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.

All good things must come to end. For us as Gator fans, the end came too soon.

Give Alabama credit. They came back upset after being victim to Tim Tebow’s first (and, to date, last) fourth-quarter comeback, and they had their way with us all day.

In lieu of a long-past-deadline postmortem, I can say with a high degree of confidence that this game will go down as one that forever changed the college football landscape as we know it:

* All that discussion of Tim Tebow no longer being the greatest of all time? Due to this game.

* If Mark Ingram wins the Heisman? Due to this game.

* Meyer and Saban chasing the Bear, as compared to Meyer being this generation’s Bear? Due to this game.

* If, heaven forfend, Brian Kelley doesn’t get it done and Meyer darts for Notre Dame in a few years? Due to this game.

* All those awards Tebow didn’t win last night? Due to this game.

As for Teargate, to be frank, it wasn’t unexpected given the result. Look at the Promise. Tebow is obviously holding back tears. While I can’t deny that college football is filled with emotion, at the same time, well, you don’t exactly see that kind of display from every player. I rest my case.

Now it’s on to the Sugar Bowl, a date with Cincinnati, where Oscar Robertson, Kenyon Martin, Kevin Youkilis, and, yes, Urban Meyer, once played sports. Looking at it from an X’s and O’s perspective, Joe Haden on Mardy Gilyard is key. Looking at it from intangibles, getting up and playing hard after a big loss is even bigger.

By the way, congrats to Charlie Strong. He’s more than earned his right to coach at a program like Louisville.

Florida has weathered the first two-thirds of the season, and regardless of margin, is now 8-0. Players and coaches talk about how the goal is to get to Atlanta every year, and thanks in part to Tennessee upsetting South Carolina, mission accomplished. Now, the remaining slate features two yawners and three home games.

This is an opportunity to fine-tune the issues on offense, especially against a likely bowl-bound South Carolina team and a Florida State team with a potentially dangerous QB in Christian Ponder.

There’s not too much else to say. Might we see a little of John Brantley?

Congrats on your hard-earned 29-19 win over Mississippi State University. Your defense was stingy in spite of the final score; allowing the offense to score only six points is nothing to sneeze at. And beating Dan Mullen had to have been a bittersweet moment for several players involved.

However, I was not pleased by the display that unfolded in front in my eyes before the beginning of the game, captured by the ESPN cameras for all the world to see. For the second time in a season, you stomped on the visiting team’s logo and nearly instigated an altercation that had to be split up by the referees. I felt deeply conflicted inside.

I know a lot of people don’t consider this a big deal, but think about it for a minute. A school that plays in a league that prides itself on sportsmanship, a school with a coach that goes out of his way to post ads insisting that fans behave classy, a school with an athletic director that prides himself on running sports teams that don’t break the rules, should not resort to something this…this “bush league”.
You say the media has it in for you? Don’t give them any more fodder to work with than you have to. Settle things on the field. You’re better than this.

Yes, I want to cheer a UF team that wins games. But I also want to cheer a UF team that does things the right way. If you believe karma exists, consider the two interception returns for touchdowns a warning.

Now go out there, win out, and make me proud…on both counts.

Sincerely,
Vince

Welcome to offense vs. defense. Featuring offensive displays of defense, the best offense being a good defense, playing off the defense, defending the offense, and defensive players acting offensively when the offending offenders talk more offensively about defense than offense.

Okay, no more tongue twisters. But Arkansas has an offense, and a running back that gashed Florida’s defense. However, the defense that made its name on big plays at the right times a year earlier has grown up and done the unthinkable, taking a good bit of press(ure) from Tim Tebow and Florida’s spread option offense. But surely Arkansas’ defense looks equally as promising as their offensive counterparts and can give Florida a game. Am I right, Jerry? Jerry?

Yeah, I couldn’t blame you if your smile is starting to fade a bit. Allowing the Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno-less Georgia Bulldogs to ring up one point for every week in a year and letting Alabama (which is playing like Alabama, but still…) put up almost as many points as Mallet’s and Michael Smith’s jersey numbers combined is not a good sign. And so far, Florida’s approach, which is a third cousin twice removed from Woody Hayes’ ways, hasn’t had the balance most fans are looking for. But the offense could open up. Maybe.

It’s certainly a positive sign that Florida is favored from every regular-season game on. And if we indeed meet up with Alabama, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Even in spite of my offensive use of a cliche.

Unless something extraordinary happens, Brantley will likely be the starter against LSU.

Given that he’s practiced the entire time in the bye week, I’d say Brantley would be a solid choice. Tim, it’s not a reflection on your performance, but, well, I just don’t feel comfortable with you playing at Tiger Stadium. If Blake Griffin felt woozy just sitting inside a Big 12 stadium last year, I’d hate to think what Tiger Stadium would do to your senses.

I know I’ll probably say what’s already been said, but I’ll say it anyway.

First off, a game is not worth it if you’re needlessly taking more risks than you have to. And second, even if it is that important, a loss is not to going to dent your dreams of one for the ring finger. At the very worst, UF is still in contention to go to Atlanta and you get three weeks to recover instead of two. We’ll survive.

Without a game to look forward to,
This, my friends, has to do.
So to the Gators tip your hats,
while we, the fans, look at their stats.
So excuse me while I halt my rhyme,
and have a look at numbers sublime.

* Florida has scored 182 points in its first four games, at a pace second only to Texas. Then again, both schools could have easily scored more or less depending upon how much time they left their first teams on. Third place? Look to the plains, my friend, where Guz Malzahn’s Torrential Tigers are not far behind.

* The Gators are third in offensive yards gained, behind Texas A&M and Houston, respectively. As above, Auburn is the next team down on the list.

* No team has converted more of its third downs than UF has, and only Air Force has rushed for more yards.

* UF is fourth in scoring defense, behind Oklahoma, Nebraska, and South Florida. And they’ve only allowed two touchdowns in two SEC games.

* The Gators are fourth in yards allowed, behind N.C. State, Alabama, and Arizona State.

* Florida, on average, has outscored its opponents by over 38 per (yes, that includes Tennessee), which leads the nation.

The Gators look the part all right.
Will the Tigers put up a fight?
Sure, if it’s in Baton Rouge at night.
But even if we don’t have 15,
There’s still the defense that we’ve seen.
They’d give Brantley great chances to score,
Forcing stops the crowd would abhor.
And I’m not an English major, you see.
I can’t always make great poetry.

We all know what’s coming next. And there’s probably nothing outside the realm of wishful thinking that will stop it.

Last season, Florida finished its regular season and SEC tournament schedule with 21 wins. End result: NIT.

In the midst of a two-game losing streak, this season’s total remains at 21.

For all practical, rational purposes, even a two-game winning streak probably won’t get UF back into the Big Dance. The Vols were the best practical shot at a marquee conference win. Mississippi State isn’t exactly the road win the tournament crowd will be seeking. Even Kentucky stands at 8-6 in the conference.

The only thing that will stop a second consecutive trip to the NIT: winning the SEC tournament and the automatic bid that comes with it.

Even then, the Gators will likely have to go through LSU to do that - not a sure thing given that the Tigers have gone 13-1 in the conference while South Carolina, the next best squad, is just 9-5.

And it could be a long offseason as well. Nick Calathes may very well decide to use his outstanding individual season as leverage to declare for the NBA. Walter Hodge, the last remnant of both national championship squads, is graduating. The impending senior leader is known for shooting a lot of bricks.

And, as scary a thought as it sounds, Billy Donovan could very well begin to feel just a tiny bit of warmth in his seat. Going to the NIT once with an entirely different squad is understandable.

Going twice in a row with ten of twelve players being sophomores or freshman is excusable.

Going three times, with a transfer center expected to contribute, with a top prospect in the backcourt headed to Gainesville, with a candidate for SEC Player of the Year who could likely return, and with a conference in a downswing, is unacceptable.

It’s going to be a long, long offseason. Luckily, spring practice for football begins on March 25.