Orange and Blue Hue » Tebow’s Apology

Tebow’s Apology

Tebow - apologizes.
“I just want to say one thing to the fans, and everybody in Gator Nation. You know what…”

Minutes after coming up short on 4th-and-1, Tebow paused, gripped the podium in his powerful paws, and took a moment to compose himself.

“I’m sorry. Extremely sorry. We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal. It’s something Florida’s never done here. But I promise you one thing: A lot of good will come out of this. You’ve never seen any player in the entire country who will play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. And you’ll never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season. And you’ll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season. God bless.”

If that doesn’t churn your gut a bit, you’re an automaton. It was Tebow’s way of acknowledging he’d played less than his best against Ole Miss, taking the loss solely upon his own broad shoulders. Of course, he wasn’t responsible for his teammates’ fumbles, his receivers’ drops, or the defense’s big play gaffes. He didn’t call the old “Hammer” play on fourth-and-one, a play everyone in the stadium saw coming. And he didn’t let Ole Miss’ blitzing linebackers through the line time after time, either.

He’s Tim Tebow. One player. A quarterback, and a damn good one, but just one player. Prone to mistakes, like the rest of us. Capable of serious error. Capable of having the worst performance of his life at the worst possible time.

He’s human.

Tim Tebow is a 20-year old kid, but I take him at his word when makes this promise to Gator Nation.

All is not lost. This offense has looked inept, yes, and despite incredible mistakes that defy explanation or even description, the Gators still found themselves with a chance to win against an SEC opponent in the final moments of the game. There is time for this offense to get itself back on track, to reinsert itself into the national picture. Florida still controls its own destiny in the SEC East, and Georgia is not necessarily the juggernaut we feared. Atlanta is still within our grasp, and dare I say it, a one-loss SEC champion will go to the BCS title game. Whether it’s Georgia, LSU, Florida, Auburn or Alabama is up for grabs. Tim Tebow and his squad will have every opportunity to be there, if they and the coaching staff can fix this offense, an offense that churned on all cylinders just one season ago.

I repeat: all is not lost.

Whether this team can win out is a discussion for another day, another time. The point is, they can win out, they can win the SEC, and while it will be a tough row to hoe, we have some of the best players in the nation giving everything in their heart and souls to make it happen.

Now it’s time for the coaching staff to step up and put our players in the best possible position to win. I’m talking to you, Dan Mullen.

29 Comments so far
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Wow… first time reading your blog and I must say, great insight on Timmy and what the Gators need to do for the rest of the season.

I am becoming incredibly tired of reading other Gator forums where most of our fellow fans provide no readable analysis and post nothing but the most asinine statements including my favorite, “I’d take Stafford over Tebow after this weekend!” Yup, pure genius!

Anywho, great blog! Recommending this site to many others.

Go GATORS!

Can someone explain to me why Urban chose to go for it instead of trying for the FG? That’s what I want to know. Is your PK not very good? Was it windy? I just don’t really see the virtue in going for it; even if you had gotten the first down, there’s no guarantee that you would’ve gotten more than a few yards closer before trying the kick. Just not worth the risk in my opinion.

Anyways, tough loss guys, but you’re def. not out of it, although your margin for error is now pretty slim.

We’ve gotta take on these Rebels next week, in Oxford no less. Not looking forward to it after yet another offensive performance by our offense. I hope the Rebels make a lot of mistakes or that Garcia can break off a few scrambles, because I’m afraid that Rebel d-line is going to eat us for lunch.

Going for it was the right call I think. It was a pretty long FG and it was only 1 yard. We should be able to get one yard. I really liked all Meyers decisions to go for it on 4th down yesterday.

Minor point: Tebow is 21.

I would say he is a man, not a kid. If the coaches let him he can lead us to Atlanta.

Well, I guess you can usually assume that one yard is doable with Tebow at the helm. Not this time, I guess. Still think it was a big risk.

The real problem is that opposing teams know that it is going to be a Tebow run on 4th down, so they can prepare for it.

And putting Cam Newton there would be an indicator of the same.

Last but not least, the run is contingent on the offensive line giving enough of a push to open lanes for Tebow to run.

By the way, I think that there were actually three attempts from around the UF 30. Since that would be about a 47-yard field goal, it’s a sign that Meyer is concerned about his kicking game. Phillips has better accuracy, but Sturgis is more powerful.

Going for it was the right call. One yard, one stinking yard. Of course it’s the right thing to do. We’d have been calling for Meyer’s head if he went for the FG and missed.

Hate me if you want. Call me “jumping on the bandwagon”. But I will pull for Florida with everything I’ve got, except when the play Kentucky, because this kid is absolutely amazing! He has all of my respect! Go Gators but please don’t beat the Cats!

You sure about that, John?

Because if you’re looking to jump on a bandwagon, then Alabama and LSU are looking pret-ty good right now.

And as much competition as there is in the league, Alabama is the crown jewel of the league with 12 titles.

Otherwise, I understand your sentiment.

Don’t give Alabama 5 free titles, Vince. They have 7, that is plenty. Don’t feed the “12 title” myth, it’s absurd.

As much as I’m supposed to hate all Gators out there, it’s really hard to dislike this kid. He represents everything that is right about college football and society in general. I only wish he’d chosen another school to attend.

I completely agree with the fact that all is not lost. And to those that are arguing the final play of the game; I believe that Urban made the right decision on going for it but maybe he called the wrong play. There is no way that you can let a COMPLETELY unproven kicker attempt a 49 yarder when you have the reigning heisman trophy winner at QB and arguably the most dynamic playmaker in the country at RB/WR. I think an option to with Tebow and Harvin would have been a much better call but hindsight is 20/20.

Yet again my respect for Tim Tebow grows even larger. He’s a born leader and I truly believe that he will motivate his team. I expect a big turn around for the remainder of the season. Start airing the ball out more and putting Moody, Rainey and James in the slot. Great job on putting the ball in Harvin’s hands.

Look, we all expected a loss, we just didn’t expect it this soon or to this team. I see two good things stemming from this.

1. Almost 100% that TT stays for his Senior year.
2. We will not be reading our press clippings anymore.

GO GATORS!!!

Going for it was the right call, except that EVERYONE in the world knew who was going to get the ball. We need more… “something”.

5 free titles?? Then why do I always see the “12″ on the helmet in College Gameday?

Vince, the best explination you can get is on the link on the right of your site….Saurian Sagacity….It breaks down each one of them.

Right. Saurian Sagacity went back and debunked each of the freebies. Put it this way, if we used Alabama’s logic, Florida would have three, not two, national titles.

Absurd

I agree with the call to go for it on 4th and 1. Also, i agree that we would have called for urban’s head had phillips missed it. Lastly, isn’t that the beauty of the tebow sneak? EVERYONE knows its coming but with this exception, it has not been stopped. Id say that call even when people know its coming is effective 90% of the time. Same logic applies to this situation. Had he run with Moody or rainey and fallen short, we would be the first to cite how often Tebow up the middle has worked in the past.

In a way, I hope that mullen and the offense now shed every ounce of conservatism. They now have nothing to lose. Aggressive playcalling is what allows less talanted teams to beath the Gators (LSU last year requiring like 5 4th downs). Now its our turn to be the aggressor and bring the fight to teams who will play conservatively to protect their undefeated season (LSU, for example).

That said, what a tough loss.

LOL, Vince thought Alabama had 12 national titles. Everybody in the country BUT Alabama fans know they dont have 12 legit claims.

No question that we had to go for it. Did you not see our last kick attempt? you know, the PAT? Well, longer kicks tend to have a lower trajectory in order to make the distance…..

florida will dominate every game by at least 21 and win a BCS CHAMPIONSHIP AGAIN GATOR NATION!!!!!!!!!! After this game againt the piglets tebow and heisman will be in the same sentence monday! MARK MY WORDS

Uhhhhh, they’re called the Razorbacks.

Wake up Josh…..reality is calling you.

I really hope your crystal ball isn’t lying Josh! Hey run with it how do you think Mr. Two Bits got his start. Never stop shootin high. Hell we got the team to do it!!! I’m with ya check out my post on “Downright Offensive” GO GATORS!!!

GO GATORS! we’ll do ok. I felt so bad for Tim poor guy wanted to cry. hey baby,you’ll be fine we’ll get thrugh this.we’ll beat rest of the teams(hopefully).and go on to Atlanta,and you come back next year your Senior yeah,yeah baby ! :)
!

yeah by the way Tim is a man he’s 21 ! :)

Wow….Josh is the man for calling the LSU beatdown in advance. I still say he’s delusioned, but he was the only one with the balls to make the prediction. He even got the “by at least 21″ part.

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