Gators No. 1: Forida claims national title with win over Oklahoma
By Ben Walker | ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI – Tim Tebow gave Florida the jolt it needed, and the Gators toughed out a second BCS title in three years.
Their 24-14 win over No. 2 Oklahoma in a choppy, sloppy affair Thursday night made them a national champion. But it likely did little to quiet fans of Southern California, Utah and Texas, all of whom already claimed the top spot.
Florida coach Urban Meyer, whose head is to the right of the flow of liquid, is doused by players during the fourth quarter of the BCS Championship NCAA college football game in Miami, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. Florida defeated Oklahoma 24-14. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
The high-scoring shootout between Heisman Trophy winners never materialized. Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford couldn’t score from in close and Tebow threw two interceptions, as many as he had all season.
Tebow, however, shook off two miserable throws to rescue the top-ranked Gators (13-1). He drove them to the clinching score – he took two hard steps toward the line, jumped and zipped a 4-yard touchdown pass to David Nelson with 3:07 to make it 24-14.
Percy Harvin returned from an ankle injury and dashed for 122 yards on only nine carries. His 52-yard gallop set up Jonathan Phillips’ 27-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for a 17-14 lead.
Tebow added to the title he helped the Gators win in 2006 with a rout of Ohio State and, one season after winning the Heisman, brought home another trophy.
“Tebow, just call him Superman,” Harvin said.
National chomps, indeed!
The Associated Press will release its final poll today.
Tebow was picked the game’s most outstanding player, running for 109 yards. His passing wasn’t so precise – 18-for-30 – yet it was his sheer will that kept coach Urban Meyer’s team going.
It was the third straight national title for a team from the Southeastern Conference, and marked the Sooners’ fifth straight loss in a BCS game. Oklahoma (12-2) set a modern record for scoring this season and put up at least 60 points in its last five games, yet never found its rhythm.
Bradford, who beat out Tebow for the Heisman, was a disappointing 26-for-41 with two interceptions. Like Tebow, he’s going to explore his potential for the NFL draft – not exactly the performance he wanted.
Tebow struggled throughout the first half, his lone highlight a 20-yard touchdown pass to Louis Murphy for a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter. Bradford came right back with a swift 65-yard drive, capped by his 6-yard TD toss to Jermaine Gresham.
Florida’s defense, rather than Tebow, Harvin and its speedsters on the other side of the ball, kept the Gators close.
Poised to break the tie midway through the second quarter, Oklahoma owned a first-and-goal at the 9. Chris Brown carried four straight times and the Gators stood up the 1,100-yard rusher, twice stuffing him from the 1.
Rarely turned back in the red zone this season, the Sooners let it happen to them again in the final minute before halftime.
There were 10 seconds left and Oklahoma was out of timeouts when Bradford dropped back from the 6. He tried to hit Manuel Johnson at the goal line, but the pass deflected off him and the Gators ran a perfect tip drill, with three defenders touching the ball before Major Wright had the interception.
Tebow, meanwhile, kept stopping the Gators.
The interceptions were bad picks, too – Tebow telegraphed a long, cross-field throw that Nic Harris easily grabbed and later made a short flip over the middle right to Gerald McCoy.
Both teams seemed to have trouble with the game officials. The crew kept interrupting play for various reasons, and the result was a sloppy, scoreless first quarter.
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Meyer took turns hollering at ACC referee Ron Cherry, as if to tell him “Let em play!”
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TECH would have torn up Florida’s secondary tonight.Sixty min’s (OU GAME)is all it took.Sixty min’s out of a whole season or we would have been there tonight.But what a great sesaon it was.Twenty seven short weeks and we will be back at Jones ready for another great season.And I just bet Crabtree will be on the field…what do you bet???????
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IN YOUR DREAMS
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GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those cheating b@st@rds from Norman got smacked around for 60 minutes and even Bobby Stoops’ referee fund couldn’t win the game for them. Fantastic!!!! Wonder how long the Barry Switzer wanna be can keep his job by losing big games?
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After tons of fan-tainted ink we have the cold facts, and they don’t lie. Sec: 2 – Big 12: 0. And we have the answer about the seemingly amazing Big 12 offensive numbers – they were just inflated like the housing bubble. The very well organized Oklahoma offense, led by a great quarterback, met a worthy opponent for the first time in the whole season, ant it struggled visibly, coming short numerous times on key plays. I am just praying that the housing bubble will deflate less than what we witnessed yesterday.
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Just like they tore up the defenses of Oklahoma and Mississippi? I do not know what you have been smoking.
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The #12 ranking is about what I expected. I figured they would stick us at the back of the two loss teams. But they ranked two 3 loss teams in the AP and three 3 loss teams ahead of Tech in the Coaches poll. You would think we were a WAC or Mountain West team they way we get treated in the polls.
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Wow, Rebel, how long did it take you to think up that response? Why are you on this web-site anyway? Oh, sorry, it was your turn to use the one computer in the state of Miss, so you had to try one more insult. Go study for your math test, remember 1+1=2, 1+2=3 (advanced math in Miss)
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By the way Boscoe, TT was voted ahead of Ole’ Miss in the final AP Poll. Same question to you, why are you on a TT web-site? Go study for your Miss advanced science final, remember H2O=water, NaCl=salt.
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Well, Ole’ Miss folks, you finally achieved a #1 rating. Mississippi was rated the fattest state in the U.S. Congratulations on a title well deserved!
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bowl games are no measure of how good teams really are. ole miss could not beat us on a regular basis in a game that meant something. a bye started our fall, ass whuppin from ou in their house where they are 60-2 took the air out of us and the injuries from that game hurt us in the baylor game. anytime a spread offense is off that amount of time, rust will show and it did. there was no intensity in the baylor or ole miss game. i believe the pressure and tough schedule of ranked teams in a row got the best of us. tech is still not deep enough to lose quality players to injuries and then a rough schedule.
i am ready for the 09 red raiders and will be there supporting them as usual and to all the different posters from different schools ragging on tech and lubbock why don’t you tend to your house and we will tend to ours….
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