Gator Country

Oh ye of little faith. Things get a little tough and you abandon your team. Go ahead and admit it: You nearly broke both of your ankles jumping off the Florida Gator bandwagon on Saturday.

A dropped pass for what should have been a touchdown. A fumble here, a fumble there --- another fumble here or there. A sack here, a sack there --- plus four more to follow those. A busted coverage here, a busted coverage there ...

Pretty soon that doubt begins to creep in.

Okay, so things did look a little gloomy. We could all sense it.

For the better part of the game, it wasn’t so great to be a Florida Gator, was it?

You were having flashbacks to Ole Miss, weren’t you?

It was homecoming, and after a half, Arkansas seemed to be making good on coach Bobby Petrino’s promise that his team would be able to move the ball on Florida and the Gator offensive attack looked like an unrehearsed skit at Gator Growl.

Underwhelmed by the performance of Urban Meyer’s offensive game plan in the first half, discouraged by the success of Arkansas hitting the long strike and confused about the real identity of the nation’s #1 team, Gator fans were about to chalk off homecoming as imminently forgettable day when, instead, Tim Tebow, Caleb Sturgis and their teammates made it a memorable day, instead.

Such a range of emotions on a day when a 25-point underdog has America’s top team pinned against the ropes.

* * *

A reporter’s notebook can often reflect the ebb and flow of a game that can only be appreciated after going back to examine the scribbles. Stuff like:

“How many mistakes can a team make on one drive?” I wrote on my yellow pad after Riley Cooper failed to haul in what would have been a touchdown pass, Tim Tebow is sacked for a loss of seven and then on the next play has the ball slapped out and recovered by Arkansas’s Zack Stadher.

At the end of the scoreless first period: “Poorly played first quarter --- one of the worst ever by an Urban Meyer team.”

And so it should have come as no surprise that three seconds into the second period, the Gators would trail for the first time since the third period of the SEC Championship.

That wasn’t the worst Gator streak to be broken or imperiled. There was a real chance that their 15-game winning streak might come to an end. Especially with the offense struggling and the leader of the defense, Brandon Spikes, on the sideline with a groin injury.

In the second quarter I scribbled:

“Arkansas is dominating both lines.”

“Alabama would beat Florida right now.”

* * *

It did appear the Gators got a boost when Brandon James returned the kickoff 29 yards and Tebow set sail on what appeared to be a 65-yard drive to tie the score. On a day when Tebow would carry the ball a remarkable 27 times and appeared to be Florida’s only serious offensive threat, Tebow produced a first down at the Razorback 8, but on the next play got a high snap center and never consummated the handoff to James. So I began scribbling again.

“Fumble!”

“This is going to be a real test now for the Gators to see if they came move the ball.”

In some African countries, the natives believe if you take their photo they will lose a piece of their soul. Sometimes I think that’s true about football teams and turnovers.

I’m not sure about anybody’s soul, but when Aaron Hernandez lost the ball at the Arkansas 4 – in a game where he was hauling in a career high seven passes—I was beginning to think maybe the Gators were going to lose this game. It just didn’t look like their day.

I wrote, “It was the worst half since Ole Miss.” Meyer said later he thought it be “the worst ever.”

Perhaps the miracle was that the Gators were not behind by 21 after three lost fumbles, three sacks of Tebow, a missed field goal and a dropped TD pass.

* * *

Tebow has a strong faith in his God, his team and himself, but at least two out of three were going to be tested today. He did come forth at halftime and encourage his teammates to play with heart, scratch and dig deep. In the back of his own mind, however, Tebow had to remember what happened against Ole Miss. And because he held the ball too long at times, Tebow kept going down on sacks --- three more in the second half. The fourth killed off a drive to start the third period and UF had to take a long shot for a field goal from 51. It was good and that might have been just the confidence builder Caleb Sturgis was going to need for the game-winning play later.

However, the Gator offense still looked like it was in need of a tow truck because it kept stalling. Tebow seemed to have problems finding receivers open. Florida’s running game was clearly in disrepair. Halfway through the third period, the Gators had just 29 yards rushing against a team that had given up 242 on the ground against Auburn.

“Is anybody open?”
“A poor offensive line performance.”
“It feels like a flat day.”

Just like in basketball, when you can’t score, you have to rely on defense and rebounding.

Florida’s defense helped the Gators rebound.

After short punt by Chas Henry, Jermaine Cunningham blew through the gap and sacked Ryan Mallet and that seemed to fire up Charlie Strong’s unit. A.J. Jones stuck Dennis Johnson for no gain. So there was a momentum change. Almost.

“Tebow to Rainey for big gain. Rainey fumble! Tramain Thomas kicked it out of Rainey’s hand.”

Now you know this was not meant to be for the Gators.

If you listened closely, you could hear some of the TV sets clicking off. Or at least changing channels. Too nervous to watch.

* * *

But the darkest hour is just before dawn. The Razorbacks missed a field goal and Florida got the ball back at its own 23, but serious concern about moving the ball set in. Even the faith of Gator Radio Network analyst Lee McGriff was being shaken.

“If we put everybody on the bench who has fumbled, we won’t have an offense,” said McGriff.

I wrote: “Now Tebow and the offense have got to embrace this opportunity to win the game.”

For more than four quarters over two games, the Gators had not scored a touchdown, partly because their passing game was one-dimensional and Tebow wasn’t involving all his receivers.

In the unlikeliest of scenarios, Florida broke the drought. Deonte Thompson, who had only caught only six balls going into Saturday’s game, got behind the Arkansas safety after he bit on Hernandez, pulled in Tebow’s strike and galloped 77 yards for a touchdown.

While this play did not win the game, it certainly generated some energy that got the alums buzzing again as they sang “We Are The Boys” at the end of the third period, with the score tied 13-13. Their beloved Gators would not need a GPS to find the end zone after all.  Doubt, however, still prevailed.

“Boys from Ol’ Florida will need some help getting to Pasadena and preserving 15-game winning streak.”

* * *

My notes tell me I still wasn’t sure the Razorbacks scored on the touchdown officials gave Greg Childs after his 75-yard touchdown catch from Mallet because it looked like Major Wright stripped him --- but admittedly I never got a good angle from TV. For a moment I thought it might have gone out of the end zone for a touchback, but replay confirmed the call.

“Last time Arkansas beat a No. 1 team was Texas in 1981. Can Razorbacks come in to The Swamp and upset the nation’s No. 1 team on homecoming?”

I just didn’t know if the Gators had it in them to come back again, this time from a 20-13 deficit. A pair of crucial penalties against Arkansas and the speed of Jeffery Demps put them on the board quickly with Demps scampering to the corner and a 20-all tie.

Honestly, when Sturgis lined up for the extra point, my mind flashed back to Ole Miss last season and the blocked extra point of Jonathan Phillips.

Admit it --- yours did, too.

“It was just an extra point,” Sturgis would say later, underplaying the kick.

There was a bigger one yet to come.

* * *

This was a Saturday when Heisman hopefuls were dropping like dot-com stocks did during the technology bust. Sam Bradford was hurt again and is probably lost to Oklahoma for the season. Colt McCoy and Texas struggled in a three-point win over OU. Jimmy Clausen rallied Notre Dame against USC, but the Irish fell short.

(Alex) Tejada wide left!

A missed field goal gave Florida the ball with 3:08 to go and Tim Tebow got the chance to build on his legend as the series started form the Florida 21. After all, the theme of Gator Growl the night before was, “Legends of The Swamp.” Could he do it?

It was a situation that would have tested Norman Vincent Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking.

How could Tebow, I wondered, overcome so much and keep a clear mind about the task at hand?

“We knew beyond a shadow of a doubt we could keep getting first downs and draining that clock and kick a field goal,” Tebow would say. “We kept making good plays.”

One of them was better than good. On third and 10 at the Arkansas 40 and time running out, Cooper more than redeemed himself for the pass he had dropped. As he cut, Coop lost his footing, but caught his balance just as Tebow released the ball and outscrapped Arkansas defensive back Ramon Broadway for the catch. Effort personified.

Tebow got his team in position to win.

A field goal was now within range.

It was up to one of the more non-descript players on the team to complete the task and to give Tebow one of his rare game-winning drives.

* * *

Field goal kickers don’t like teammates to talk to them before a crucial kick. Alone at his own 30, Sturgis took a phantom practice. Hernandez, who always reminds Sturgis to trust in his own ability, came over to shake his hand.  Though nervous, Sturgis held it together beautifully, admittedly more confident after his previous two kicks. He told himself this was just a long extra point --- the kick would be 27 yards --- but he knew better.

The day hadn’t started off all that great for Sturgis as he had missed his first attempt earlier, the second straight week he had failed to convert. Meyer would admit later that using backup Jonathan Phillips crossed his mind, but stuck with Caleb because of his consistency in practice. “You don’t lose or win a job during a game --- you do that during the week,” Meyer said. Besides, the 51-yarder had given Sturgis some new gravitas.

As he always does, Sturgis used his right hand to align the kick, slicing the air to imagine the path. It went straight and true, right down Gale Lemerand Drive. Caleb showed a bit of courage himself, stepping up to knock in a virtual walkoff field goal, with the exception of nine seconds to be played – not enough time for Florida to find a way to give the game away on such a day of Gator generosity.

The replay showed the little kicker exhaling as he watched it the ball cross the bar. Then he had the presence of mind to calm his overjoyed teammates for fear of getting a celebration penalty, the likes of which the zebras seem to be bent on dishing out these days.

“FG, 27. Good! 69 yards, 14 plays 2:59.”

“I just wanted to make the kick for all the players,” Sturgis said. “They’re out there playing so hard and all I do is kick.”

Over on the sideline, Tebow couldn’t bear to watch. He was praying and had his eyes closed—“holding (Johnny) Brantley’s hand”—when the foot of Sturgis connected with the ball.  Only when he heard the roar of approval from the crowd did he know the outcome.

As somebody else used to say around these parts, “God smiled on the Gators today.” In the end, the outcome for the Gators turned out to be more like the victory over that same guy’s South Carolina team in 2006 than it did the 2008 loss to Ole Miss.

The great ones find a way. Tiger Woods turns a 73 into a 68 through sheer will. LeBron James can miss 10 straight and then hit the game-winning shot. With the leader of the defense being sidelined, the offense suffering from poor ball security and a spate of mental lapses that kept popping up, Tebow and his teammates, indeed, dug deep to pull off one of the of the most satisfying wins for Meyer in the 50 has notched at Florida. It will be remembered as that.

Although the foot of Sturgis propelled it, I have little doubt that at least a piece of Tebow’s will helped that ball through the uprights.

Sometimes the sweetest victories are the ones teams have to work hardest to earn when hope seems all but frittered away.

It turned out not to be such a bad day to be a Florida Gator after all.

About the author

Buddy Martin

Buddy Martin is Executive Editor/CEO of GatorCountry.com, Gator Country Magazine and Gator Country TV. He has won more than 165 state and national awards for writing and editing, is the author of seven books and was a recipient of an Emmy while working for CBS Sports on "The NFL Today." The native son of Ocala and Florida-educated journalist is the former sports editor of the New York Daily News, Denver Post, St. Petersburg Times and Florida Today. His authorized biography of "Urban's Way" (St. Martin's Press) was scheduled for its paperback release in October 2009. It can be purchased at he Gator Country Store and all major book stores. Buddy can be contacted at buddy@gatorcountry.com.

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