NEW ORLEANS, LA — In the end, they stood together one more time on the platform for champions with orange and blue confetti raining down from the Superdome sky in celebration of a job well done, a race well run and a task of excellence achieved.
Fitting that Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow should go out this way: Tebow as the record holder for passing yardage and total offense in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, as well as winner of the Miller-Digby MVP Award. Meyer as the coach of another 13-win season and what he called “the greatest senior class in the history of the SEC.”
What a way to say goodbye!
Now there is work to be done for the coach as he prepares for a leave of absence to get his health in order, but he made it clear he plans to be back soon.
In football season full of surprises, the Florida Gators provided their exclamation point with the finale by blowing up the Cincinnati Bearcats, 51-24, in a game that wasn’t nearly that close. Total domination would be an understatement. Tebow had his best game ever as a passer. And until the defense let Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike off the hook in the second half and the Bearcats quarterback took advantage of some Gator subs, the Florida defense was stifling.
There is nothing like the sweetness of victory splashing on your tongue to wash away the bitter taste of failure — not to mention the agony of the past 27 days for Gator fans, who have been suffering a bad case of the blues. Winning, and winning big, is the best antidote for that — and the best way to say goodbye to a group of about 30 departing players who set standards never before seen in the SEC.
If nothing else it helped ease the tension around the Gator Nation which had agonized over the status of their coach for six days. At last they could smile again, and breathe. Especially after the reassurance that came with Meyer’s answer when he was asked about his plans for the future and replied promptly to a national TV audience: “I plan on being the coach of the Florida Gators.”
There were still tears of happiness as well as emotional interludes, including a long embrace on the field between Urban and his daughter Nicki followed by the same with wife Shelley. These were more than a victory hugs – this was a family huddling in support of each other and hanging on tightly with an eye toward tomorrow when things will begin to change. Saturday was going to be Urban’s first day without a team to coach, officially, even though he promised to stay involved and “keep this train on track.” That will apparently include some recruiting. Then a leave of absence.
The resolution of his medical problems will decide when and where he will come back to more of a full-time role, but it is widely anticipated that he will be on the sidelines next fall.
The night also featured a spectacular finish for the greatest college football player in school and SEC history. What Tebow hadn’t been able to do all season — pass for 300 yards — he accomplished in the first half with 320 yards, winding up with a Sugar Bowl record 482 plus a new standard for total offense with 533. Perhaps putting his wares as an NFL quarterback on parade, Tebow found three receivers for touchdowns and two of them for over 100 yards. His 80-yard touchdown pass to Riley Cooper was the second longest in Sugar Bowl history.
Sometimes greatness can’t be recognized until it can be viewed in the rearview mirror, but surely what this team accomplished over four years has to be considered as that. They fell a quart shy of perhaps behind called a dynasty, although winning two BCS titles in three seasons with a chance to gain another one in the fourth put them in that neighborhood.
This cuts both ways. Had the team that suited up Friday Jan. 1, 2010 in New Orleans been the one that showed up in Atlanta on Dec. 5, 2009, the Florida Gators might have been playing for a national championship in Pasadena on Jan 7.
Yeah, I know — the Cincinnati Bearcats aren’t the Alabama Crimson Tide. But neither is Nick Saban’s team the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers or the 1927 New York Yankees, either, and was imminently beatable with a good performance by Florida.
Oh, what might have been if the Gators had played like that in the Georgia Dome. Would Meyer and Tebow ever allow themselves to reflect on that?
When I asked that question in the post-game press conference, perhaps I didn’t word it in the best manner and Tebow seemed to take umbrage. I had meant it as a back-handed compliment, making the point that Florida was probably as good as Alabama but had an off night at the wrong time — taking nothing away from the Crimson Tide. But it came out differently, as if I meant to be critical.
“Nice question,” he said. “Well, yes, we could have played better against Alabama. It was an extremely tough loss. It was something that will always be with you because it was big to win the SEC and have a shot at the national championship.
“Yeah, we would have liked to have won that game, but we lost. You’ve got to move on and bounce back. I think we did. I think we refocused. We had a lot of adversity.”
Tebow and the Gators made the Bearcats pay.
While it’s tough to tell how much of it as Cincinnati’s letdown due to losing head coach Brian Kelly to Notre Dame, all three phases of Florida’s game seemed on the money.
Charlie Strong’s defense gave the defensive coordinator a going away present with a dominant performance, virtually shutting down the Bearcats’ otherwise prolific quarterback, Tony Pike. They didn’t get the shutout they wanted for Strong’s going away present, but they did muster a strong group effort that included two sacks by defensive lineman Carlos Dunlap in his first game back since the pre-Alabama suspension.
And it was all wrapped with a bow for Meyer, who will turn over the reins to his loyal and trusted aide Steve Addazio.
“While coach is away, we have a great opportunity keep our level of excellence where it is,” said Addazio. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”
That level includes the introduction of the Johnny Brantley era, which officially began at 12:15 a.m. on Jan. 2 as the sophomore red-shirt trotted on the field to take the place of Tebow, stopping to hug his predecessor.
While this does usher the new era, it also comes with a cloud of uncertainty centered on the health of Meyer and the turnover in staff. In addition to Strong, wide receiver coach Billy Gonzales is gone (LSU) and as many as two staff other members could be leaving — although that has yet to be confirmed.
“We’ve got a plan in place,” a source told Gator Country about the future of the staff.
If nothing else, the statement made by the Sugar Bowl performance may have given critics pause before writing off the Gators next year with headlines like “end of a dynasty.”
Most Gator fans thought that was over before it started following the loss to 2008 Ole Miss — and again after the Dec. 5 loss to Alabama, 32-13. Now Tim Tebow and his upperclass mates have given Brantley and his boys a one-game start on the next one.
On his first play of the new era, Brantley handed off to freshman tailback Mike Gillislee, who broke off a 52-yard run. Perhaps that was a good omen of things to come.