ATLANTA -- It's going to be warmer, but it's going to be a letdown.
That much has been determined of BCS Bowl XI 33 days from now in an anonymous suburb in South Florida. They will call it the national championship game, but they will be wrong.
College football left that designation behind in a wrung out Georgia Dome on Saturday night. The best conference's best two teams were led into history by one of history's best quarterbacks.
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| Florida's Brandon Spikes says the SEC is second only to the NFL. (Getty Images) |
At the same time Florida's marvelous, perfect, smiling, all-time leader of a quarterback might have clinched his second consecutive Heisman, the team he led wrapped up something more important.
"We don't have any control over playing for a national championship," Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen said. "The computers are going to spit out what happens to us now. But today, on the field, we got to control our fate in the SEC."
That fact was much more important than the ancillary reward for Florida of playing for a second national championship in three years. Considering the incredible buildup to one of the biggest games in SEC history, playing for it all in Miami Gardens, Fla., next month almost takes a back seat to lighting up Hotlanta on a rocking Saturday night in December.
No. 2 Florida's 31-20 victory over No. 1 Alabama proved many things to the largest Georgia Dome crowd in history. The first No. 1 vs. No. 2 game in history featuring two teams from the SEC did not disappoint. Alabama pounded away with what might be the nation's best offensive line. Florida trailed for the first time in two months. Then Tebow led the first fourth-quarter comeback of his career.
"I guess he was just waiting for the biggest stage in college football to lead one," Mullen said.
A warning, then, to the folks who will spend their hard-earned money to get to Dolphin Stadium next month. You have already missed out. This was the fitting climax to the season. Two giants playing in front of fans who are not only proud of their teams but rabid about their conference.
"The next-best thing to the NFL," Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes said.
No more than seven points separated the teams until Tebow threw an insurance touchdown, his third, to Riley Cooper with 2:50 left in a slugfest. Only then did Gators fans begin to celebrate and saddened Tide lovers look over their shoulders as they headed for the exits.
"This SEC championship is like no other," said defensive tackle Brandon Antwine, on crutches as one of the wounded Gators. "It's like the granddaddy of them all. It's enough, but we're going to make it more than enough when we win this national championship."
What is it about these Gators and predictions? They continued a roll that started shortly after Sept. 27 when Tebow came this close to guaranteeing that the wounded Gators would run the table. His maximum-effort proclamation came followed a 31-30 upset loss to Ole Miss.
"I cringed when I first heard it," Florida coach Urban Meyer said Friday. "You put yourself out there."
Now with a ninth consecutive victory and another SEC title, what else are you supposed to call Tebow's called shot? Incredibly dumb comes to mind, considering it's easier running through a car wash without getting wet than getting through an SEC schedule. Prophetic is the other term that fits.
With Alabama leading 20-17 after three quarters, ready to take over physically and emotionally, Tebow led the go-ahead drive. "He got hyped," receiver Carl Moore said simply. For all of you who think this game was Florida's speed vs. Alabama's Brawn, check the play-by-play. That drive went 62 yards in 11 plays, nine of them runs.
"That might be the drive of the year," Meyer said, "to be able to answer it when they took it and jammed it right at us."
"Our guys got a little upset about how we're (supposedly) not tough on the offensive or defensive line," Mullen said. "We weren't going to be able to run and we weren't going to be able to stop the run. They weren't real happy with the term of not being too tough."
They had to be tough, didn't they? The Gators did it Saturday without Percy Harvin, their fastest player (arguably) and best home-run hitter (definitely). Harvin is actually one of those guys who can run through a car wash without getting moist.
He was also the week's biggest worry for Gator Nation. Danny Ponce, the Orange Bowl's energetic president, is also a University of Florida trustee and chairman the school's finance committee. Ponce shared a plane with Meyer to Atlanta and got nervous when he realized the physical state of the Gators.
The team had piled up six season-ending ACLs during the preseason and regular season. Early in the week, Mullen offered to a buy steak dinners for members of the training staff if they could get Harvin onto the field.
"Best steakhouse in town, you and your families," Mullen told the trainers. "I've got you if Percy can score a touchdown. They countered with, 'Can you just put him on the goal line and dive from 1 yard out?'"
No, they were told, it had to be the full Percy. Harvin was finally ruled out Saturday because of a nagging high ankle sprain suffered last week against Florida State. Tailback Chris Rainey has been nursing a hamstring for weeks. The defensive line had been a patchwork.
"I was sweating bullets all day," Ponce said as he watched the final minutes wind down.
In the absence of Harvin, Tebow merely looked for more of Harvin's fellow classmates. His three touchdown passes all went to juniors -- David Nelson, Cooper and Moore. Cooper was the most experienced of the three, coming into the game with all of 14 catches this season.
"There's no way you can expect to replace Percy Harvin," Nelson said.
Tim Tebow has been many things for Florida. Captain Comeback had not been one of them. In 2006, he was a backup on Chris Leak's national championship team. Last season, Florida lost four times and blew out everyone else. If you want to nitpick, the kid had never led his team from behind. That's almost a weak criticism, considering Florida had averaged nearly 52 points in its last eight games.
But it was the only criticism left of the superstar going into the fourth quarter. Trailing 24-20 with 7½ minutes left, Alabama absolutely needed a stop to have a final chance to win. It didn't get it. On the fourth play of the drive, Tebow rose up and fired a 33-yard dart to Louis Murphy. A couple of plays later, the quarterback dived to the Alabama 1, the game almost assured until Meyer jumped out onto the field and was flagged for it.
The 5-yard penalty allowed Tebow one more test of his arm. He zipped a 5-yard slant-in pass to Cooper. The Georgia Dome came apart, at least half of it. The other half, red-clad, has to wait until next year. That will likely bring a meeting with Utah in the Sugar Bowl.
"That fourth quarter was vintage Tim Tebow," Meyer said. "I don't know the entire history of the University of Florida, but I can imagine that drive and that fourth quarter will go down as one of the greatest ever at Florida."
The coach probably wasn't the most objective source but he was asked if his star deserved to win a second consecutive Heisman.
"I do now," he said.
Ponce got his wish but needs to be asked a key question: Does Dolphin Stadium have its own security detail for Tebow? The quarterback had at least three plain-clothes security guys running with him as he made a complete lap of the Georgia Dome, slapping hands of giddy Gator fans in the first row. One middle-aged man stared at his hand like he would never wash it again. On his victory lap, Tebow paused only long enough to shake the hands of band members as they marched out of the stands.
"That was practically the hardest part of the day," Tebow said. "I was getting so tired."
While Tebow was slapping, Ponce was bursting at the result and the scene.
"Not only are the Gators blessed, college football is blessed." he said.
Miami Gardens might get the next game, Danny. Atlanta had the best one on Saturday night.
