It’s officially ended, men. The championship season that wasn’t and the era of the hyped QB that was all came to an end. Some reflections on the Tebow/(Meyer?) Era:

*Florida is the first FBS/Division-1 school in history to post back-to-back 13 win seasons, and thus, the first to have three in four seasons. I’d say two out of three, while not ideal, certainly isn’t bad.

*Tim Tebow never missed a game in four years. Wow.

*Tebow ends with 145 total touchdowns, by far a school record, is fourth all-time in passing yardage with 9,285 (just three yards shy of beating Shane Matthews for third place), sixth all-time in rushing yardage with 2947, and tied for second (with his predecessor, Chris Leak) with 88 touchdown passes.

*Tebow had a career high in rushing yardage this season (yes, including ‘07)

*Coach, however you decide upon your future, for your sake and for our team’s, please, please, please do it as soon as reasonably possible. And I’m not just saying this because the coaching situation will hurt us in recruiting. We’ll still do fine.

The Hoops Gators knocked off #2 Michigan State, while Tebow’s Swamp Legacy concluded with yet another pasting of the worthless Seminoles of Florida State… all within 24 hours of each other.

In terms of schadenfreude, could this have been written any more sweetly? ESPN College Gameday dropped by, not because of the enormity of the game — FSU stinks, after all — but the significance of Tim Tebow’s final game in the Swamp. The parallel storyline, Bobby Bowden’s coaching legacy, was necessarily weak in the modern sense thanks to Bowden’s lack of accomplishments in the last 8 years of his career.

FSU’s ship is sinking. HMS Bowden is taking on water faster than Jimbo Fisher can bail it out. Meanwhile, the Gators are two games away from a historic accomplishment, and Tebow’s legacy as the greatest player in college football history is nearly cemented.

Good times, ladies and gentlemen. A halcyon era of Gator dominance… a masterful meld of coaching and players to produce an unprecedented string of success against Florida’s rivals.

But enough on the 6-6 Nolies, who don’t feature a single player on the roster who know the taste of victory over the Gators.

You want to talk about Gator Greats? Sure, Tebow’s one, but many of the Gator Greats of ‘09 play on defense. Brandon Spikes. Carlos Dunlap. Ryan Stamper. Joe Haden. A.J. Jones. While UF enjoyed a field day against FSU’s swiss-cheese offense, against better competition, our defense has carried the day. Thank you, boys. You may have walked through that tunnel for the last time, but you will not be forgotten.

It actually happened.

Good thing there’s a bye week, but even in the best-case scenario, it’s still scary, regardless of who it is.

“…when we repeat as national champs!”

Tim Tebow’s return to school has folks in Gainesville abuzz.

To top it off, rumors abound that Spikes might contemplate a senior year to stay with Tebow and Co.

Ladies and gentlemen, commence the most exciting/nerve-wracking offseason in school history. On the one hand, Florida has the perfect combination of talent and experience to repeat as national champs. But on the other, the expectations have never been greater.

The Sugar Bowl is not an option. It’s Pasadena or bust now.

Talent-wise, Florida’s biggest concerns are finding a capable wide receiver (or #2 option, if Percy Harvin stays) and replacing half of the offensive line. That’s about it. Even MLB is not *too* big of a problem; redshirt senior Ryan Stamper has experience on all three spots.

In fact, the Gators’ biggest obstacle to repeat may very well be the Heisman Trust. Yes, the Heisman Trust. If Florida makes the BCS Championship Game, Tim Tebow joins Archie Griffin as the only two-time winners in award history, and here’s why:

Buyer’s remorse. We all know what happened to Sam Bradford (and chances are, he takes the money and runs with his draft stock). Colt McCoy and Texas won 24-21 against Ohio State, but it wasn’t convincing, given 41-14, 38-24, 35-3, and 13-6 were all by bigger margins.

As with Griffin, voters will likely give Tebow the award as a celebration of a legendary career. But given the Heisman curse, that isn’t a good sign for a repeat.

Even repeat winners are not immune to postseason woes: On January 1, 1976, Griffin lost, in all places, at the Rose Bowl, the locale of next season’s title game.

But otherwise, nation, we are in the midst of an almost surreal ride. Enjoy it while it lasts.

No pressure whatsoever.

This concerns your immediate futures as far as playing football is concerned. There has been rampant speculation that the three of you might try to copy Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Corey Brewer in the stay-another-year-and-win-another-title-department.

If any one of you, two of you, or heck, even all three of you decide to come back (particularly you, Tim), your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to accomplish a feat that no champion in the BCS system or in the state of Florida has ever done.

Back-to-back national championships.

Granted, you have just come off winning it all already, and if you decide to leave, we won’t fault you for taking NFL money while the opportunity is available; you have proven everything to your university that you needed to prove, and we commend you for it. But if you choose to build upon your success, it will come at a hefty price, and not just in money.

If you thought the expectations last season were big, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. You’ve weathered a schedule that includes 11 bowl teams and 9 games in the toughest conference in college football. You went from a season on the brink of disaster following Ole Miss to one of the most dominating stretch runs in history.

But this season, everybody knows you can do it again. You’ll have to handle the risks of a championship swoon and the potentially overinflated egos that go along with it. In all likelihood, it will be championship or bust in Gainesville.

Your relationship with the other league teams is a complicated one. As the defending SEC and national champs, league teams will give you their best shot week after week. But if you can successfully navigate all of the challenges en route to Pasadena, you will go with the respect and support of the other 11 fanbases in the conference.

If you get hurt and your stock slips, millions of future earnings are on the line.

And there will be moments of self-doubt where you wonder if you made the right choice.

But if you can handle everything with aplomb and achieve the repeat, you will already take the dynasty you are in and push it into truly rarefied air.

No active coach in college football will have three titles - except Urban Meyer.

No Big Six conference will have back-to-back-to-back-to-back titles - except the SEC.

Heck, I wouldn’t be able to name a college football player with three titles save you guys.

One way or the other, your legacies have been cemented. But if you so choose, you can build upon them, and perhaps enjoy football immortality among an even greater group of fans.

It’s your choice. But regardless of if you stay or go, make the most of it.

Sincerely,

O&B Hue

PS: This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

PPS: Not really.

Gator Nation took it somewhat personally when Tebow was snubbed for the second Heisman Trophy he deserved. The full ramifications of how and why Tebow lost weren’t understood until sometime after the presentation, when it was revealed that 194 of the Heisman Trust’s 530 voters left Tebow off their ballots entirely. Words don’t do justice to the sheer disgust felt by many Gator fans. Even Urban Meyer was quoted as saying, “If Tim Tebow was left off of 194 ballots, there are 194 too many ballots out there.” Word, Coach. Even if all of those losers had placed Tebow at 3rd, which is still hard to fathom but at least isn’t entirely out in left field, college football’s greatest player of our era (Blutarsky calls him GPOOE^TM, which I dig) would have become just the second two-time Heisman Trophy winner in history. By leaving him off, they guaranteed that he would not win.

Denied. Robbed. Jobbed. That’s what happened. Call me a sore loser about this — sure. Call me a sore loser anytime the Gators get worked. That is clearly what happened here. Not to take anything away from Sam Bradford, who is a great quarterback and a gracious winner, but the way Tebow lost speaks volumes about how politicized this voting process has really become.

The argument of those who defend this travesty revolves around the notion that Big 12 voters left Tebow off because they had three great Big 12 quarterbacks to place: Bradford, McCoy, and Harrell. Just one problem with that: Harrell appeared on hardly any ballots, in any capacity. So bogus.

And yes, I’m driving at a point here: this team has a rallying cry, a reason to come into the championship game mad and ready show the world that their leader eats Sam Bradfords for lunch. Hell, Tim Tebow could throw Bradford to McCoy. That’s what I think.

A crystal football is worth a dozen Heisman Trophies, if not more. The real prize is earned on the field, which is as it should be. And we will see just how good Bradford is when facing a real, competent defense — something he has not yet done this season.

C/o Gatorsports.com.

Dear Urb,

Far be it from us to think ahead to the future. You know, the one that exists at some point in time after the BCS National Championship game. We know you’re dreaming of nothing other than new special teams wrinkles, offensive plays and schemes to whip our team into a frothing frenzy when they play the Sooners. Thanks for that.

But we can’t help but think about our boy, and the incredible significance of keeping him for another year. We’re talking about the best player in college football, hands down, and 25% of his career is on the line. Even more if you don’t count his freshman year, when he backed up Chris Leak.

And let’s be clear about something, Urb. We know that if the right opportunity is there, Timmy could and should take it. If he brings home a crystal football on January 8th, his job is complete. We, Gator Nation, release our favorite son to wherever his dreams may take him next. And we will support him wholeheartedly.

There’s just one thing, Urb. You know, and we know, that Timmy’s not ready to take that next leap. Not yet. And the opportunity isn’t right; not now, anyway. Despite being the greatest college quarterback in the last quarter century — and arguably among the greatest of all time — his skills don’t translate well to the NFL. He needs another year of prep so that he can get what he richly deserves: a first-round draft selection.
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This has to be a joke.

Yeah, only the greatest college football player of our generation. The guy who won SEC and national championships as a freshman, a Heisman Trophy as a sophomore, and has now led his team to an SEC title and BCS championship berth as a junior. The guy who trucks middle linebackers like they’re tackle dummies. The guy who transformed offense in the SEC. The guy who re-wrote the quarterback position. The Living Legend.

3rd team. That’s freaking hilarious.

I strongly disagree with my esteemed colleague, Keltic Gator, who believes that Bradford and McCoy had more compelling arguments to this year’s Heisman Trophy. I ask a simple question: if you’re building a college football team and can start with any quarterback, who do you take?

No one in their right mind — other than Oklahoma and Texas fans, of course — would take anyone ahead of Tim Tebow.

Tim Tebow should have won this year’s Heisman. He should be first team All-American. There isn’t a better player in college football. There hasn’t been in the last decade. There is only one Tim Tebow.

First team All-Everything.

THE DISASSOCIATED PRESS

Oklahoma vs. Florida, a matchup between Heisman winners past and present.

In the midst of one of the most hyped matchups in history, we decided to have cross-examinations with the quarterbacks of each team. First and foremost, we sent our SEC representatives to interview Bradford.

SEC Guy - Sam, we appreciate you sitting down to talk with us.

Bradford - Glad to be here.

SG - There have been concerns about OU reaching the BCS title game despite a 45-35 loss to Texas, your thoughts?

SB - Well, we might have lost, but tiebreaker rules are rules. UT shouldn’t be blaming us! No, they should point fingers at Texas Tech. If they weren’t 11-1, none of this would have happened and the good guys would have won.
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