loathed/polarizing player ever to step foot on a college football field.
I'll let others debate his greatness -- or how overrated he was. Instead, I'll just say a hearty "thank you" that I was around to see this most intriguing of players both on and off the field in action.
It was indeed a privilege.
Now pardon me as, for some unknown reason, I feel the urgent need to shower...
Best supporting cast ever on one single team. I repeat, Florida had the BEST supporting cast ever on a single team... surrounding Tebow.
You've made gator_prof proud, John.
Now wipe your mouth. And you may want some Listerine. Just sayin'.
Tebow will go down as a legend. No doubt at all. He will be in the same conversations as the likes of Doug Flutie, Steve McNair, and Vince Young... but in reality he has probably been a greater college football force than any of them. He is the heart and soul of the Florida Gators.
It's been a great experience to be able to watch Tim Tebow.
Wow, you weren't lying when you said you were going to blow him..
I'm surprised Tebow had it in him after Gary Danielson blew him. Danielson looked like he was going to cry before the game and on two occasions I heard Danielson say "oh no!" before Tebow looked like he would be sacked. Danileson and Lundquist were both like pre-teen girls when Tebow tried the jump pass - I think even Gator play-by-play guys were embarassed. I realize CBS paid a billion dollars to show the SEC, but even NBC shows more objectivity during Irish games than Danielson does when either Florida or Alabama is on. I'd also like to congratulate him on saying someone else could finish calling the game because he was going to work on his Florida-Alabama notes. That's exactly what CBS wants to hear during a blow out to keep fans from flipping the channel.
And Tebow is a great player and obviously is the heart of Florida football, but can we admit that at every position Florida is like three deep with All-American talent?
Oh- Dan Lefevour of Central Michigan reached 3,000 passing and 1,500 rushing in a single season before Saint Tebow did. Fire up Chips!!!
@Sean Martin
Check the stats for the last four years. You're wrong.
wrath, what are you talking about? First off, it is 3000/1000. Tebow never did this. Vince Young was first...and your point was?
ESPN takes the cake on the Tebow worship. College Gameday had on a piece about a 12-year-old boy who lost both his eyes to cancer, and as choked up as the group sounded about it, I think they shed more tears talking about the greatness that is Tim Tebow. They even threw in at the end of the two-hour lovefest a comment about the "Tebow haters" and how anyone could possibly not just love the greatness that is The Chosen One.
I have never met Tebow myself, and I am not going to dispute whether he is good person and a great athlete. But it's not about hating Tebow; it's hating all this sticky, gooey, schmaltzy doe-eyed fawning over Tebow that has gone on non-stop since his senior year in high school that strains the patience of anyone not a Gator fan (and possibly even some that are). Listening to grown men act and talk like love-struck teenage girls is just a bit much. And did we really need to know about how Tebow performs circumcisions at the Philippine orphanage where his parents serve as missionaries? Can we say "TMI"?
No doubt Tebow is a fantastic player and a great guy. Can we now just all acknowledge that and stop with the constant swoon-fest, before ESPN decides to devote a 24/7 channel to all things Tebow?
I think God that the great Tebow is almost gone from college sports.
Tebow is a great player. There's not that much doubt about it.
What I hate is the fact that they keep shoving him in our faces and daring us not to worship him. It's sickening. I am sick of hearing about Tim Tebow.
As for CBS - they couldn't fawn over him enough. It was disgusting. When the sideline reporter (I forget her name) came out with her eye black, I wanted to vomit. Patethic. What happened to being impartial?
And I, too, am sick of hearing about his missionary trips and the circumcisions he performs and all of that. It's great but we've heard it every single game for the last 3-4 years.